System and method to retain customers using rebate in combination with investment instruments to serve customers' long term financial needs
First Claim
1. A method of conducting an incentive program of retaining a customer using a rebate offered by a sponsor in combination with an investment account employing an investment instrument serving said customer'"'"'s long term financial needs, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) establishing a credit based account with said sponsor for the benefit of said customer, or a′
) establishing a bank account with said sponsor for the benefit of said customer;
b) providing an investment account employing said investment instrument arranged by said sponsor;
c) funding said investment account of said customer using said rebate offered by said sponsor with a predetermined but periodically adjustable percentage of total amount of money that said customer has paid for purchasing goods or services from a merchant through said credit based account or said bank account in a particular period of time; and
d) electronically transferring the amount of said rebate in a particular period of time to said investment account of said customer if a division of the amount of said rebate is not necessary, or d′
) electronically transferring a portion of the amount of said rebate in a particular period of time to said investment account of said customer and the rest of said rebate in a particular period of time to a match account, said match account employs the same said investment instrument as those selected by said customer for said investment account, if a division of the amount of said rebate is needed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of a method of conducting a customer-retaining program of the present invention are disclosed comprising the steps of establishing a credit based account or a bank account with the sponsor of the incentive program for the benefit of a customer, providing to the customer an investment account employing a customer-chosen investment instrument which is arranged by the sponsor, funding the investment account, for the benefit of the customer, by sponsor-offered rebate which is determined by a predetermined but periodically adjustable percentage of the total amount of money that the customer has paid for purchasing goods or services from a merchant through the credit based account or the bank account established with the sponsor in a particular period of time, periodically transferring the amount of the rebate to the customer'"'"'s investment account or, if there requires a division of the rebate which depends on the number of years of participation in the incentive program, periodically transferring a portion of the amount of the rebate to the customer'"'"'s investment account while depositing the rest of the amount of the rebate temporarily into a match account which employs the same investment instrument that the customer chose for his or her investment account. Moreover, disclosed is an additional step providing a merchant offered rebate to the customer for purchasing goods or services from the merchant. Embodiments of a system of supporting a customer-retaining program are also disclosed. The system includes a means for collecting and storing transactional information which further includes customer identification information gathered by an identification means, a computer data processing device which consists of a centralized data storage device with a data input device, a centralized data processing center which is loaded with software programs for calculating the amount of the rebate offered by the sponsor of the incentive program to a customer as well as generating promotion materials for the purpose of informing the customer about the availability of the incentive program, at least one distributed data storage device with a data input device and such a distributed data storage device is in communication with the centralized data storage device and the centralized data processing center via an electronic data transmission device, a means for transferring funds, a means for reporting the rebate amount to the customer, and a means for promoting the customer-retaining program to the customer. In addition, if a merchant offers a rebate to the customer for purchasing the merchant'"'"'s goods or services, a means for calculating the amount of the rebate offered by the merchant and a means for reporting the merchant offered rebate amount to both the customer and the merchant are included in the system.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of conducting an incentive program of retaining a customer using a rebate offered by a sponsor in combination with an investment account employing an investment instrument serving said customer'"'"'s long term financial needs, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) establishing a credit based account with said sponsor for the benefit of said customer, or a′
) establishing a bank account with said sponsor for the benefit of said customer;
b) providing an investment account employing said investment instrument arranged by said sponsor;
c) funding said investment account of said customer using said rebate offered by said sponsor with a predetermined but periodically adjustable percentage of total amount of money that said customer has paid for purchasing goods or services from a merchant through said credit based account or said bank account in a particular period of time; and
d) electronically transferring the amount of said rebate in a particular period of time to said investment account of said customer if a division of the amount of said rebate is not necessary, or d′
) electronically transferring a portion of the amount of said rebate in a particular period of time to said investment account of said customer and the rest of said rebate in a particular period of time to a match account, said match account employs the same said investment instrument as those selected by said customer for said investment account, if a division of the amount of said rebate is needed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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13. A computerized system for supporting an incentive program of retaining a customer using a rebate offered by a sponsor in combination with an investment account employing an investment instrument serving said customer'"'"'s long term financial needs, said system comprising:
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a) a means for collecting and storing transactional information;
b) a computer data processing device;
c) a means for electronically transferring an amount of said rebate in a particular period of time to said investment account of said customer employing said investment instrument if a division of the amount of said rebate is not necessary, or c′
) a means for electronically transferring a portion of the amount of said rebate in a particular period of time to said investment account of said customer employing said investment instrument and the rest of said rebate in a particular period of time to a match account, said match account employs the same said investment instrument as those selected by said customer for said investment account, if a division of the amount of said rebate is needed; and
d) a means for reporting the amount of said rebate funding said investment account in a particular period of time to said customer.
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Specification