System and method for facilitating a subsidiary card account with controlled spending capability

• US 20040039694A1
• Filed: 07/24/2003
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Hobbs, Chris, Menichilli, Julie, Rances, Mary, Dunn, Melanie
• Granted Patent: US 7,249,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/227 characterised in that multiple accounts are available, e.g. to the payer
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/2295 Parent-child type, e.g. where parent has control on child rights
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/30 characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/381 Currency conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for facilitating a subsidiary account with parental control of one or more spending limits. An exemplary system facilitates provision of funds to a subsidiary and control of the spending of subsidiary by a parent through establishment or modification of one or more spending limits. Exemplary spending limits may be configured for modifying a spending capacity so as to affect, for example, amount per transaction, per day, during a predetermined time period, at a particular merchant, at a particular chain of merchants, at a type of industry, in accordance with a predetermined rate of increase or decrease over time, number of transactions during any time period and/or any combination thereof. A parent may establish or modify one or more spending limits through suitable communication means such as telephone, pager, computer, digital communications device, television, personal digital assistant, facsimile machine, or other suitable device.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating the administration of a subsidiary account comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a parent for a subsidiary account, said parent identifying a parent account, said parent account being a financial account associated with the parent, the parent account having a parent spending power;

establishing a subsidiary account having a subsidiary spending capacity wherein said subsidiary account is configured to consume at least part of said spending capacity to facilitate payment for a transaction;

reducing said parent spending power by an amount less than said subsidiary spending capacity; and

establishing at least one spending limit configured to affect said spending capacity.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said spending limit is configured for modifying a spending capacity so as to affect a maximum transaction amount allowed per transaction.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said spending limit is configured for modifying a spending capacity so as to affect a maximum transaction amount allowed per day.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said spending limit is configured for modifying a spending capacity so as to affect a maximum transaction amount allowed during a predetermined time period.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said spending limit is configured for modifying a spending capacity so as to affect a maximum transaction amount allowed at a particular merchant.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said spending limit is configured for modifying a spending capacity so as to affect a maximum transaction amount allowed at a particular chain of merchants.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said spending limit is configured for modifying a spending capacity so as to affect a maximum transaction amount allowed at a particular industry type.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said spending limit is configured for modifying a spending capacity so as to affect a maximum transaction amount allowed in accordance with a predetermined rate of change over time.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said request is received via a means for communication selected from the group consisting of telephone, pager, computer, digital communications device, television, personal digital assistant, and facsimile machine.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring spending activity facilitated by at least one of a parent card account and one or more subsidiary card accounts; and

modifying at least one of said parent spending power and said subsidiary spending capacity based at least in part on said spending activity.

11. A system for administering a subsidiary account having a subsidiary spending capacity;

the system comprising an account administrator in communication with a transaction administrator, a settler, and a statement generator;

the account administrator configured to receive a request from a parent having a parent account and to facilitate the establishment of one or more subsidiary account and to establish at least one spending limit configured to affect said spending capacity, the transaction administrator configured to facilitate transactions consuming said subsidiary spending capacity, the settler configured to facilitate providing a settling payment to a merchant, the statement generator configured to facilitate generating a parent account statement.