Debit Card Billing System and Method Involving Multiple Accounts

• US 20100001068A1
• Filed: 08/07/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Tcf Financial Corporation
• Original Assignee: Tcf Financial Corporation
• Inventors: Cooper, William A.
• Application Number:
  US12/537,969
• Publication Number:
  US 20100001068A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A system and method for managing a financial institution account with a transaction card used as a deferred-debit transaction card and as an automated banking card wherein debit transactions are stored by a managing computer system for a billing cycle without being automatically debited against the account until after debit transaction activity. In certain instances, this is not until after the activity for the billing cycle is reported to the holder of the account. Also, a limited time period is provided relative to the billing cycle, for the user to provide funds as consideration for payment against the transaction card purchases without an automatic debiting of available funds as full consideration for payment against the deferred-debit purchases. Before the limited time period lapsing, the available amount useful for additional purchases can be increased.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a computer-based circuit that is configured and programmed to manage, for users on behalf of a financial institution, transaction-card debits against consideration-bearing financial accounts, wherein the computer-based circuit includes access circuitry, including a memory database,

for storing and accessing data that represents, for each of the consideration-bearing financial accounts, an amount of user funds attributed to the consideration-bearing financial account and a related deferred-debit limit, and

for permitting transfer of funds from another financial account; and

the computer-based circuit including at least one computer module that is configured, for each consideration-bearing financial account, to;

provide access to an available deferred-debit spending balance that is based on transaction-card purchases and the deferred-debit limit,

track transaction-card purchases, against the consideration-bearing financial account using the available deferred-debit spending balance,

for the transaction-card purchases and for a period of time that relates to a billing cycle, defer transaction-card debits against the consideration-bearing financial account by recording data representing the amounts of the purchases without debiting the consideration-bearing financial account,

reduce the available deferred-debit spending balance to account for the transaction-card purchases during the period of time,

provide an opportunity for a user of the consideration-bearing financial account to designate one of multiple sources of payment, including the consideration-bearing financial account and the other financial account, to cover the transaction-card purchases,

transfer funds from one of the multiple sources of payment to cover the transaction-card purchases and accounting for the transferred funds relative to the available deferred-debit spending balance, and

increase, at least by an amount corresponding to the transferred funds, the available deferred-debit spending balance for a new billing cycle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to increase the available deferred-debit spending balance resetting the available deferred-debit spending balance to a previously-used level.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to increase the available deferred-debit spending balance near the end of the period of time by resetting the available deferred-debit spending balance to a previous level.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to increase the available deferred-debit spending balance by resetting the available deferred-debit spending balance to a previous level, before the funds are transferred.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to increase the available deferred-debit spending balance by resetting the available deferred-debit spending balance to a previous level, and thereafter to provide the opportunity for the user of the consideration-bearing financial account to designate.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to increase the available deferred-debit spending balance, thereafter to provide the opportunity for the user of the consideration-bearing financial account to designate, and thereafter to transfer the funds.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to increase the available deferred-debit spending balance by automatically transferring the funds irrespective of whether the user of the consideration-bearing financial account designates one of multiple sources of payment.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the consideration-bearing financial account is an account held by a trust-based company that administers and invests financial assets in the consideration-bearing financial account.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the consideration-bearing financial account is an account, other than a bank account, that earns interest.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the consideration-bearing financial account is a trust account.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to authorize the transaction-card purchases, against the consideration-bearing financial account based on a status of the consideration-bearing financial account.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to provide the user with a time period, after the period of time, during which the opportunity is provided for the user of the consideration-bearing financial account to designate one of multiple sources of payment to cover the transaction-card purchases.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to, at the end of the billing cycle,

generate and provide user access to a statement of the transaction-card purchases, and

automatically reset the available deferred-debit spending balance for new purchases made in a subsequent billing cycle.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one computer module is further configured to provide an interest credit to the user of the financial account based upon interest earned on funds for transaction-card debits that are deferred, thereby advantaging the user by deferring the debits while earning interest based on the funds in the account during the billing cycle.

15. A computer-based method for managing aspects of transactions involving transaction cards issued to respective users for their respective consideration-bearing financial accounts held at a financial institution, the method executed by a computer that performs the steps of:

managing, for users on behalf of a financial institution, transaction-card debits against consideration-bearing financial accounts, and including

storing and accessing data that represents, for each of the consideration-bearing financial accounts, an amount of user funds attributed to the consideration-bearing financial account and a related deferred-debit limit, and

permitting transfer of funds from another financial account; and

for each consideration-bearing financial account;

providing access to an available deferred-debit spending balance that is based on transaction-card purchases and the deferred-debit limit,

tracking transaction-card purchases against the consideration-bearing financial account using the available deferred-debit spending balance,

for the transaction-card purchases and for a period of time that relates to a billing cycle, deferring transaction-card debits against the consideration-bearing financial account by recording data representing the amounts of the purchases without debiting the consideration-bearing financial account,

reducing the available deferred-debit spending balance to account for the transaction-card purchases during the period of time,

providing an opportunity for a user of the consideration-bearing financial account to designate one of multiple sources of payment, including the consideration-bearing financial account and the other financial account, to cover the transaction-card purchases,

transferring funds from one of the multiple sources of payment to cover the transaction-card purchases and accounting for the transferred funds relative to the available deferred-debit spending balance, and

increasing, at least by an amount corresponding to the transferred funds, the available deferred-debit spending balance for a new billing cycle.

16. The computer-based method of claim 15, wherein increasing includes resetting the available deferred-debit spending balance to a previously-used level.

17. The computer-based method of claim 15, wherein increasing including increasing the available deferred-debit spending balance near the end of the period of time by resetting the available deferred-debit spending balance to a previous level.

18. The computer-based method of claim 15, further including resetting the available deferred-debit spending balance to a previous level, before the funds are transferred, and wherein the consideration-bearing financial account includes invested funds.

19. The computer-based method of claim 15, further including resetting the available deferred-debit spending balance to a previous level, and thereafter to provide the opportunity for the user of the consideration-bearing financial account to designate, and also further including transferring funds in response to the user of the consideration-bearing financial account designating one of multiple sources of payment.

21. The computer-based method of claim 15, wherein the consideration-bearing financial account includes invested funds.

22. The computer-based method of claim 15, wherein the consideration-bearing financial account includes funds managed by a trust-type company.

23. The computer-based method of claim 15, further including providing an interest credit to the user of the consideration-bearing financial account based upon interest earned on funds for transaction-card debits that are deferred, thereby advantaging the user by deferring the debits while earning interest based on the funds in the account during the billing cycle.

24. The computer-based method of claim 15, wherein the step of increasing the available deferred-debit spending balance includes automatically transferring the funds irrespective of whether the user of the consideration-bearing financial account designates one of multiple sources of payment.

20. A computer-based system for managing transactions involving transaction cards issued to respective users relative to their status at a financial institution at which the users hold a consideration-bearing financial account that contains deposited user funds, the system including a computer that is configured and programmed to

store data representing a deposited balance of funds attributed to a consideration-bearing financial account held by a user at the financial institution;

defer debits, for purchases made using the transaction card, against the financial account;

establish a purchase limit, for the deferred debits, based on a transaction balance of the financial account and a deferred-debit limit;

reduce the purchase limit, in response to a change in the transaction balance of the financial account relative to the deferred-debit limit;

provide an opportunity for the user to designate one of multiple sources of payment, including the consideration-bearing financial account and another financial account, from which funds may be transferred to increase the balance of funds and cover the deferred debits accrued against the financial account by purchases made using the transaction card; and

track purchases against the transaction card as a function of the purchase limit and of unpaid purchases against the transaction card.

25. A computer-based method for managing transactions involving transaction cards issued to respective users relative to their status at a financial institution at which the users hold a consideration-bearing financial account that contains deposited user funds, the method executed by a computer that performs the steps of

storing data representing a deposited balance of funds attributed to a consideration-bearing financial account held by a user at the financial institution;

deferring debits, for purchases made using the transaction card, against the financial account;

establishing a purchase limit, for the deferred debits, based on a transaction balance of the financial account and a deferred-debit limit;

reducing the purchase limit, in response to a change in the transaction balance of the financial account relative to the deferred-debit limit;

providing an opportunity for the user to designate one of multiple sources of payment, including the consideration-bearing financial account and another financial account, from which funds may be transferred to increase the balance of funds and cover the deferred debits accrued against the financial account by purchases made using the transaction card; and

tracking purchases against the transaction card as a function of the purchase limit and of unpaid purchases against the transaction card.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein

the computer performs the steps of, at the end of a billing cycle, resetting the purchase limit to the deferred-debit limit and initiating a payment period, and

the computer performs the step of deferring debits by deferring debits against the account until the end of the initiated payment period, after the purchase limit has been reset, and upon expiration of the payment period, debiting the financial account to cover the deferred debits.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the computer performs the steps of

authorizing the purchases;

deferring debits by issuing a payment to cover purchases against the transaction card during a billing cycle, and

tracking purchases by storing data to reflect funds attributed to the purchases as deferred debit funds without debiting the funds against the financial account during the billing cycle.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the computer performs the steps of

storing data by storing data representing an amount of funds held in the trust account, and

establishing a purchase limit by establishing the limit based a transaction balance of the trust account and the deferred-debit limit.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the computer performs the steps of

storing data by storing data representing an amount of funds held in the trust account, and

establishing a purchase limit by establishing the limit based upon a status of the trust account and the deferred-debit limit.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the computer performs the steps of

storing the data by storing data representing an amount of funds held in the investment account,

establishing the purchase limit by establishing the limit based upon a transaction balance of the investment account and the deferred-debit limit, and

reducing the purchase limit by reducing the limit based upon a status of the investment account and an amount of deferred debits for a billing cycle.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the computer performs the steps of

storing the data by storing data representing an amount of funds held in the investment account,

establishing the purchase limit by establishing the limit based upon a transaction balance of the investment account and the deferred-debit limit,

reducing the purchase limit by reducing the limit based upon a status of the investment account and an amount of deferred debits for a billing cycle,

determining an accrued interest amount based upon the balance of funds held in the investment account, including an amount of the deferred debit, and

increasing the balance of funds in the investment account based upon the determined accrued interest amount.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the consideration-bearing financial account includes investment funds.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein the computer performs the further step of receiving notification of transferred funds from the consideration-bearing financial account.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein the computer performs the further step of receiving notification of funds being transferred, for deposit in the consideration-bearing financial account, from another financial institution.

35. A computer-based system for managing transactions involving transaction cards issued to respective users relative to their status at a financial institution at which the users hold a consideration-bearing financial account that contains deposited user funds, the system comprising:

means for storing data representing a deposited balance of funds attributed to a consideration-bearing financial account held by a user at the financial institution;

means for deferring debits, for purchases made using the transaction card, against the financial account;

means for establishing a purchase limit, for the deferred debits, based on a transaction balance of the financial account and a deferred-debit limit;

means for reducing the purchase limit, in response to a change in the transaction balance of the financial account relative to the deferred-debit limit;

means for providing an opportunity for the user to designate one of multiple sources of payment, including the consideration-bearing financial account and another financial account, from which funds may be transferred to increase the balance of funds and cover the deferred debits accrued against the financial account by purchases made using the transaction card; and

means for tracking purchases against the transaction card as a function of the purchase limit and of unpaid purchases against the transaction card.