Systems and methods for suggesting an allocation

• US 8,103,585 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2009
• Issued: 01/24/2012
• 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: Bishop, Fred A., Thomas, Tracey R., Sharma, Bansi L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jagdish
• Application Number:
  US12/355,434
• Publication Number:
  US 20090150270A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 705/38, 705/39
• US Class Current: 705/40
• 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 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 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

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 receiving an approval of an allocation of 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 request includes the amount and the first identifier, and wherein the first financial account issuer server issued the first financial account;

acquiring, by the first financial account issuer server, allocation information related to the first financial account from a database which stores allocation information based upon activities associated with the first financial account;

determining, by the first financial account issuer server, an allocation rule based upon the allocation information;

verifying, by the first financial account issuer server, that sufficient funds exist to satisfy the request to debit a first portion of the amount from the first financial account;

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

identifying, by the first financial account issuer server, a second financial account having a second identifier, based on a link in a database between the first financial account and the second financial account; and

allocating, by the first financial account issuer server and based upon the allocation rule, a second portion of the amount to the second financial account, 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 based on the allocating, and based upon verifying that sufficient funds exist to satisfy the debiting of the second portion.

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

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

initiates a notification, or requests a confirmation.

6. 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.

7. 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.

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

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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first financial account issuer server is associated with 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.

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

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

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

16. 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.

17. 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.

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

19. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first identifier or the second identifier is at least one of a proxy number, a limited-use number and a single use number.

20. 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, cause the first financial account issuer server to perform operations comprising:

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

acquiring, by the first financial account issuer server, allocation information related to the first financial account from a database which stores allocation information based upon activities associated with the first financial account;

determining, by the first financial account issuer server, an allocation rule based upon the allocation information;

verifying, by the first financial account issuer server, that sufficient funds exist to satisfy the request to debit a first portion of the amount from the first financial account;

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

identifying, by the first financial account issuer server, a second financial account having a second identifier, based on a link in a database between the first financial account and the second financial account; and

allocating, by the first financial account issuer server and based upon the allocation rule, a second portion of the amount to the second financial account, 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 based on the allocating, and based upon verifying that sufficient funds exist to satisfy the debiting of the second portion.