Method and apparatus for consumer driven protection for payment card transactions

• US 8,660,955 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PSCU Financial Services Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PSCU Financial Services Incorporated
• Inventors: Ledbetter, Richard Howard, Ingram, Deborah Joy, LaProva, Suzanne Adrienne
• Primary Examiner(s): Frenel, Vanel
• Application Number:
  US13/620,156
• Publication Number:
  US 20130013513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 529 Days
• Field of Search: 705/30, 705/26, 705/39, 705/44, 705/38, 235/380, 340/5.41
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• 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 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Method and apparatus for facilitating a commercial transaction between an account holder and a merchant. The account holder has an account that is associated with respective account information. The account information includes at least one criterion for pre-authorizing a transaction. When the consumer initiates a purchase transaction, a transaction approval request is generated which includes information relating to the commercial transaction. A purchase approval entity compares the received transaction approval request to the account information to determine whether the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is satisfied. The transaction approval request is denied when a determination is made that the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is not satisfied.

Claims

1. A method of using an active account to conduct a transaction between a merchant and an account holder, the account being associated with account information, the account information including at least one criterion for pre-authorizing a transaction, the at least one criterion being provided by the account holder, the method comprising the steps of:

one or more servers receiving a transaction approval request from a merchant terminal, the transaction approval request including information relating to the commercial transaction;

the one or more server performing a comparison of the submitted information relating to the commercial transaction to the account information, the result of the comparison including a determination of whether the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is satisfied; and

,

when a determination is made that the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is not satisfied, the one or more server sending a communication to the merchant terminal refusing the transaction associated with the at least one non-satisfied pre-authorization criterion, wherein, after refusal, the account remains active to an additional transaction approval request, wherein, in the case of refusal, the one or more server preventing (i) further communication from the one or more server to the account holder for verification of the denied transaction approval request and (ii) the further storage of the denied transaction approval request on the one or more server; and

when a determination is made that the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is satisfied, the one or more server approving the transaction approval request without verification by the account holder.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one pre-authorizing criterion comprises at least one of (i) at least one authorized merchant, (ii) an authorized monetary amount range per transaction, (iii) an authorized maximum monetary amount per transaction, and (iv) at least one authorized date per transaction, the at least one pre-authorized criterion comprising satisfaction of acceptance criteria of the first commercial transaction before the commercial transaction is communicated to the account holder or a third party.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the one or more server makes the determination that the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is not satisfied, the one or more server prevents further determinations regarding the denied transaction approval request from being made.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the commercial transaction stored by the one or more server is modifiable by the account holder.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more server denies all transaction approval requests for which no pre-authorizing criterion has been submitted by the account holder.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more server receives the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the commercial transaction from the account holder via at least one of (i) an Interactive Voice Response system, and (ii) via a customer service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the commercial transaction received from the account holder further comprises a locked status indicator, the locked status indicator indicating whether the account is available for particular transactions.

8. A system for facilitating a first commercial transaction between a merchant and an account holder, the merchant having access to a merchant terminal, the account holder having an active account and access to an account terminal, the account being associated with account information, the account information including at least one criterion for pre-authorizing a transaction, the at least one criterion being provided by the account holder, the system comprising:

one or more servers configured to receive from a merchant terminal a transaction approval request, the transaction approval request including information relating to the first commercial transaction, the one or more servers being also configured to send to the merchant terminal an approval or a denial of the transaction approval request; and

the one or more servers being further configured to compare the received information relating to the first commercial transaction to the account information to determine whether the at least one criterion for pre-authorization is satisfied;

wherein the one or more servers is further configured to deny the transaction approval request without deactivating the account when a determination is made that the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is not satisfied, wherein, in the case of denial, the one or more server preventing (i) further communication from the one or more server to the account holder for verification of the denied transaction approval request and (ii) the further storage of the denied transaction approval request on the one or more server; and

wherein the one or more servers is further configured to pre-authorize the transaction approval request when a determination is made that the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is satisfied.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more servers is further configured to prevent further determinations regarding the transaction approval request from being made.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing a transaction is communicated from the account terminal to the one or more servers via a network.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing a transaction is modified by the account terminal via a network.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the account information comprises a listing of merchant identifiers, and wherein the received information relating to the commercial transaction comprises an identifier of a merchant requesting transaction approval.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the account information comprises transaction amount information and, the wherein received information relating to the commercial transaction comprises transaction amount information.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the account information comprises date and time information, and wherein the received information relating to the commercial transaction comprises date and time information.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the account information comprises a locked status indicator, the locked status indicator indicating whether the account is available for particular transactions.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more servers is further configured to receive at least one additional transaction approval request, the at least one additional transaction approval request including information relating to a second commercial transaction.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the account information is updateable, after the original transaction approval request and prior to the at least one additional transaction approval request, to include at least one criterion for pre-authorizing a second commercial transaction.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more servers is further configured to compare the received information relating to the second commercial transaction to the updated account information to determine whether the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the second commercial transaction is satisfied;

and, when a determination is made by the one or more servers that the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the second commercial transaction is not satisfied, the one or more servers is configured to deny the second commercial transaction approval request.

19. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more servers is further configured to report the denial of the non-pre-approved transaction approval request.

20. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one pre-authorizing criterion comprises at least one of (i) at least one authorized merchant, (ii) an authorized monetary amount range per transaction, (iii) an authorized maximum monetary amount per transaction, and (iv) at least one authorized date per transaction, the at least one pre-authorized criterion comprising satisfaction of acceptance criteria of the first commercial transaction before the commercial transaction is communicated to the account holder or a third party.