Method and system for offering a credit product by a credit issuer to a consumer at a point-of sale

• US 20080167956A1
• Filed: 01/09/2007
• Published: 07/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: I4 Commerce, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Keithley, Thomas H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,554,669 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

A method for offering at least one credit product by at least one credit issuer to a consumer at a point-of-sale between a merchant and the consumer. The method includes the steps of: providing a credit issuer data set including a plurality of data fields to a central database; initiating a transaction between the consumer and the merchant at the point-of-sale; offering, to the consumer at the point-of-sale, the at least one credit product; and presenting, to the consumer at the point-of-sale, at least one data field in the credit issuer data set. The at least one data field presented to the consumer is populated with data directed to the credit product, the credit issuer, or any combination thereof. An apparatus and system are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for offering at least one credit product by at least one credit issuer to a consumer at a point-of-sale between a merchant and the consumer, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a credit issuer data set including a plurality of data fields to a central database;

initiating a transaction between the consumer and the merchant at the point-of-sale;

offering, to the consumer at the point-of-sale, the at least one credit product; and

presenting, to the consumer at the point-of-sale, at least one data field in the credit issuer data set, wherein at least one data field presented to the consumer is populated with data directed to the credit product, the credit issuer or any combination thereof.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of populating at least one of the data field with data reflecting (i) terms relating to the credit product;

(ii) conditions relating to the credit product;

(iii) card member agreement data;

(iv) credit product offer data;

(v) credit issuer data;

(vi) application data, or any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, in the offering step and/or the presenting step, the method further comprises the step of presenting a plurality of data fields to the consumer during the transaction.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of data fields are populated with data reflecting terms and conditions relating to the credit product and card member agreement data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction is an electronic transaction, and the point-of-sale is an online location of the merchant.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the offering step and/or presenting step includes displaying a web page, an electronic document, a window, a pop-up window, or any combination thereof, which displays the at least one data field to the consumer.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the offering step and/or presenting step includes providing an interactive interface to the consumer, the interface configured to display the at least one data field to the consumer and accept consumer input data from the consumer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the interface is in communication with the central database and configured to:

(i) display the at least one data field populated with data reflecting credit product offer data; and

(ii) accept consumer input data.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein interface is in communication with the central database and configured to:

(i) display the at least one data field populated with data reflecting credit product application data; and

(ii) accept consumer input data.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the interface is in communication with the central database and configured to:

(i) display the at least one data field populated with data reflecting terms and conditions data relating to the credit product and card member agreement data; and

(ii) accept consumer input data.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the interface is in communication with the central database and configured to display the at least one data field populated with data reflecting interest rate data, credit limit data, purchase data, charge data, cost data, expense data, annual fee data, interest accrual data, statement data, account data, fund advancement data, transfer data, delinquency data, payment term data, account review data, credit product data, credit issuer data, contract data, liability data, certification data, privacy data, personal information use data, collected information data, consent data, foreign data, access data, online service data, phone service data, liability data, representation data, warranty data, termination data, indemnity data, term variation data, communication data, assignment data, rights data, governing law data, or any combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the interface is in communication with a central system, which is in communication with the central database, and wherein the central system is configured to:

(i) authenticate the consumer;

(ii) verify the consumer;

(iii) approve or deny a consumer application;

(iv) verify the transaction;

(v) process consumer data;

(vi) process merchant data;

(vii) process credit issuer data;

(viii) process transaction data;

(ix) process credit product data, or any combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the consumer input data includes at least one data field populated with data reflecting a name, a consumer key, a consumer identification, an account number, an address, a city, a state, a zip code, a country, a telephone number, an e-mail address, a social security number, a date of birth, the merchant'"'"'s name, an identification, an order number, an authorization number, an authorization time, an authorization amount, a ship-to address, a bill-to address, a transaction amount, a consumer purchase demographic, a transaction date, a transaction type, a product identification, a service identification, shipping costs, delivery type, consumer type, a company identity, a merchant identity, previous transaction data, geographical data, credit account data, bankcard balance data, delinquency data, credit segment data, previous transaction data, time between transactions data, previous transaction amount, previous transaction approval status, previous transaction time stamp data, a response code, consumer payment method, consumer payment history, consumer account history, consumer credit account balance, income data, family data, employment data, relationship data, expense data, application data, acknowledgement data, selection data, choice data, or any combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

obtaining at least one data field from the consumer during the transaction; and

pre-populating a data field of a consumer interaction page at the online location of the merchant.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the consumer interaction page is an application, a survey, a questionnaire, an acknowledgement, a form, a modifiable form, a template, or any combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

presenting an offer of at least one credit product to the consumer,

obtaining offer input data from the consumer directed to the offer;

presenting, to the consumer;

(i) terms of the credit product;

(ii) conditions of the credit product;

(iv) a card member agreement, or any combination thereof;

obtaining acknowledgement input data from the consumer; and

presenting an application to the consumer.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of obtaining application input data from the consumer.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

approving or denying an application by the consumer for the credit product based at least in part upon the application input data;

if approved, establishing and opening an account for the consumer for the credit product of the credit issuer; and

if denied, communicating denial data to the consumer.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of determining consumer risk data based at least in part on:

(i) the offer input data;

(ii) the acknowledgement input data;

(iii) application input data, or any combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the central database includes at least one subset of data having a plurality of data fields populated with data reflecting a specified credit issuer and/or credit product.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of configuring the subset of data by the specified credit issuer.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of transmitting the subset of data from the central database to a merchant database on a specified basis, periodic basis, predetermined basis, dynamic basis, or any combination thereof.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the merchant is in communication with a merchant database, which is in communication with the central database, such that, during the transaction, the subset of data is accessible by the merchant database for presentation to the consumer.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of credit issuers, each providing at least one of a plurality of credit products.

25. An apparatus for offering at least one credit product by at least one credit issuer to a consumer at a point-of-sale between a merchant and the consumer, comprising:

means for providing a credit issuer data set including a plurality of data fields to a central database;

means for initiating a transaction between the consumer and the merchant at the point-of-sale;

means for offering, to the consumer at the point-of-sale, the at least one credit product;

means for presenting, to the consumer at the point-of-sale, at least one data field in the credit issuer data set, wherein at least one data field presented to the consumer is populated with data directed to the credit product.

26. A system for offering at least one credit product by at least one credit issuer to a consumer at a point-of-sale between a merchant and the consumer, comprising:

a storage mechanism including a central database;

at least one input mechanism for transmitting, to the storage mechanism a credit issuer data set having a plurality of data fields therein;

a processor mechanism configured to process data input, data requests, data manipulation, data transmission, or any combination thereof; and

a merchant output mechanism configured to present, to the consumer at the point-of-sale, the least one data field;

wherein at least one data field is populated with data directed to the credit product.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the at least one input mechanism is further configured to transmit a request, from the merchant, for at least one data field of the credit issuer data set.

28. The system of claim 26, further comprising a communication mechanism for transmitting, to the merchant, at least one data field in the central database responsive to a request from the merchant.