Systems and methods for allocating an amount between transaction accounts

• US 7,962,407 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2008
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Thomas, Tracey R., Sharma, Bansi L., Bishop, Fred A.
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, JAGDISH
• Application Number:
  US12/325,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20090076956A1
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• Field of Search: 705/38, 705/39, 705/26.1
• 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 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

A financial account issuer facilitating transactions between accounts is disclosed. The invention provides sellers with an irrevocable method of receiving funds from a purchaser and for improving purchaser willingness to transact with an unknown party. The invention also enables the allocation of a portion or all of a charge or loyalty points to different transaction accounts issued by different issuers, or to sub-accounts.

Claims

1. A method for allocating an amount associated with a transaction, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first financial account issuer server, a request to debit the amount from a first financial account having a first identifier, wherein the first financial account issuer issued the first financial account, and wherein the first financial account issuer comprises a server;

acquiring, by the first financial account issuer server, an allocation rule associated with the first identifier;

transforming, by the first financial account issuer server, an allocation instruction based on the allocation rule;

facilitating debiting, by the first financial account issuer server and based upon the allocation rule, a first portion of the amount from the first financial account; and

,

allocating, by the first financial account issuer server and based upon the allocation rule, a second portion of the amount to a second financial account having a second identifier, wherein a second financial account issuer server issued the second financial account, wherein the second financial account issuer server is different from the first financial account issuer server, and wherein the second financial account issuer server debits the second portion of the amount from the second financial account.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allocating, based upon the allocation rule, a third portion of the amount to a third financial account server having a third identifier, wherein a third financial account issuer server issued the third financial account, wherein the third financial account issuer server is different from the first financial account issuer server and the second financial account issuer server, and wherein the third financial account issuer server debits the third portion of the amount from the third financial account.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the acquiring the allocation rule comprises acquiring the allocation rule from at least one of a consumer associated with the first financial account, a manager associated with the consumer, or a guardian associated with the consumer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocation rule is based upon at least one of:

the amount, consumer goals, demographic data, location information, loyalty point information, historical transactions, frequency of transactions, time period of the transaction, past behavior of consumer, past behavior of merchant, payment system, consumer transaction fees, late fees, interest rates, merchant transaction fees, exchange rates, account fees, vendor information, company guidelines, biometric information, authorization levels, consumer information, merchant information, issuer information, payment processor information, record of charge, summary of charges, consumer confirmation, employer confirmation, lack of confirmation, type of account or financial instrument.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first financial account or the second financial account includes at least one of:

a transaction account, an escrow account, a digital cash account, a demand deposit account, a credit line, checking account, savings account, a gift card account, a pre-paid account, a credit union account, a bank account, an investment account, a money market account, a corporate account, personal account, a loyalty account, gift card account, procurement account, fuel account, shared account, a third party billing account, a revolving credit card account or a charge card account.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocation rule is at least one of:

stored on a transaction device, stored on a personal digital assistant, acquired from an employer, acquired from a third party, generated at a point of sale, associated with the first financial account, stored in a merchant database, or stored in a payment processor database.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocation rule is at least one of:

a pre-defined rule, a dynamic rule, entered via a webpage, or entered via a personal digital assistant.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocation rule at least one of:

initiates a notification, or requests a confirmation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of:

the amount, the first portion or the second portion are included on a billing statement associated with at least one of the first financial account or the second financial account.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount comprises at least one of a monetary amount, a non-monetary amount, loyalty points, or monetary equivalent value.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first financial account and the second financial account are associated with the same consumer.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising retaining, by the first financial account issuer, a third portion of the amount as a transaction fee.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising debiting a transaction fee from at least one of the first financial account or the second financial account.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising paying interest to at least one of the first financial account or the second financial account based upon on the second portion of the amount allocated to the second financial account.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first financial account issuer comprises at least one of a transaction account issuer, charge card issuer, credit card issuer, debit card issuer, gift card issuer, bank, lender, credit union, or a third party issuer under contract with the financial account issuer.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring the allocation rule comprises at least one of:

determining an allocation rule, suggesting the allocation rule, or receiving confirmation of the allocation rule.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an authorization request from a merchant.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein a second authorization request is received by the second financial account issuer from at least one of the first financial account issuer or a merchant associated with the transaction.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein a second authorization approval is sent from the second financial account issuer to at least one of the first financial account issuer server or a merchant associated with the transaction.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection of the type of at least one of the first financial account or the second financial account, to facilitate the transaction.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing previous transactions associated with at least one of the first identifier or the second identifier.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying at least one of a first party associated with the first financial account or a second party associated with the second financial account, in response to the allocating.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with an automated clearinghouse (ACH) to facilitate allocating.

24. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a first financial account issuer server for allocating an amount associated with a transaction, cause the first financial account issuer server to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the first financial account issuer server, a request to debit the amount from a first financial account having a first identifier, wherein the first financial account issuer server issued the first financial account;

acquiring, by the first financial account issuer server, an allocation rule associated with the first identifier;

transforming, by the first financial account issuer server, an allocation instruction based on the allocation rule;

facilitating debiting, by the first financial account issuer server and based upon the allocation rule, a first portion of the amount from the first financial account; and

,

allocating, by the first financial account issuer server and based upon the allocation rule, a second portion of the amount to a second financial account having a second identifier, wherein a second financial account issuer server issued the second financial account, wherein the second financial account issuer server is different from the first financial account issuer server, and wherein the second financial account issuer server debits the second portion of the amount from the second financial account.