According to the invention, a method for transferring funds from a sender to one or more recipients using a wide-area computer network is disclosed. In one step, transfer information is received from the sender with the wide area computer network to transfer credit to from the sender to a recipient. The transfer information includes at least an identifier and a credit amount. The identifier is generated by the sender. The identifier is unique to the recipient. It is determined if the transfer information is complete. A message is sent to the recipient. Transfer of a transfer amount related to the credit amount is paused based, at least in part, on the transfer information being incomplete. The transfer of the transfer amount is completed after the transfer information is complete.