Merchant cash advance payment deferrals

• US 10,019,698 B1
• Filed: 02/13/2015
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scott, John Bryan, Boates, Brian, Fern, Adam Jeremy, Kimball, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Crawley, Talia
• Application Number:
  US14/622,605
• Time in Patent Office: 1,243 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

A payment processing system for processing mobile point-of-sale transactions and extending cash advances to merchants is disclosed. The payment processing system receives repayment of the cash advance from the merchant by withholding a portion of funds from financial transactions processed for the merchant, the portion of funds determined according to repayment terms for the cash advance. The payment processing system receives signals from other products provided to the merchant by the payment processing service provider to determine payment deferral eligibility for the merchant where the payment processing system refrains from taking repayment from the financial transactions processed for the merchant by the payment processing system. The payment deferral eligibility may be determined in response to a merchant request for a payment deferral or automatically by the payment processing system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors of a payment processing system, from a plurality of merchant computing devices associated with a plurality of merchants, respectively, transaction data of transactions performed between the plurality of merchants and a plurality of customers, the merchant computing devices having respective instances of a merchant application installed thereon for configuring the plurality of merchant computing devices as a plurality of point-of-sale (POS) terminals, respectively, the respective instances of the merchant application configuring the respective POS terminals to communicate the transaction data over a network to the payment processing system, the respective instances of the merchant application further configuring the POS terminals to present a cash advance interface, the plurality of POS terminals including a first POS terminal associated with a first merchant of the plurality of merchants;

storing, by the one or more processors, the transaction data in a merchant account data structure;

accessing, by the one or more processors, the merchant account data structure to determine that the first merchant qualifies for a cash advance, and to determine repayment terms for the cash advance to offer to the first merchant based on one or more attributes of an account of the first merchant determined from the merchant account data structure;

providing, by the one or more processors, a payment for the cash advance to the account of the first merchant from a payment processing service provider, the first merchant having the account with the payment processing service provider, who operates the payment processing system to process the transactions between the first merchant and customers of the first merchant using the first POS terminal;

receiving, by the one or more processors, repayment of the cash advance from the first merchant by withholding a portion of funds from the transactions conducted using the first POS terminal and processed for the first merchant by the payment processing system, the portion of funds determined according to the repayment terms for the cash advance determined from the merchant account data structure;

receiving, by the one or more processors, service information from one or more additional services provided to the first merchant by the payment processing service provider, the additional services including at least one of an invoicing service, an inventory service, a payroll service, an appointment service, a feedback service, an analytics service, or a pickup/delivery service, wherein the service information is indicative of at least one state of a business of the first merchant;

retrieving, by the one or more processors, from the merchant account data structure, merchant account information for the first merchant and merchant account information for a plurality of other merchants determined by the payment processing system to be similar to the first merchant;

analyzing, by the one or more processors, the service information from the additional services, the merchant account information for the first merchant, and the merchant account information for the plurality of other merchants to determine that the first merchant is expected to have a decrease in sales for an upcoming time period;

determining, by the one or more processors, based on the expected decrease in sales during the upcoming time period, a payment deferral period of a specified duration for the first merchant in which the payment processing system refrains from taking any repayment from the plurality of financial transactions processed for the first merchant by the payment processing system for the payment deferral period;

transmitting, by the one or more processors, a notification of the payment deferral period to the first POS terminal, to cause the merchant application to present the notification in the cash advance interface on the first POS terminal;

receiving, by the one or more processors, via the cash advance interface on the first POS terminal, an indication from the first merchant of;

acceptance of the payment deferral period for the specified duration, or

acceptance of the deferral period for a different duration; and

implementing, by the payment processing system, a payment deferral for the payment deferral period for a deferral duration accepted by the first merchant.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein implementing the payment deferral includes refraining from taking any repayment from the plurality of financial transactions processed for the first merchant by the payment processing system for the duration of the payment deferral period.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein implementing the payment deferral includes determining whether a threshold amount of transactions have been processed and withholding funds for repayment of the cash advance only on transactions above the threshold.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the repayment terms for the cash advance include an amount of the cash advance, a fee for the cash advance, and a rate of repayment for the cash advance and the fee, the method further comprising:

sending, by the one or more processors, the offer for the cash advance including the repayment terms to the first POS terminal for presentation to the first merchant in the cash advance interface on the first POS terminal; and

receiving, by the one or more processors, from the first POS terminal, via the cash advance interface, one of;

an acceptance of the offer for the cash advance;

or

a request for a cash advance of a different amount.

5. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors of a payment processing system, from a plurality of merchant computing devices associated with a plurality of merchants, respectively, transaction data of transactions performed between the plurality of merchants and a plurality of customers, the merchant computing devices having respective instances of a merchant application installed thereon for configuring the plurality of merchant computing devices as a plurality of point-of-sale (POS) terminals, respectively, the respective instances of the merchant application configuring the respective POS terminals to communicate the transaction data over a network to the payment processing system, the respective instances of the merchant application further configuring the POS terminals to present a financing interface, the plurality of POS terminals including a first POS terminal associated with a first merchant of the plurality of merchants;

storing, by the one or more processors, the transaction data in a merchant account data structure;

providing, by the one or more processors, financing to an account of the first merchant from a payment processing service provider, wherein repayment terms of the financing are based at least in part on one or more attributes of the first merchant determined from the merchant account data structure;

receiving, by the one or more processors, repayment of the financing from the first merchant;

receiving, by the one or more processors, service information from at least one additional service provided to the first merchant by the payment processing service provider who operates the payment processing system, wherein the service information is indicative of at least one state of a business of the first merchant;

determining, by the one or more processors, using merchant account information from the merchant account data structure and the received service information, that the first merchant is expected to have a decrease in sales for an upcoming time period;

determining, by the one or more processors, a deferral period for repayment of the financing from the first merchant, wherein the deferral period is based at least in part on determining that the first merchant is expected to have the decrease in sales for the upcoming time period;

transmitting, by the one or more processors, a notification of the deferral period to the first POS terminal, to cause the merchant application to present the notification in the financing interface on the POS terminal;

receiving, by the one or more processors, via the financing interface on the first POS terminal, an indication from the first merchant of one of;

acceptance of the deferral period for the specified duration, or

acceptance of the deferral period for a different duration; and

refraining, by the one or more processors, from taking repayment of the financing for the deferral period for a deferral duration accepted by the first merchant.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the first merchant has the account with the payment processing service provider to process a plurality of financial transactions between the first merchant and customers via the first POS terminal.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein receiving, by the payment processing system, repayment of the financing from the first merchant includes withholding a portion of funds from a plurality of financial transactions processed for the first merchant by the payment processing system, the portion of funds determined according to repayment terms for the financing.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising determining whether a threshold amount of transactions have been processed and withholding funds for repayment of the financing only on transactions above the threshold.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the at least one additional service for which the service information is received includes at least one of:

an invoicing service, an inventory service, a payroll service, an appointment service, a feedback service, an analytics service, or a pickup/delivery service.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the repayment terms for the financing include an amount of the financing, a fee for the financing, and a rate of repayment for the financing and the fee, the method further comprising:

sending, by the one or more processors, an offer for the financing including the repayment terms to the first POS terminal for presentation to the first merchant in a financing interface on the first POS terminal; and

receiving, by the one or more processors, from the first POS terminal, via the financing interface, one of;

an acceptance of the offer for the financing;

or

a request for financing of a different amount.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the merchant account information from the payment processing system includes one or more of:

a historical performance of the first merchant,

a number of payments accepted by the first merchant,

a number of payment card swipes through the first POS terminal associated with the first merchant,

a model of the first POS terminal,

merchant bank account information,

an amount of held funds associated with the merchant account of the first merchant, or

a status of the account of the first merchant.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein determining that the first merchant is expected to have a decrease in sales for an upcoming time period further comprises:

retrieving, by the one or more processors, from the merchant account data structure, merchant account information for the first merchant and merchant account information for a plurality of other merchants determined by the payment processing system to be similar to the first merchant; and

analyzing, by the one or more processors, the service information from the additional services, the merchant account information for the first merchant, and the merchant account information for the plurality of other merchants to determine that the first merchant is expected to have a decrease in sales for an upcoming time period.

13. A payment processing system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to;

receive, from a plurality of merchant computing devices associated with a plurality of merchants, respectively, transaction data of transactions performed between the plurality of merchants and a plurality of customers, the merchant computing devices having respective instances of a merchant application installed thereon for configuring the plurality of merchant computing devices as a plurality of point-of-sale (POS) terminals, respectively, the respective instances of the merchant application configuring the respective POS terminals to communicate the transaction data over a network to the payment processing system, the respective instances of the merchant application further configuring the POS terminals to present a financing interface, the plurality of POS terminals including a first POS terminal associated with a first merchant of the plurality of merchants;

store the transaction data in a merchant account data structure;

provide financing to the first merchant based at least partially on terms determined based on one or more attributes of an account of the first merchant determined from the merchant account data structure;

receive repayment of the financing from the first merchant from transactions conducted by the first merchant using the first POS terminal;

receive service information from one or more additional services provided to the first merchant by a payment processing service provider who operates the payment processing system, wherein the service information is indicative of at least one state of a business of the first merchant;

determine, using the service information and merchant account information from the merchant account data structure, that the first merchant is expected to have a decrease in sales for an upcoming time period;

determine based on the expected decrease in sales during the upcoming time period, a deferral period of a specified duration for the repayment of the financing from the first merchant;

transmit a notification of the deferral period to the first POS terminal, to cause the merchant application to present the notification in the financing interface on the POS terminal;

receive, via the financing interface on the first POS terminal, an indication from the first merchant of one of;

acceptance of the deferral period for the specified duration, or

acceptance of the deferral period for a different duration; and

refrain from taking repayment of the financing for the deferral period for a deferral duration accepted by the first merchant.

14. The payment processing system of claim 13, wherein the first merchant has the account with the payment processing service provider to process a plurality of financial transactions between the first merchant and customers via the first POS terminal.

15. The payment processing system of claim 13, wherein to receive repayment of the financing from the first merchant, the instructions cause the one or more processors to withhold a portion of funds from a plurality of financial transactions processed for the first merchant by the payment processing system, the portion of funds determined according to repayment terms for the financing.

16. The payment processing system of claim 13, the instructions further cause the one or more processors to determine whether a threshold amount of transactions have been processed and withhold funds for repayment of the financing only on transactions above the threshold.

17. The payment processing system of claim 13, wherein the at least one additional service for which the service information is received includes at least one of:

an invoicing service, an inventory service, a payroll service, an appointment service, a feedback service, an analytics service, or a pickup/delivery service.

18. The payment processing system of claim 15, wherein the repayment terms for the financing include an amount of the financing, a fee for the financing, and a rate of repayment for the financing and the fee, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:

send an offer for the financing including the repayment terms to the first POS terminal for presentation to the first merchant in the financing interface on the first POS terminal; and

receive, from the first POS terminal, via the financing interface, one of;

an acceptance of the offer for the financing;

or

a request for financing of a different amount.

19. The payment processing system of claim 13, wherein the merchant account information from the payment processing system includes one or more of:

a historical performance of the first merchant,

a number of payments accepted by the first merchant,

a number of payment card swipes through the first POS terminal associated with the first merchant,

a model of the first POS terminal,

merchant bank account information,

an amount of held funds associated with the account of the first merchant, or

a status of the account of the first merchant.

20. The payment processing system of claim 13, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to determine that the first merchant is expected to have a decrease in sales for an upcoming time period by:

retrieving, from the merchant account data structure, merchant account information for the first merchant and merchant account information for a plurality of other merchants determined by the payment processing system to be similar to the first merchant; and

analyzing the service information from the additional services, the merchant account information for the first merchant, and the merchant account information for the plurality of other merchants to determine that the first merchant is expected to have a decrease in sales for an upcoming time period.