Debit card incentive system and method
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of encouraging a customer utilizing a financial card to perform a debit-type financial transaction rather than a credit-type transaction at a merchant, said method comprising:
- offering the customer a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel as a reward for performing a debit-type financial transaction at the merchant;
determining that the customer performed the debit-type financial transaction at the merchant; and
dispensing fuel to the customer in a subsequent fueling transaction at a PPU reduced from a posted price by an amount equal to the PPU discount.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for encouraging a customer utilizing a financial card to perform a debit-type financial transaction rather than a credit-type transaction at a merchant. The customer is offered a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel as a reward for performing the debit-type financial transaction. A point-of-sale (POS) system at the merchant determines that the customer performed the debit-type transaction, and stores the PPU discount and a customer identifier in a Discounts-Earned database. When the customer initiates a subsequent purchase of fuel, at the merchant or a different retail fueling merchant, a fuel dispenser retrieves the PPU discount from the database, discounts the posted price of the fuel by the PPU discount, and dispenses fuel to the customer at the reduced price. A redeemed discounts calculator multiplies the PPU discount by the number of units purchased in the fueling transaction, and a clearing mechanism allocates the redeemed discount between the merchant and the retail fueling merchant.
54 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of encouraging a customer utilizing a financial card to perform a debit-type financial transaction rather than a credit-type transaction at a merchant, said method comprising:
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offering the customer a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel as a reward for performing a debit-type financial transaction at the merchant;
determining that the customer performed the debit-type financial transaction at the merchant; and
dispensing fuel to the customer in a subsequent fueling transaction at a PPU reduced from a posted price by an amount equal to the PPU discount. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for encouraging a customer utilizing a financial card to perform a debit-type financial transaction rather than a credit-type transaction at a merchant, wherein the customer is offered a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel as a reward for performing the debit-type financial transaction, said system comprising:
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a point-of-sale (POS) system at the merchant comprising;
means for determining that the customer performed the debit-type financial transaction at the merchant; and
means, responsive to a determination that the customer performed the debit-type financial transaction, for awarding the PPU discount to the customer; and
a fuel dispenser for dispensing fuel to the customer in a subsequent fueling transaction, wherein the dispenser has access to the customer'"'"'s PPU discount and reduces a posted price for the fuel by an amount equal to the PPU discount. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification