Systems and methods for direct electronic communication of consumer information

1. A method of submission of payment transaction requests from a point of sale (POS) terminal to a transaction server of a financial institution, the method comprising:

reading payment information from a payment vehicle by way of a payment device connected to the POS terminal;

reading financial institution routing information from the payment vehicle by way of the payment device connected to the POS terminal;

reading a payment vehicle certificate from the payment vehicle by way of the payment device connected to the POS terminal;

requesting consumer authentication information from a consumer;

receiving the consumer authentication information from the consumer by way of a user input device connected to the payment device; and

submitting a payment transaction request to the transaction server of the financial institution over a computer network using the financial institution routing information, a POS terminal certificate, and the payment vehicle certificate.

2. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

transmitting at least one of the POS terminal certificate and the payment vehicle certificate to an authentication service for validation; and

receiving a POS terminal certificate validation or a payment vehicle certificate validation from the authentication service.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

cancelling the payment transaction request when the authentication service returns a certificate validation error.

4. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

transmitting the financial institution routing information to an authentication service; and

receiving a financial institution certificate validation from the authentication service.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the POS terminal certificate stores data defining one or more capabilities of a merchant associated with the POS terminal.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the payment vehicle certificate stores data defining one or more capabilities of a consumer associated with the payment vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the financial institution routing information read from the payment vehicle comprises routing information for a plurality of financial institutions;

the POS terminal prompts a consumer for a selection of a financial institution among the plurality of financial institutions; and

the payment transaction request is submitted to the selected financial institution.

8. A computer system for submission of payment transaction requests from a point of sale (POS) terminal to a transaction server of a financial institution, the system comprising:

a memory having processor-readable instructions stored therein; and

a processor configured to access the memory and execute the processor-readable instructions, which when executed by the processor configures the processor to perform a plurality of functions, including functions to:

read payment information from a payment vehicle by way of a payment device connected to the POS terminal;

read financial institution routing information from the payment vehicle by way of the payment device connected to the POS terminal;

read a payment vehicle certificate from the payment vehicle by way of the payment device connected to the POS terminal;

request consumer authentication information from a consumer;

receive the consumer authentication information from the consumer by way of a user input device connected to the payment device; and

submit a payment transaction request to the transaction server of the financial institution over a computer network using the financial institution routing information, a POS terminal certificate, and the payment vehicle certificate.

9. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of functions performed by the processor when executing the processor-readable instructions further includes functions to:

transmit at least one of the POS terminal certificate and the payment vehicle certificate to an authentication service for validation; and

receive a POS terminal certificate validation or a payment vehicle certificate validation from the authentication service.

10. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of functions performed by the processor when executing the processor-readable instructions further includes functions to:

cancel the payment transaction request when the authentication service returns a certificate validation error.

11. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of functions performed by the processor when executing the processor-readable instructions further includes functions to:

transmit the financial institution routing information to an authentication service; and

receive a financial institution certificate validation from the authentication service.

12. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the POS terminal certificate comprises one or more capabilities of a merchant associated with the POS terminal.

13. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the payment vehicle certificate comprises one or more capabilities of a consumer associated with the payment vehicle.

14. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein:

the financial institution routing information read from the payment vehicle comprises routing information for a plurality of financial institutions;

the POS terminal prompts a consumer for a selection of a financial institution among the plurality of financial institutions; and

the payment transaction request is submitted to the selected financial institution.