Loyalty Incentive Program Using Transaction Cards

• US 20080021772A1
• Filed: 07/18/2007
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Tiku, Sripriya, Polon, Jonathan, ALONI, Ruth, Bowman, Jean, Axelrod, Benzion, Funda, Jack
• Granted Patent: US 9,430,773 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]

Abstract

A system and method provide rewards or loyalty incentives to card member customers. The system includes an enrolled card member customer database, an enrolled merchant database, a participating merchant offer database and a registered card processor. The enrolled card member customer database includes transaction accounts of card member customers enrolled in a loyalty incentive program. The enrolled merchant database includes a list of merchants participating in the loyalty incentive program. The participating merchant offer database includes loyalty incentive offers from participating merchants. The registered card processor receives a record for charge for a purchase made with an enrolled merchant by an enrolled card member customer and uses the record of charge to determine whether the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit in accordance with a discount offer from the enrolled merchant. If the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit, the registered card processor provides the rebate credit to an account of the enrolled card member customer. The system provides a coupon-less way for merchants to provide incentive discounts to enrolled customers.

Claims

1. A method for providing loyalty incentives to a card member customer, comprising:

receiving a record of charge for a purchase made with a participating merchant by a card member customer;

using the record of charge to determine whether the purchase by the card member customer qualifies for a rebate credit in accordance with a discount offer from the participating merchant; and

if the purchase qualifies for the rebate credit, then providing the rebate credit to an account of the card member customer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step comprises providing the rebate credit where the rebate credit is at least one of a monetary credit or a credit of reward points that is an equivalence of the monetary credit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the crediting step comprises crediting an account of the participating merchant in an amount of the purchase less the rebate credit and less a service fee, and wherein the providing step comprises debiting the account of the card member customer in accordance with the record of charge and crediting the account of the card member customer in an amount of the rebate credit.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit, providing a third party loyalty program provider with information relating to the purchase to permit the third party loyalty program provider to calculate the amount of the rebate credit in accordance with the discount offer; and

receiving from the third party loyalty program provider an indication of the amount of the rebate credit, whereby the rebate credit can be provided to the account.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

assigning a loyalty program registration identification to a primary account of the card member customer; and

linking at least one secondary account of the card member customer to the primary account,

wherein the using step includes comparing an account identified by the record of charge to a registered card database, and

wherein the step of providing a third party loyalty program provider with information relating to the purchase includes providing the third party loyalty program provider with the assigned registration identification.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the using step includes comparing a transaction date of the record of charge to an offer end date of the discount offer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step comprises:

calculating the amount of the rebate credit in accordance with the discount offer; and

providing the rebate credit to the account.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step comprises:

providing information relating to the rebate credit to a third party transaction account provider to enable the third party transaction account provider to provide the rebate credit to the account.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing a return credit to the account of the card member customer in response to a return;

determining whether the return relates to a purchase for which a rebate credit was provided; and

if the return relates to a purchase for which a rebate credit was provided, then debiting the account of the card member customer by at least a portion of the amount of the rebate credit.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining step comprises:

searching for a debit record of charge for a purchase made by the card member customer with the participating merchant, wherein the debit record of charge includes a transaction date occurring within a given time period prior to a date of the return; and

if the debit record of charge is found, identifying whether a rebate credit was provided in relation to the purchase.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the debiting step comprises:

calculating a rebate debit, wherein the rebate debit is a percentage of an amount of the purchase that was returned; and

debiting the account of the card member in an amount corresponding to the rebate debit.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

debiting the account of the participating merchant in the amount corresponding to the return; and

crediting the account of the participating merchant in the amount corresponding to the rebate credit debited from the account of the card member customer in relation to the return.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

matching a return credit to a rebate credit based on a date of the purchase and the amount of the purchase.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

matching a return credit to a rebate credit based on at least one stock keeping unit associated with the purchase.

15. A method for operating a loyalty incentive program, comprising:

receiving a list of participating merchants;

receiving a list of participating card members; and

upon receiving from a merchant a record of charge corresponding to a purchase by a card member customer;

debiting an account of the card member customer by the amount of the charge,

comparing a merchant identification contained in the record of charge with the list of participating merchants, and comparing a card member identification contained in the record of charge with the list of participating card members,

if the card member is a participating card member and the merchant is a participating merchant, then determining whether the record of charge qualifies for a rebate credit, and

if the record of charge qualifies for a rebate credit, then providing the rebate credit to an account of the card member customer.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

providing a return credit to the card member customer'"'"'s account in response to a return of a purchase by the card member customer;

in connection with the credit, determining whether the return relates to a purchase for which a rebate credit was provided; and

if the return relates to a purchase for which a rebate credit was provided, then debiting the account of the card member customer in an amount corresponding to the rebate credit.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of determining whether the return relates to a purchase for which a rebate credit was provided comprises:

matching a return credit to a rebate credit based on at least one stock keeping unit associated with the purchase.

18. A method for operating a loyalty incentive program, comprising:

soliciting participation of a merchant in the loyalty incentive program;

receiving an offer from a participating merchant;

soliciting enrollment of a card member customer to the loyalty incentive program;

providing the offer to an enrolled card member customer;

receiving information relating to a purchase by the enrolled card member customer in accordance with the offer from the merchant;

calculating an amount of a discount in accordance with the offer; and

providing the amount of the discount to a transaction account provider so that an account of the enrolled card member customer can be credited in the amount of the discount.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving information relating to a return by the enrolled card member customer for a purchase made by the enrolled card member customer in accordance with the offer from the participating merchant;

calculating a discount reversal amount based on the amount of the return; and

providing the discount reversal amount to a transaction account provider, whereby an account of the card member customer can be debited in the amount corresponding to the discount reversal amount.

20. A system for operating a loyalty incentive program, comprising:

an enrolled card member customer database having identification information of accounts associated with card member customers enrolled in the loyalty incentive program;

an enrolled merchant database having identification information of merchants enrolled in the loyalty incentive program;

a merchant offer database having identification information of discount offers provided by the enrolled merchants; and

a registered card processor to receive a record of charge associated with a purchase, to determine from the enrolled card member customer database whether the purchase was made by an enrolled card member customer, to determine from the enrolled merchant database whether the purchase was made with an enrolled merchant, to determine whether the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit in accordance with a discount offer from the merchant offer database, and, if the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit, to provide the rebate credit to an account of the enrolled card member customer.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the registered card processor is further configured to receive a record of charge for a return and to use the record of charge for the return to determine whether the return relates to a purchase for which a rebate credit was provided, and, if the return relates to a purchase for which a rebate credit was provided, to provide a debit of at least a portion of the amount of the rebate credit to the account of the enrolled card member customer.