Transfer instrument

• US 20060116960A1
• Filed: 01/20/2006
• Published: 06/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citibank (South Dakota) NA (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Ecount, Inc.
• Inventors: Korfmann, Roger, Raden, Paul L., Gillin, Matthew J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,739,168 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/042 characterized in that the payment protocol involves at least one cheque
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0425 the cheque being electronic only
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1085 involving automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/38215 Use of certificates or encrypted proofs of transaction rights
• 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 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• 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 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A method performed by a transfer instrument issuer involves issuing, to a recipient, a certificate which is linked to a national card account obtained by the transfer instrument issuer from an account issuer different from the transfer instrument issuer, without both issuing and providing a physical card for the national card account to the recipient of the certificate, the certificate having been purchased by a purchaser, who is not also the recipient, and containing all information necessary for the purchase of goods or services from any merchant who is capable of processing economic transactions involving one of the plurality national card accounts for which a physical card has issued, but without presentment of the physical card.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

acquiring a plurality of charge accounts, from an account issuer, of a type normally issued with an associated physically producible card which may be presented as evidence of an existing charge account, the physically producible cards bearing human readable account numbers and expiration dates, the plurality of charge accounts being capable of being gifted to a party, after acquisition;

receiving a request from a first party to gift a charge account to a second party having a name, without both the issuance and provision of a physical card for the charge account to the second party, the first party and the second party being different from each other the charge account being usable in the name of the second party at any merchant, unrelated to the transfer instrument issuer, who is capable of seeking authorization, using an authorization infrastructure, for purchases involving charge accounts for which the physically producible cards are issued, whether or not the physical cards evidencing the accounts are presented by purchasers when a purchase is made;

accepting an account parameter selected by the first party,

informing the second party of the account and directing the second party to perform a specified action in order to cause an activation of the account with the transfer instrument issuer;

activating the account for usage by the second party according to the account parameter;

receiving an indication that the second party has made a purchase from a merchant, unrelated to the transfer instrument issuer entity, using the account; and

undertaking a settling transaction involving the account with the issuing bank after the usage by the second party without the involvement of the first party.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a purchaser accessible interface through which the first party can present the request to gift the charge account to the second party.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

establishing an account for storage of funds usable by the transfer instrument issuer for undertaking a settling transaction with the account issuer for settling an economic transaction associated with one of the plurality of charge accounts.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the activating further comprises:

ensuring that the authorization infrastructure will authorize the purchase from the merchant as long as an account activity parameter is not violated.

5. A method performed by a transfer instrument issuer comprising:

a) making an instrument, of a purchaser selectable value, available for purchase by a first party in a name of a second party, a purchase of which will result in the transfer instrument issuer maintaining a payment card account associated with the second party, although no physical card is both issued for the account and provided to the second party at a time when the second party uses the payment card account, the payment card account being maintainable by the transfer instrument issuer so that when an economic transaction with a merchant, other than the transfer instrument issuer, occurs in accordance with the instrument parameters, the economic transaction will be authorized using the authorization infrastructure of a card association authorization entity normally used to authorize transactions involving a physical payment card account; and

b) invoking a notification procedure in response to the purchase that will notify the second party of the account.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the payment card account is one of:

i) a credit card account obtained from an account issuer different from the transfer instrument issuer whereby an outstanding balance due need not necessarily be paid at the end of a billing period;

ii) a debit card account obtained from an account issuer different from the transfer instrument issuer whereby at the time of the economic transaction with the merchant, an amount for the economic transaction is transferred from the payment card account held by the transfer instrument issuer to the merchant;

or

iii) a charge card account obtained from an account issuer different from the transfer instrument issuer whereby an account balance must be paid in full at the end of a billing period.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the making further comprises:

executing a process to construct a transfer instrument according to a template selected by the first person.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

acting according to a post-purchase criteria.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the acting includes one of:

a) informing the first party that a use of the payment card account has occurred;

b) informing the first party of when a use of the payment card account has occurred;

or

c) identifying the merchant to the first party.

10. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

allowing the second party to specify a criterion related to a use of the payment card.

11. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

providing redemption instructions to the second party.

12. A method performed by a transfer instrument issuer comprising:

issuing, to a recipient, a certificate which is linked to a national card account of a plurality of national card accounts obtained by the transfer instrument issuer from an account issuer different from the transfer instrument issuer, without both issuing and providing a physical card for the national card account to the recipient of the certificate, the certificate having been purchased by a purchaser, who is not also the recipient, and containing all information necessary for the purchase of at least one of goods or services from any merchant who is capable of processing economic transactions involving one of the plurality of national card accounts for which a physical card has issued, but without presentment of the physical card.

13. A gift of credit method performed by a transfer instrument issuer comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a request from a first party to transfer credit, as a gift, to a second party;

b) charging a credit card belonging to the first party in a first amount;

c) assigning a credit card account to a second party having a credit limit related to the first amount, obtained by the transfer instrument issuer from an issuing bank the credit card being independent of the credit card belonging to the first party, the credit card account being one of a plurality of credit card accounts of a type wherein;

i) physical cards are issued to people named on the accounts,

ii) the physical cards are usable to make a purchase on credit of at least one of goods or services, and

iii) authorization of charges to the accounts are performed using an authorization infrastructure of a card association of which the bank is a member;

d) informing the second party of the credit card account, the credit card account being usable by the second party in the second party'"'"'s name without any financial liability being borne by the first party as a result of a use of the credit card account, and no physical card for the credit card account being both issued and provided to the second party at the time an authorization for an economic transaction between the second party and a merchant unrelated to the transfer instrument issuer is performed, using the authorization infrastructure.

14. A system comprising:

an interface to a communications network, the interface being correlated to a remote server; and

a processor capable of displaying the interface to a person connected to the communications network, the interface including a pointer which, when selected, will connect the person to the remote server, the remote server having a communicative relationship with a database, the database being configured to maintain records of payment card accounts held by a transfer instrument issuer and obtained from an issuer entity unrelated to the transfer instrument issuer, the account being of a type for which a physical card normally is provided to an individual to whom an account is registered, one of the payment card accounts being registerable to a first person at the request of a second person, the payment card account being maintained such that, at the time the second person buys from a merchant unrelated to the transfer instrument issuer and provides payment by referencing the payment card account, no physical card for the payment card account will have been provided to the second person.