Payment system and methods

1. A method for a system having a plurality of persons; a plurality of cards issued under authority of an entity; a retail site configured with a first signal, the first signal being common to the plurality of cards; a routing system for receiving a signal and generating a network address in response to the received signal, the routing system including a plurality of wide area communication links, the routing system being configured using the first signal, the system further including a second signal on a first card in the plurality of cards; and a second system storing an association between the second signal and account information; the entity and an owner of the second system not being affiliated, the entity not being affiliated with a retailer, method comprising:

the steps, performed at the retail site, of:

receiving the first and second signals from the first card;

sending the first and second signals into the routing system, to cause the second system to perform the steps of

determining whether the first card can effect payment,

responsive to the determining step, conditionally sending a message to cause an institution to send an ACH entry to the Federal Reserve ACH system, to pass the entry to a bank, where an account is issued a debit, to cause a transfer of funds to the owner of the retail site, and making an entry in an accounting system, to effectively increment an amount owed by the owner of the retail site to the owner of the second system,

wherein the method further includes the step, performed at the retail site, of:

conditionally effecting a transaction with a holder of the first card, depending on a signal received from the second system.

2. The method of claim 1 further including the steps, performed before the steps of claim 1 , of receiving the second signal;

receiving account information;

storing the association between the second signal and the account information .

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the signal received from the second system includes an indication whether the card is authorized to effect payment.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second system is in the United States of America.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the account is a demand account.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the system further includes a plurality of vehicles, the entity is a government, and each card evidences a license for a person to operate a vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the entity is a first state government, and the second system is in the territory of a second state government.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the information corresponding to the account includes an account number previously presented to a consumer.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the information corresponding to the account includes an account number previously presented to a consumer user on a paper statement generated by the financial institution managing the account.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the financial institution is a bank or credit union.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the second signal from the first card includes receiving the second signal via a point of sale terminal, and the method further includes

receiving a third signal from the holder of the first card; and

sending the third signal out of the point of sale terminal, without applying an encryption key to the third signal.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the third signal includes a PIN typed by the holder of the first card.

13. The method of claim 1 further including

receiving a number from the holder of the first card, wherein sending the second signal includes sending the second signal to cause a debit to a selected one of multiple accounts associated with the holder, the account being selected by the number.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the number is a personal identification number selected by the user, the number having less digits than the account number.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the number is a personal identification number selected by the user, the number having a at least 4 digits, and less digits than the account number.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the first and second signals into the routing system allows the routing system to access a data structure by using the first signal, to generate a network address, to allow the routing system to send the second signal to the second system.

17. The method of claim 1 further including determining whether to authorize a second transaction depending on an amount of the second transaction, a time of the second transaction, a retailer of the second transaction, an amount of the first transaction, a time of the first transaction, and the retailer of the first transaction.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein determining includes determining whether the party of the first transaction request and the party of the second transaction request are in a common market sector.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein determining includes determining whether the party of the first transaction request and the party of the second transaction request both are selling gasoline.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein determining includes an amount of transaction requests exceeds a threshold per unit time.