A payment is a transfer of value. The most common means of payment are cash, checks, credit cards and debit cards and electronic funds transfers. A payment system consists of the rules, institutions, people, markets, and agreements that make the exchange of payments possible.

Overview of the payments system
Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Federal Reserve Bank Sites

What is a Payment System?
Central Banking Seminar
October 2000

Electronic Payments and the U.S. Payments System
An additional view of the US Payments System (2002) from the Congressional Research Service. It focuses primarily on electronic payments but includes an excellent discussion of paper-based systems as well.

Check Processing
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has published a "Checkbooklet" on all facets of checks. It explains different types of checks and the kinds of checking accounts that banks offer, and offers a description of how checks get processed.

Why Do We Use So Many Checks?
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Economic Perspectives 3Q/ 2002

Compelling Reasons to do Image Exchange, Now
A white paper from SVPCO focusing on the advantages to banks

Principles and Methods of Collections
A core course from the Credit Research Foundation.

Electronic Checks
Executive Summary description of the FSTC Electronic Check Project with link to full white paper.

Electronic Check Conversion
A white paper courtesy of First Union

Frequently asked questions on Check Conversion
electronicpayments.org

The Auxiliary On-Us Field: Why It Is Important To You
NACHA

US Retail Payment System in Transition: Federal Reserve Initiatives
Barbara S. Pacheco, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

The Payments Risk Committee
is a private sector group comprising senior managers from several US banks and sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Committee identifies and analyzes issues of mutual interest related to risk in payments and settlement systems. Where appropriate, it seeks to foster broader industry awareness and discussion, and to develop input on public and private sector initiatives.

USPS Remittance Mail Advisory Committee
More than $20 billion in remittance is in the mailstream on any given day

Wire Transfer Systems description

Business-to-Business Payment Options

The Business-to-Business Task Force under the guidance of NACHA's Council for Electronic Billing and Payment produced this 60+ page paper that documents the payment options that can be incorporated into EIPP (Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment).

Payments, Clearance, and Settlement: A Guide to the Systems, Risks, and Issues. [Text]
Abstracts of GAO Reports and Testimony -- FY97

Fedwire
is a real-time gross settlement system operated by the Federal Reserve. Payment requests submitted to Fedwire through a bank are processed immediately, transaction by transaction. Funds are transferred between reserve accounts that the depository institutions hold at the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve guarantees that payments on Fedwire are final upon receipt by the recipient.

CHIPS
Clearing House Interbank Payments System nets payments on a multilateral basis. As CHIPS participants banks submit payment requests during the course of a day, CHIPS continuously recalculates the position of each member vis-a-vis all the other participants. At the end of the day, members are informed of their final position, whether credit or debit. Members with a net debit position settle by sending funds to CHIPS via Fedwire; CHIPS then sends funds out to members in a net credit position.

e-Payments Myth vs. Reality
A presentation from the Payments Advisory Group. 44-page PDF. Requires registration on Remittance Directory site.

EFTPS
Electronic Federal Tax Payment System is a tax payment system that offers businesses the convenience of making all their federal tax payments electronically.

The Electronic Funds Transfer Association
EFTA is an inter-industry trade association that advocates for electronic payments legislation.

The Remaining Barriers to ePayments and Straight-through Processing
Published by The Clearing House, August 2002

Commercial Payment Cards and Cash Management
Overview of the effectiveness of cash management within today’s business environment. A white paper from Visa USA.

Commercial Consumption Expenditure Index
Visa’s standard industry metric for U.S. business and government spending. (from Visa USA)

The Purchasing Card Benchmark Report - Best Tactics to Increase Program Growth
This report presents the findings of a benchmark study sponsored jointly by AberdeenGroup and the National Association of Purchasing Card Professionals (NAPCP).

P2P Best Practices
Procurement and payment best practices for companies nationwide. The result of this study was the creation of Visa's Procure-to-Pay Best Practices, which encompass the entire procure-to-pay process. (from Visa USA)

Merchant Category Codes for IRS Form 1099-MISC Reporting
Internal Revenue Service's published revenue procedures allowing Visa commercial payment product cardholders to use Merchant Category Codes when determining which payment card transactions are reportable to the federal government on IRS Form 1099-MISC. (from Visa USA)

Understanding Sales and Use Tax Issues
Issues and Options for Commercial Card Accounts
presented by Visa

Visa Check II: a New Entrant in the Debit Race
DoveConsulting 1999

Internet Payments- A strategic Assessment
Pulse EFT Association and DoveConsulting November 2001

Understanding Consumer Payment Choices in a Changing World
Pulse EFT Association March 2004

EIPP Explained

Merchant Acquirers and Payment Card Processors: A Look inside the Black Box
FRB Atlanta

THE PLASTIC REVOLUTION - Cards are leading the charge by finance to get better control of corporate spending
Treasury and Risk Management - September 2003

The Growth of Person-to-Person Electronic Payments
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Smart Cards
GOVERNMENT SMART CARD HANDBOOK
A smart card is a plastic card similar in size and shape to your normal credit card but instead of holding information on a magnetic stripe it holds it in a small silicone chip embedded into the card, which can be accessed by one or more of the following machine-readable technologies: magnetic stripe, bar code (linear or two-dimensional), contactless radio frequency transmitters, biometric information...

Payment Instrument Choice: The Case of Prepaid Cards
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

The What, Who and Why of Contactless Payments
Smart Card Alliance, November 2006

Smart Card Alliance

Prepaid Cards: How Do They Function? How Are They Regulated?
A summary of the June 2004 conference
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Prepaid Card Models: A Study in Diversity
Julia S. Cheney Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
March 2005

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
This website makes available the many reports written by the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS), including reports on payment systems in individual countries.

U.S. and Interregional Interchange Rates (October 2006)
The guide from MasterCard on how rates and fees are applied

Electronic Banking Vendors

Checkfree
DST Output
Intuit
NACHA
Paytrust
Online Resources (Princeton eCom)

Payment Cards

American Express
Discover Card
MasterCard
Mondex USA
Visa

Stored Value and E-Cash

Authorize.Net
VeriSign
eCheck.org
Mondex USA
Paypal
Qpass
Trivnet
Valista