Personally customizable credit card accounts

• US 20050137971A1
• Filed: 02/22/2005
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Malcolm, Jerry Walter
• Application Number:
  US11/063,143
• Publication Number:
  US 20050137971A1
• 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 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Account holders may specify vendor-specific charge restrictions for charging transactions against their accounts, where each vendor-specific charge restriction includes a unique identifier for the corresponding vendor to which the charge restriction is applicable. The charge restriction may be an exclusion from approval of all charge authorization requests, an amount limit on charge authorization requests which may be approved, a “rebill” limit on the number of times subsequent charge authorization requests may be approved, or a combination of such restrictions and/or other restrictions. When a charge authorization request is received for a charge against an account having vendor-specific charge restrictions set by the account holder, the vendor identifier is extracted from the charge authorization request and employed to determine whether any charge restrictions are applicable to the requesting vendor. The vendor-specific charge restrictions for a particular vendor may be specified by the account holder either before or after an initial charge transactions involving that vendor, with the vendor identifier either manually entered by the account holder or automatically extracted from an account transaction record.

Claims

1. A method for managing charging transactions, comprising:

enabling a designation, by an owner of a chargeable account number and in association with the chargeable account number, of at least one specified allowed vendor and a corresponding amount limit chargeable by the specified allowed vendor; and

determining whether a current charging transaction for a specified amount by a charging vendor to the chargeable account number is within the designation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of enabling a designation of at least one specified allowed vendor and a corresponding amount limit chargeable by the specified allowed vendor further comprises:

enabling specification of the corresponding amount limit as a specified amount within a defined duration of time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of enabling a designation of at least one specified allowed vendor and a corresponding amount limit chargeable by the specified allowed vendor further comprises:

enabling specification of a number of times which the at least one specified allowed vendor is permitted to make a charging transaction within the corresponding amount limit on the chargeable account number.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling a designation, by the owner of the chargeable account number and in association with the chargeable account number, of at least one specified excluded vendor.

5. A method for limiting charging transactions, comprising:

responsive to receiving a charge authorization request for a charge on a charge account designated by a unique charge account number, determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account;

responsive to determining that the account holder has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for the charge account, determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions; and

responsive to identifying a match between the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and a vendor identifier within an entry in the list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions, employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account further comprises:

employing the unique charge account number to retrieve account records for the charge account.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions further comprises:

comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an allowed vendors listing associated with the charge account; and

comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an excluded vendors listing associated with the charge account.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprises:

determining whether a charge amount from the charge authorization request would exceed an amount limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing; and

determining whether the charge would exceed a rebill limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprises:

determining whether the allowed vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the allowed vendors listing are to be declined.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprises:

determining whether the excluded vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the excluded vendors listing are to be approved.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

approving the charge authorization request if no charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge; and

declining the charge authorization request if any charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge.

12. A system for managing charging transactions, comprising:

means for enabling a designation, by an owner of a chargeable account number and in association with the chargeable account number, of at least one specified allowed vendor and a corresponding amount limit chargeable by the specified allowed vendor; and

means for determining whether a current charging transaction for a specified amount by a charging vendor to the chargeable account number is within the designation.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the means for enabling a designation of at least one specified allowed vendor and a corresponding amount limit chargeable by the specified allowed vendor further comprises:

means for enabling specification of the corresponding amount limit as a specified amount within a defined duration of time.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the means for enabling a designation of at least one specified allowed vendor and a corresponding amount limit chargeable by the specified allowed vendor further comprises:

means for enabling specification of a number of times which the at least one specified allowed vendor is permitted to make a charging transaction within the corresponding amount limit on the chargeable account number.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

means for enabling a designation, by the owner of the chargeable account number and in association with the chargeable account number, of at least one specified excluded vendor.

16. A system for limiting charging transactions, comprising:

means, responsive to receiving a charge authorization request for a charge on a charge account designated by a unique charge account number, for determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account;

means, responsive to determining that the account holder has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for the charge account, for determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions; and

means, responsive to identifying a match between the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and a vendor identifier within an entry in the list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions, for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the means for determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account further comprises:

means for employing the unique charge account number to retrieve account records for the charge account.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the means for determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions further comprises:

means for comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an allowed vendors listing associated with the charge account; and

means for comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an excluded vendors listing associated with the charge account.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprises:

means for determining whether a charge amount from the charge authorization request would exceed an amount limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing; and

means for determining whether the charge would exceed a rebill limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprises:

means for determining whether the allowed vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the allowed vendors listing are to be declined.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprises:

means for determining whether the excluded vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the excluded vendors listing are to be approved.

22. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

means for approving the charge authorization request if no charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge; and

means for declining the charge authorization request if any charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge.

23. A computer program product within a computer usable medium for managing charging transactions, comprising:

instructions for enabling a designation, by an owner of a chargeable account number and in association with the chargeable account number, of at least one specified allowed vendor and a corresponding amount limit chargeable by the specified allowed vendor; and

instructions for determining whether a current charging transaction for a specified amount by a charging vendor to the chargeable account number is within the designation.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the instructions for enabling a designation of at least one specified allowed vendor and a corresponding amount limit chargeable by the specified allowed vendor further comprise:

instructions for enabling specification of the corresponding amount limit as a specified amount within a defined duration of time.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the instructions for enabling a designation of at least one specified allowed vendor and a corresponding amount limit chargeable by the specified allowed vendor further comprise:

instructions for enabling specification of a number of times which the at least one specified allowed vendor is permitted to make a charging transaction within the corresponding amount limit on the chargeable account number.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising:

instructions for enabling a designation, by the owner of the chargeable account number and in association with the chargeable account number, of at least one specified excluded vendor.

27. A computer program product within a computer usable medium for limiting charging transactions, comprising:

instructions, responsive to receiving a charge authorization request for a charge on a charge account designated by a unique charge account number, for determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account;

instructions, responsive to determining that the account holder has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for the charge account, for determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions; and

instructions, responsive to identifying a match between the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and a vendor identifier within an entry in the list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions, for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the instructions for determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account further comprise:

instructions for employing the unique charge account number to retrieve account records for the charge account.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the instructions for determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions further comprise:

instructions for comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an allowed vendors listing associated with the charge account; and

instructions for comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an excluded vendors listing associated with the charge account.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the instructions for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprise:

instructions for determining whether a charge amount from the charge authorization request would exceed an amount limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing; and

instructions for determining whether the charge would exceed a rebill limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the instructions for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprise:

instructions for determining whether the allowed vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the allowed vendors listing are to be declined.

32. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the instructions for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprise:

instructions for determining whether the excluded vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the excluded vendors listing are to be approved.

33. The computer program product of claim 30, further comprising:

instructions for approving the charge authorization request if no charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge; and

instructions for declining the charge authorization request if any charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge.