Methods and systems for use of a prepaid payment device

• US 10,074,081 B1
• Filed: 12/19/2011
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citicorp Credit Services Incorporated (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Citicorp Credit Services Incorporated (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Inventors: Radlow, Andrew D., Hollander, Eran
• Primary Examiner(s): Kanaan, Maroun P
• Application Number:
  US13/329,417
• Time in Patent Office: 2,458 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2, 705 3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/34 using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/349 Rechargeable cards

Abstract

The methods and systems described herein attempt to provide a card where a consumer can reload the card with additional funds at a point of sale whereby no new or additional hardware is needed, the consumer can have access to the funds immediately, and the consumer does not need to perform any additional steps beyond conducting the transaction at a point of sale. In one embodiment, a method of reloading a prepaid card comprises receiving a prepaid card; receiving information transmitted from the prepaid card; receiving an amount to credit to the prepaid card; generating a request for the credit to the prepaid card, wherein the request comprises an account number of the prepaid card and an indicator in a discretionary field, wherein the indicator provides an instruction to credit the account number with the amount; transmitting the request to an acquirer for verification by the issuer the of the prepaid card; and receiving authorization to credit the prepaid card with the requested amount, wherein the prepaid card is credited with the requested amount at the point of sale terminal.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of reloading a prepaid card, the method comprising:

receiving, by a point of sale terminal of a retailer, a prepaid card, a first payment instrument, and a second payment instrument, the first payment instrument and the second payment instrument being different types of payment instruments;

receiving, by the point of sale terminal, information transmitted from the prepaid card;

receiving, by the point of sale terminal, a first amount to credit to the prepaid card based upon the first payment instrument presented by a cardholder of the prepaid card at the point of sale terminal of the retailer and a second amount to credit to the prepaid card based upon the second payment instrument presented by the cardholder of the prepaid card at the point of sale terminal of the retailer;

generating, by the point of sale terminal, a first request for the credit to the prepaid card, the first request comprising;

an account number of the prepaid card; and

an indicator in a discretionary field, the indicator providing an instruction to credit the account number with the amount of the first payment instrument;

generating, by the point of sale terminal, a second request for the credit to the prepaid card, the second request comprising the account number of the prepaid card; and

an indicator in a discretionary field, the indicator providing an instruction to credit the account number with the amount of the second payment instrument;

transmitting, by the point of sale terminal, the first request and second request to an acquirer for verification by the issuer the of the prepaid card;

receiving, by the point of sale terminal, authorization to credit the prepaid card with the requested amount of the first payment instrument and the requested amount of the second payment instrument,

wherein a value of the prepaid card is increased by crediting the prepaid card with the requested amount of the first payment instrument and the requested amount of the second payment instrument at the point of sale terminal.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the discretionary field is selected from a plurality of discretionary fields, and the selected discretionary field is field 104.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises an identifier of the point of sale terminal.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises the amount.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

scanning a graphical representation; and

automatically populating the indicator in the discretionary field based upon the scanned graphical representation.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the graphical representation is a barcode or QR code.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising requesting a debit of the prepaid card for a second amount to be simultaneously processed with the request for the credit to the prepaid card.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the request further comprises an account number of a sponsoring entity to debit.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising verifying that the account number of the sponsoring entity should be debited and that the debited funds should be applied as a credit to the prepaid card.