LEAST COST NETWORK ROUTING FOR ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS

• US 20070233597A1
• Filed: 03/06/2007
• Published: 10/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Petersen, William, Drysdale, Ian
• Application Number:
  US11/682,856
• Publication Number:
  US 20070233597A1
• 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 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for determining a lowest cost debit/credit network for an electronic transaction and methods for routing an electronic transaction through a lowest cost network for the transaction. The invention generally involves providing a transaction table array and determining a lowest cost debit/credit network from the transaction table array for the electronic transaction.

Claims

1. A method for determining a lowest cost debit/credit network for an electronic transaction, the method comprising:

providing a transaction table array comprising a series of tables, wherein each table includes a list of debit/credit networks sorted based at least in part on network fee amounts, each table is generated based at least in part on a discrete predetermined transaction amount, and the series of tables is based at least in part on a predetermined transaction table amount interval up to a cap amount;

selecting an appropriate transaction table from the transaction table array based at least in part on the amount of the transaction; and

determining the lowest cost debit/credit network from the selected transaction table to thereby determine the lowest cost debit/credit network for the transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined transaction table amount interval is selected from the group consisting of:

1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, 50 cent, 1 dollar, 5 dollar, 7 dollar, and 10 dollar intervals.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each table is further generated based at least in part on merchant type.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the appropriate table is selected based at least in part on at least merchant type and transaction amount.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the merchant type comprises at least one of a grocery merchant, clothing merchant, specialty merchant, banking merchant, petroleum merchant, quick service restaurant merchant, and sit-down restaurant merchant.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each table is further generated based at least in part on transaction type.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the appropriate table is selected based at least in part on transaction type and transaction amount.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the transaction type is selected from the group consisting of:

credit card transaction, debit card transaction, automated teller machine transaction, electronic funds transfer transaction, electronic check acceptance transaction, and traditional check acceptance transaction.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the availability of the first selected lowest cost debit/credit network for the transaction, and selecting the next lowest cost debit/credit network that is available if the first selected lowest cost debit/credit network is not available.

10. A method of routing an electronic transaction involving a merchant or ATM owner/operator and a financial institution which issues customer accounts through a lowest cost debit/credit network for the transaction, the method comprising:

providing a merchant or ATM owner/operator network list which corresponds to a merchant or ATM owner/operator identification number, the merchant or ATM owner/operator network list comprising debit/credit networks available for access by the merchant or ATM owner/operator;

providing a financial institution network list which corresponds to a financial institution issuing a customer account, the financial institution network list comprising debit/credit networks available for access by the customer account;

providing a transaction table array comprising a series of tables, wherein each table includes a list of debit/credit networks sorted based at least in part on network fee amounts, each table is generated based at least in part on a discrete predetermined transaction amount, and the series of tables is based at least in part on a predetermined transaction table amount interval up to a cap amount;

matching the debit/credit networks of the merchant or ATM owner/operator network list and the financial institution network list and generating a merchant or ATM owner/operator-financial institution network list with the matched debit/credit networks of the merchant or ATM owner/operator network list and the financial institution network list;

selecting an appropriate transaction table from the transaction table array based at least in part on a transaction amount;

cross-referencing the debit/credit networks sorted in the selected transaction table with the debit/credit networks of the merchant or ATM owner/operator-financial institution network list;

determining the lowest cost debit/credit network in common between the selected transaction table and the merchant or ATM owner/operator-financial institution network list; and

routing the transaction through the determined lowest cost network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the predetermined transaction table amount interval comprising at least one of:

1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, 50 cent, 1 dollar, 2 dollar, 5 dollar, 7 dollar, and 10 dollar intervals.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein each table is further generated based at least in part on merchant type.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the appropriate table is selected based at least in part on at least merchant type and transaction amount.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the merchant type comprises at least one of a grocery merchant, clothing merchant, specialty merchant, banking merchant, petroleum merchant, quick service restaurant merchant, and sit-down restaurant merchant.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein merchant type is determined based at least in part on the merchant identification number.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein each table is further generated based at least in part on transaction type.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the appropriate table is selected based at least in part on at least transaction type and transaction amount.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the transaction type is selected from the group consisting of:

credit card transaction, debit card transaction, automated teller machine transaction, electronic funds transfer transaction, electronic check acceptance transaction, and traditional check acceptance transaction.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining the availability of the first selected lowest cost debit/credit network for the transaction, and selecting the next lowest cost debit/credit network that is available if the first selected lowest cost debit/credit network is not available.