Financial Institution Account-Associated Rewards Program

• US 20090006212A1
• Filed: 07/02/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kasasa Ltd.
• Original Assignee: BancVue Limited
• Inventors: Barton, Paul Rudolph, Shafer, Donald Gordon, Chapman, Shawn, Krajicek, Gabriel Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,608,061 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.350
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user

Abstract

A system and method of operating a rewards program through a financial institution for granting rewards to customers enrolled in the rewards program wherein the customer receives one or more reward credits in an account associated with the financial institution if the customer meets certain qualification criteria. The method may include determining if the account qualifies for an award credit; assigning a reward credit to the account; receiving purchase information regarding a purchase made at a merchant associated with the customer'"'"'s account; identifying from the purchase information whether the purchase was made at a qualifying merchant; and applying the reward credit towards the purchase made by the customer at the qualifying merchant by applying a reward credit to the customer'"'"'s account based upon the business rules applicable to the reward program. The method also determines if a reward credit has expired, in which event either the merchant or the financial institution may receive the benefit of any unused or expired reward credits depending on the particular embodiment of the reward program. The method also creates and provides notification to the customer of reward credit information.

Claims

1. A method of operating a rewards program through a financial institution, comprising:

enrolling a plurality of customers in the rewards program wherein the customer receives one or more reward credits in an account associated with the financial institution if the customer meets certain qualification criteria;

determining if the account qualifies for an award credit;

assigning a reward credit to the account if the account qualifies for an award credit;

receiving purchase information regarding a purchase made at a merchant wherein the payment for such purchase is associated with the customer'"'"'s account;

identifying from the purchase information whether the purchase was made at a qualifying merchant; and

applying the reward credit towards the purchase made by the customer at the qualifying merchant by applying a reward credit to the customer'"'"'s account based upon the business rules applicable to the reward program.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining if a reward credit has expired.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the financial institution receives the benefit of any unused or expired reward credits.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of applying comprises:

applying a reward credit toward a future purchase by the customer at a qualifying merchant.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving purchase information comprises:

receiving purchase information each time the customer uses the account to pay for a purchase at a merchant.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial institution determines whether a merchant is a qualifying merchant.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the financial institution selects a qualifying merchant for a rewards program without entering into an agreement with the qualifying merchant.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the financial institution selects a qualifying merchant for a rewards program without notifying the qualifying merchant.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial institution sets the qualification criteria for when an account is entitled to a reward credit.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the qualification criteria for a reward credit is based upon account activity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial institution sets the business rules applicable to the reward program for applying the reward credits.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer is issued a payment device associated with the customer'"'"'s account.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the customer is provided notice of the status of the customer reward account, such as the reward credits earned by the customer account and the amount of reward credits applied to the customer account during a period.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial institution may establish a plurality of reward programs for different customer categories and select different qualifying merchants, qualification criteria, or business rules for different customer categories.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the steps of assigning, receiving, identifying and applying on an ongoing basis for purchases by the plurality of customers having accounts at the financial institution.

16. A system for operating a rewards program through a financial institution for granting reward credits to customers, comprising:

a financial institution that receives, processes and stores information about its customers'"'"' accounts and account activity, including purchase information about purchases made at a plurality of merchants by customers who are enrolled in the rewards program through accounts associated with the financial institution;

a merchant where a customer enrolled in the rewards program makes a purchase wherein the payment for such purchase is associated with a customer account at the financial institution and the purchase information is received by the financial institution from the merchant over a financial network;

a transaction module coupled to the financial institution for managing enrollment in and transactions associated with the rewards program wherein the transaction module comprises;

a memory unit operable for storing a computer program for operating the rewards program; and

a processor coupled to said memory unit, wherein said processor, responsive to said rewards computer program, comprises;

circuitry for determining if a customer'"'"'s account is associated with the rewards program;

circuitry for instructing the financial institution to credit the customer'"'"'s account associated with the rewards program with one or more reward credits if the customer meets certain qualification criteria;

circuitry for determining if the account qualifies for an award credit;

circuitry for instructing the financial institution to assign a reward credit to the account if the account qualifies for an award credit;

circuitry for receiving purchase information regarding a purchase made at a merchant which is associated with the customer'"'"'s account;

circuitry for identifying from the purchase information whether the purchase was made at a qualifying merchant; and

circuitry for instructing the financial institution to apply a reward credit towards the purchase made by the customer at the qualifying merchant based upon business rules applicable to the reward program; and

wherein the financial institution credits a reward credit or debits a reward credit to the customer'"'"'s account in response to instructions from the transaction module.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor further includes circuitry that determines if a reward credit has expired.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor further includes circuitry that creates a virtual account for tracking on an individual account basis the reward credits associated with each account associated with the rewards program and the transaction module debits a customer'"'"'s virtual account if a reward credit is expired and instructs the financial institution to credit the financial institution'"'"'s account for such credit.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor further includes circuitry that applies a reward credit only toward a future purchase by the customer at a qualifying merchant.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the financial institution determines whether a merchant is a qualifying merchant.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the financial institution selects a qualifying merchant for a rewards program without entering into an agreement with the qualifying merchant.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the financial institution selects a qualifying merchant for a reward program without notifying the qualifying merchant.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the financial institution sets the qualification criteria for when an account is entitled to a reward credit.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the qualification criteria for a reward credit is based upon account activity.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the financial institution sets the business rules applicable to the reward program for applying the reward credits to purchases made by the customer.

26. The system of claim 16, wherein the financial institution issues the customer a payment device associated with the customer'"'"'s account for making purchases.

27. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor included circuitry for creating a notification to the customer of the status of the customer rewards account and the transaction module provides notification of the status of the customer rewards account, such as reward credits earned and the amount of reward credits applied to the customer account during a period.

28. The system of claim 16, wherein the financial institution may establish a plurality of reward programs through the transaction module for different customer categories and select different qualifying merchants, qualification criteria, or business rules for different customer categories.

29. The system of claim 16, wherein the transaction module repeats the processing steps of assigning, receiving, identifying and applying on an ongoing basis for purchases by the plurality of customers having accounts at the financial institution associated with the reward program.

30. A computer program product containing program instructions for execution on a computer system in communication with a financial institution, which when executed by the computer system, causes the computer to perform a method for operating, through the financial institution, for managing enrollment in and transactions associated with the rewards program, said method comprising:

enrolling a plurality of customers in the rewards program wherein the customer receives one or more reward credits in an account associated with the financial institution if the customer meets certain qualification criteria;

determining if the account qualifies for an award credit;

assigning a reward credit to the account if the account qualifies for an award credit;

the financial information receiving purchase information regarding a purchase made at a merchant wherein the payment for the purchase is associated with the customer'"'"'s account;

identifying from the purchase information whether the purchase was made at a qualifying merchant; and

applying the reward credit towards the purchase made by the customer at the qualifying merchant by applying a reward credit to the customer'"'"'s account based upon the business rules applicable to the reward program.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the processor further comprises:

circuitry for determining if a reward credit has expired.