SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ISSUING AND USING A LOYALTY POINT ADVANCE
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method for issuing a loyalty point advance to a loyalty account to facilitate a purchase, wherein said loyalty account is associated with a participant, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a request from said participant to exchange loyalty points for at least one of a good and a service;
retrieving information from a loyalty program system, including an amount of earned loyalty points accumulated by said participant and advanced loyalty points available to said participant; and
, receiving a request to debit said loyalty account, wherein said debit reduces an available amount of at least one of said earned loyalty points and advanced loyalty points.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for spending loyalty points over a computerized network to facilitate a loyalty point transaction is disclosed. The system enables a participant of a loyalty program to accept an advance of loyalty point when a loyalty account balance is insufficient to make a desired purchase. An amount of loyalty points available as an advance to a participant is determined based on a number of criteria related to the participant, financial account activity, and loyalty account activity. The participant is allotted a predetermined length of time to earn or purchase enough loyalty points to repay the balance of advanced loyalty points. If, at the conclusion of such predetermined length of time, sufficient points have not been earned to offset the loyalty point advance, the participant is charged the currency value of each outstanding loyalty point. The participant may be assessed interest charges and/or fees at the time of the loyalty point advance, during reimbursement, or at the end of a time period for reimbursement.
524 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method for issuing a loyalty point advance to a loyalty account to facilitate a purchase, wherein said loyalty account is associated with a participant, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request from said participant to exchange loyalty points for at least one of a good and a service;
retrieving information from a loyalty program system, including an amount of earned loyalty points accumulated by said participant and advanced loyalty points available to said participant; and
,receiving a request to debit said loyalty account, wherein said debit reduces an available amount of at least one of said earned loyalty points and advanced loyalty points. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer implemented method for issuing a loyalty point advance to a loyalty account to facilitate a purchase, wherein said loyalty account is associated with a participant, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request from said participant to exchange loyalty points for at least one of a good and a service;
retrieving an amount of loyalty points from a first account, wherein said first account includes an amount of earned loyalty points accumulated by said participant and advanced loyalty points available to said participant;
converting said amount of loyalty points to a currency value using a computerized conversion processor; and
applying said currency value as a credit to a second account, wherein said second account is stored on a second database system. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:
receiving a request from said participant to exchange loyalty points for at least one of a good and a service;
retrieving information from a loyalty program system, including an amount of earned loyalty points accumulated by said participant and advanced loyalty points available to said participant; and
,receiving a request to debit said loyalty account, wherein said debit reduces an available amount of at least one of said earned loyalty points and advanced loyalty points.
Specification