1. A method comprising: receiving, via a computer network, a plurality of merchant contributions to fund a member payment system; placing the merchant contributions into at least one pooled trust account, wherein the contributions are recorded on a server and merchants will not receive interest on their contributions; permitting a plurality of consumers to become registered users of the member payment system without charge via a network; permitting registered users to send instructions to a server to load or unload funds into a working account of the member payment system without charge; permitting merchants to load or unload funds into the working account of the member payment system without charge, and distributing, via a server, interest on at least one pooled trust account to fund the member payment system.