An electronic bill payment network includes a plurality of user network
stations associated with different users, a plurality of biller network
stations associated with different billers, and a central network
station. A first user station operates, in real time, to transmit
information relevant to an amount of an available bill and an instruction
to pay the available bill. A first biller station operates, in real time,
to receive the transmitted information and to compute the amount of the
available bill based upon the received information. The central network
station operates to receive the computed amount of the available bill and
the transmitted pay instruction, and to direct payment of the computed
amount of the available bill based upon the transmitted instruction to
pay that bill.