Promoting savings by facilitating incremental commitments made with credit card and other consumer-initiated transactions
First Claim
1. A method of facilitating savings by providing between a consumer and at least one financial institution an infrastructure for incremental savings by the consumer, the method comprising the steps of:
- entering an agreement in electronic form with the consumer under which specified funds will be directed on the consumer'"'"'s behalf to a specified savings vehicle at the financial institution in response to at least one otherwise unrelated consumer-initiated covered electronic transaction, the financial institution not a party to the agreement;
noting at least one covered electronic transaction, which is a transaction in response to which funds will be directed pursuant to the agreement, the scope of covered electronic transactions pursuant to the agreement being limited according to at least one of the time at which a transaction occurs and the transaction amount; and
automatically directing specified funds on the consumer'"'"'s behalf to the specified savings vehicle at the financial institution pursuant to the agreement in response to at least one consumer-initiated covered electronic transaction.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides tools and techniques for directing funds on behalf of a consumer to a specified account as a beneficial side-effect of a transaction that is primarily directed toward another goal, such as the purchase of merchandise or services. For instance, when the consumer purchases goods with a specified credit card, one version of the invention automatically directs an incremental amount to savings on behalf of the consumer, pursuant to an agreement previously made between the consumer and a facilitator. Under such an agreement, a specified percentage of the transaction or a flat amount per transaction is directed to a savings account, a mutual fund account, or another savings vehicle. The benefited savings vehicle is not necessarily owned by the consumer. The directed funds may be deposited on an annual basis, a threshold basis, or a one-deposit-per-transaction basis. Other variations are also described.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of facilitating savings by providing between a consumer and at least one financial institution an infrastructure for incremental savings by the consumer, the method comprising the steps of:
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entering an agreement in electronic form with the consumer under which specified funds will be directed on the consumer'"'"'s behalf to a specified savings vehicle at the financial institution in response to at least one otherwise unrelated consumer-initiated covered electronic transaction, the financial institution not a party to the agreement;
noting at least one covered electronic transaction, which is a transaction in response to which funds will be directed pursuant to the agreement, the scope of covered electronic transactions pursuant to the agreement being limited according to at least one of the time at which a transaction occurs and the transaction amount; and
automatically directing specified funds on the consumer'"'"'s behalf to the specified savings vehicle at the financial institution pursuant to the agreement in response to at least one consumer-initiated covered electronic transaction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer-assisted system for use by a first financial institution in order to facilitate consumer savings, the system comprising:
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a determining software means for determining that a consumer-initiated transaction is a covered transaction pursuant to a savings agreement with the consumer under which specified funds will be directed on the consumer'"'"'s behalf to a specified savings vehicle at a second financial institution, covered transactions pursuant to the agreement being determined according to at least one of the time at which a transaction occurs and the transaction amount; and
a directing software means for directing specified funds on the consumer'"'"'s behalf to the specified savings vehicle at the second financial institution pursuant to the agreement. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification