Cash redemption of gift cards systems and methods

• US 20070187494A1
• Filed: 02/16/2006
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Western Union
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hanna, Assaad
• Granted Patent: US 7,891,561 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/383
• 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 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/352 Contactless payments by cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• 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

Abstract

A method of redeeming cash from a stored-value instrument is disclosed. The method may, at a point-of-sale (“POS”) device associated with a money transfer network, receive an identifier associated with the stored-value instrument and transmit a request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument to an instrument authority system. The instrument authority system may have a database of identifiers, values associated with the identifiers and merchants associated with the identifiers. The method may further receive a response at the POS device from the instrument authority system. Based at least in part on the response, the method may determine whether to dispense cash.

Claims

1. A method of redeeming cash from a stored-value instrument comprising:

at a point-of-sale (POS) device associated with a money transfer network, receiving an identifier associated with the stored-value instrument;

transmitting a request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument to an instrument authority system, wherein the instrument authority system comprises a database of identifiers, values associated with the identifiers, and merchants associated with the identifiers;

receiving a response at the POS device from the instrument authority system; and

based at least in part on the response, determining whether to dispense cash.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the POS device comprises a selection from the group consisting of:

a financial transaction kiosk;

an automated teller machine;

a computer; and

a cash register.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the identifier associated with the stored-value instrument comprises a selection from the group consisting of:

inputting a card number associated with the stored-value instrument;

swiping a magnetic stripe associated with the stored-value instrument through a magnetic stripe reader, wherein the identifier is encoded on the magnetic stripe;

scanning a bar code associated with the stored-value instrument with a bar code reader, wherein the identifier is represented by the bar code;

communicating with a radio-frequency identification (“

RFID”

) tag associated with the stored-value instrument, wherein the identifier is represented by the RFID tag; and

accessing a memory chip associated with the stored-value instrument, wherein the identifier is stored on the memory chip.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored-value instrument comprises a stored-value card.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument to the instrument authority system comprises transmitting to a first system the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument, wherein the first system transmits the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument to a second system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first system comprises the money transfer network, and the second system comprises the instrument authority system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument comprises the identifier associated with the stored-value instrument.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument further comprises a request for a specific amount of cash.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the response comprises a selection from the group consisting of:

a fraudulent activity notice;

a declined notice;

a delay notice and thereafter a declined notice;

an insufficient funds notice;

a delay notice and thereafter an approval notice; and

an approval notice.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the determination, dispensing cash.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information about a holder of the stored-value instrument.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said information about the holder of the stored-value instrument comprises a selection from the group consisting of:

a name;

an address;

a phone number; and

a driver license number.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the cash has a value associated therewith, the method further comprising receiving a request to redirect the value associated with the cash.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the request to redirect the value associated with the cash comprises a selection from the group consisting of:

a request to pay a bill with the value associated with the cash;

a request to store on another stored-value instrument the value associated with the cash;

or

a request to transfer money to another person and fund said transfer with the value associated with the cash.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether to dispense cash is further based at least in part on the request to redirect the value associated with the cash.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving information about a holder of the stored-value instrument; and

referencing said information about the holder of the stored-value instrument to process the request to redirect the value associated with the cash.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising, at the POS device, redirecting the cash.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the cash has a value associated therewith, and wherein redirecting cash comprises a selection from the group consisting of:

funding a money order with the value associated with the cash;

or

funding a cashier check with the value associated with the cash.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving information about a holder of the stored-value instrument; and

referencing said information about the holder of the stored-value instrument to redirect the cash.

20. A method of redeeming cash from a stored-value instrument comprising:

at a money transfer network, receiving from a POS device associated with the money transfer network a request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument;

transmitting the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument to an instrument authority system, wherein the instrument authority system comprises a database of identifiers, values associated with the identifiers, and merchants associated with the identifiers;

receiving a response from the instrument-authority system; and

transmitting the response to the POS device, wherein the POS device, based at least in part on the response, determines whether to dispense cash.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument comprises an identifier associated with the stored-value instrument.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument further comprises a request for a specific value.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument comprises information about a holder of the stored-value instrument.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising storing said information about the holder of the stored-value instrument.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the response comprises a selection from the group consisting of:

a fraudulent activity notice;

a declined notice;

a delay notice and thereafter a declined notice;

an insufficient funds notice;

a delay notice and thereafter an approval notice; and

an approval notice.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the cash has a value associated therewith, the method further comprising:

receiving a request to redirect the value associated with the cash; and

redirecting the value associated with the cash.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein redirecting the value associated with the cash comprises a selection from the group consisting of:

paying a bill with the value associated with the cash;

storing on another stored-value instrument the value associated with the cash; and

transferring money to another person and funding said transfer with the value associated with the cash.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

receiving information about a holder of the stored-value instrument; and

referencing said information about the holder of the stored-value instrument to process the request to redirect the value associated with the cash.

29. A method of redeeming cash from a stored-value instrument comprising:

at an instrument authority system, receiving a request to redeem cash associated with a stored-value instrument from a POS device associated with a money transfer network, wherein the instrument authority system comprises a database of identifiers associated with stored-value instruments, values associated with the identifiers, and merchants associated with the identifiers;

determining if the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument should be authorized; and

transmitting a response to the money transfer network, wherein the money transfer network transmits the response to the POS device, and wherein based at least in part on the response, the POS device determines whether to dispense cash.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument comprises a request for a specific value, and determining if the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument should be authorized comprises comparing the value associated with the stored-value instrument to the specific value.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising modifying the database based at least in part upon said response.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein modifying the database based at least in part upon said response comprises reducing the value associated with the stored-value instrument in the database if the response is an approval notice.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein modifying the database based at least in part upon said response comprises modifying a fraud variable associated with the stored-value instrument in the database if the response is a fraudulent activity notice.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein the cash has a value associated therewith, the method further comprising:

receiving a request to store on a second stored-value instrument the value associated with the cash;

modifying the database based at least in part upon the request to store on the second stored-value instrument the value associated with the cash.

35. A method of redeeming cash from a stored-value instrument comprising:

at a POS device associated with a money transfer network, receiving an identifier associated with the stored-value instrument;

transmitting a request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument to the money transfer network, wherein the request comprises the identifier associated with the stored value instrument and a request for a specific value;

at the money transfer network, transmitting the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument to an instrument authority system, wherein the instrument authority system comprises a database of identifiers associated with stored-value instruments, values associated with the identifiers, and merchants associated with the identifiers;

at the instrument authority system, determining if the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument should be authorized, wherein determining if the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument should be authorized comprises comparing the request for the specific value with the value associated with the identifier associated with the stored-value instrument;

transmitting a response to the money transfer network, wherein the response is based at least in part upon the determination if the request to redeem cash associated with the stored-value instrument should be authorized;

at the money transfer network, transmitting the response to the POS device;

at the POS device, determining whether to dispense cash, wherein determining whether to dispense cash is based at least in part upon the response; and

based on the determination of whether to dispense cash, dispensing cash.