Linking a financial card with a merchant account

• US 8,280,809 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2010
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Propay USA Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Propay USA Incorporated
• Inventors: Wilkes, W. Bradley
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jagdish
• Assistant Examiner(s): Poe, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US12/968,908
• Publication Number:
  US 20110087590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 657 Days
• Field of Search: 705/39, 705/35, 705/42, 705/44
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• 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: G07F 7/0866 by active credit-cards adapted therefor G07F7/1008 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0873 Details of the card reader

Abstract

Some embodiments include systems and methods for linking a card with a merchant account. A financial institution that issues the merchant card to a merchant acts as both issuer and acquirer for the merchant. The merchant uses the merchant card to accept other financial cards as payment. Funds due the merchant are added to an available balance of the merchant card rather than depositing the funds in a settlement account. The funds can be added to the available balance before the transactions settle and can be accessed by the merchant. The financial institution also authorizes transactions when the merchant uses the merchant card as a regular cardholder to make payment. The merchant name can be changed on a per transaction basis if desired.

Claims

1. A method for enabling an owner of a merchant account to accept financial cards as payment, the method comprising:

associating, by a computer, a merchant account with an owner of the merchant account, wherein the merchant account is not required to be linked to another account owned by the owner of the merchant account;

linking, by the computer, a card to the merchant account, the card having an available balance; and

without transferring funds to or from another account owned by the owner of the merchant account;

decreasing, by the computer, the available balance in response to the owner of the merchant account making a payment using the card; and

increasing, by the computer, the available balance in response to receiving an authorization from an issuer of a financial card of a particular cardholder for a payment to the owner of the merchant account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein linking the card to the merchant account includes uniquely associating a merchant number of the merchant account with a card number of the card.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchant account is generated by a financial institution, the method further comprising the financial institution acting as both an issuer and an acquirer with respect to the merchant account.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein increasing the available balance in response to receiving an authorization from an issuer of the financial card of the particular cardholder for a payment to the owner of the merchant account includes adding an authorized amount, less settlement fees, to the available balance of the card.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a portion of the available balance corresponding to the increase is immediately available for use by the merchant after receiving the authorization and without waiting until a corresponding transaction has settled with the issuer of the financial card of the particular cardholder.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising settling the transaction with the issuer of the financial card of the particular cardholder.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining an acquiring BIN account that includes transactions where the owner of the merchant account accepts other financial cards for payment, wherein the acquiring BIN account includes an amount owed to the merchant before settlement of the transactions.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising adding the amount owed to the owner of the merchant account to the available balance either before settlement of the transactions or after settlement of the transactions.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising maintaining an issuing BIN account that includes transactions where the owner of the merchant account uses the card to make a payment, wherein the issuing BIN account includes an amount owed by the owner of the merchant account.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchant account is used to receive payment from other cardholders in other transactions, further comprising receiving a selection of a particular merchant name selected from a plurality of merchant names associated with the merchant account on a per transaction basis.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising, for each transaction, associating a selected merchant name with the transaction such that the selected merchant name appears in an entry associated with the transaction in a statement provided to the respective cardholder.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the selection of a particular merchant name is received in response to:

a person associated with the merchant account accessing a website that permits a financial card involved in each transaction to be authorized for the corresponding transaction;

the person entering data through the website for each transaction, the data for each transaction including an amount of the transaction; and

the person selecting a particular merchant name from the plurality of merchant names associated with the merchant account.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the selection of a particular merchant name is received in response to a person associated with the merchant account authorizing a transaction over the telephone and using the telephone to select the particular merchant name from the plurality of merchant names.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

setting an amount limit on each transaction where the merchant account is used to accept payment from a financial institution;

setting a per day limit on transactions where the merchant account is used to accept payment from the financial institution; and

setting a limit on a withdrawal amount when the owner of the merchant account accesses the available balance of the card to make payment.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein linking the card to the merchant account includes performing a single underwriting for the merchant account and the card.

16. A non-transitory computer program product having computer-executable instructions executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising;

associating, by a computer, a merchant account with an owner of the merchant account, wherein the merchant account is not required to be linked to another account owned by the owner of the merchant account;

linking, by the computer, a card to the merchant account, the card having an available balance; and

without transferring funds to or from another account owned by the owner of the merchant account;

decreasing, by the computer, the available balance in response to the owner of the merchant account making a payment using the card; and

increasing, by the computer, the available balance in response to receiving an authorization from an issuer of a financial card of a particular cardholder for a payment to the owner of the merchant account.

17. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 16, wherein increasing the available balance in response to receiving an authorization from an issuer of the financial card of the particular cardholder for a payment to the owner of the merchant account includes adding an authorized amount, less settlement fees, to the available balance of the card.

18. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 16, wherein a portion of the available balance corresponding to the increase is immediately available for use by the merchant after receiving the authorization and without waiting until a corresponding transaction has settled with the issuer of the financial card of the particular cardholder.

19. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions are executable by a computing device to perform further operations comprising settling the transaction with the issuer of the financial card of the particular cardholder.

20. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 16, wherein linking the card to the merchant account includes performing a single underwriting for the merchant account and the card.