Customer identity verification system

1. A method for conducting identity verification, comprising:

issuing, at an account computer system, a financial instrument associated with an account for a customer without verifying identity data of the customer;

receiving, at the account computer system from a transaction computer system associated with a merchant, a request to approve a financial transaction between the merchant and the customer using the financial instrument;

determining a quantity of portions of identity data of the customer that were previously provided by the merchant;

determining, at the account computer system, a portion of the identity data to request, the portion of the identity data is a random portion of the identity data;

receiving, at the account computer system from the transaction computer system, a portion of the identity data in response to a request for the customer to provide the portion of the identity data from an identification document during the financial transaction based on the quantity being less than a pre-defined number, the portion of the identity data obtained by a device associated with the transaction computer system that extracts at least the portion of the identity data from identity data associated with an identification document of the customer, and the identity data associated with the identification document being unreadable by a human prior to extraction by the device;

updating, at the account computer system, customer data of the customer by combining the portion of the identity data received from the transaction computer system with different portions of previously received identity data;

comparing, at the account computer system, the updated customer data to unverified identity data of the customer; and

determining, at the account computer system, whether to maintain or terminate the account based on the comparison, such that the account is maintained with the customer when the-updated customer data matches the unverified identity data, and the account is terminated when the updated customer data does not match the unverified identity data.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising opening the account without verifying the identity data with a credit reporting agency.

3. The method of claim 1 , in which the different portions of previously received identity data were previously received from different merchants during transactions between the customer and the different merchants.

4. The method of claim 1 , in which the identification document comprises at least one of a driver's license, passport, a government-issued identification document, an alien identification card, a student identification card, a social security card, a tax identification card, a national identification card, a voter identification card, a benefits card, an official identification document, or a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , in which the identity data is associated with at least one of a name, an address, a date of birth, a personal identification number, a user ID, a password, a tax identification number, a type of identification document, an identity number of the identification document, a country, a state, a government organization issuing the identification document, a private organization issuing the identification document, an expiration date of the identification document, a phone number, a screen name, an e-mail address, a photograph, a fingerprint, an iris scan, a physical description, a biometrical information, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , in which the portion of identity data is obtained from a device of the transaction computer system that extracts the identity data embedded in a storage unit of the identification document or extracts the identity data printed on the identification document.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, from the account computer system to the transaction computer system, a message approving the financial transaction when a portion of the unverified identity data matches the portion of identity data.

8. The method of claim 1 , in which the account computer system comprises at least one of a personal communications device, a device interface, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , in which the transaction computer systems comprises at least one of a personal communications device, a device interface, or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising freezing, by the account computer system, the account when the identity profile does not match the unverified identity data.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising limiting, by the account computer system, a total transaction amount for the account until the account computer system determines that the unverified identity data matches the identity profile.

12. An apparatus for conducting identity verification at an account computer system, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured:

to issue a financial instrument associated with an account for a customer without verifying identity data of the customer;

to receive, from a transaction computer system associated with a merchant, a request to approve a financial transaction between the merchant and the customer using the financial instrument;

to determine a quantity of portions of identity data of the customer that were previously provided by the merchant;

to determine a portion of the identity data to request, the portion of the identity data is a random portion of the identity data;

to receive, from the transaction computer system, a portion of the identity data in response to a request for the customer to provide the portion of the identity data from an identification document during the financial transaction based on the quantity being less than a pre-defined number, the portion of the identity data obtained by a device associated with the transaction computer system that extracts at least the portion of the identity data from identity data associated with an identification document of the customer, and the identity data associated with the identification document being unreadable by a human prior to extraction by the device;

to update customer data of the customer by combining the portion of the identity data received from the transaction computer system with different portions of previously received identity data;

to compare the updated customer data to unverified identity data of the customer; and

to determine whether to maintain or terminate the account based on the comparison, such that the account is maintained with the customer when the updated customer data matches the unverified identity data, and the account is terminated when the updated customer data does not match the unverified identity data.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , in which the at least one processor is further configured to open the account without verifying the identity data with a credit reporting agency.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , in which the different portions of previously received identity data were previously received from different merchants during transactions between the customer and the different merchants.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , in which the identification document comprises at least one of a driver's license, passport, a government-issued identification document, an alien identification card, a student identification card, a social security card, a tax identification card, a national identification card, a voter identification card, a benefits card, an official identification document, or a combination thereof.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , in which the identity data is associated with at least one of a name, an address, a date of birth, a personal identification number, a user ID, a password, a tax identification number, a type of identification document, an identity number of the identification document, a country, a state, a government organization issuing the identification document, a private organization issuing the identification document, an expiration date of the identification document, a phone number, a screen name, an e-mail address, a photograph, a fingerprint, an iris scan, a physical description, a biometrical information, or a combination thereof.

17. The apparatus of claim 12 , in which the portion of identity data is obtained from a device of the transaction computer system that extracts the identity data embedded in a storage unit of the identification document or extracts the identity data printed on the identification document.

18. The apparatus of claim 12 , in which the at least one processor is further configured to transmit, to the transaction computer system, a message approving the financial transaction when a portion of the unverified identity data matches the portion of identity data.