Financial institution account-associated rewards program
First Claim
1. An automated method of operating a rewards program through a financial institution, comprising:
- enrolling a plurality of customers from a particular customer market segment or category having at least one account with the financial institution in the rewards program, wherein if an account of one of the customers associated with the rewards program meets certain qualifying criteria the one customer receives one or more reward credits in monetary units associated with the account;
selecting at least one merchant as a qualifying merchant in the rewards program which provides products or services attractive to customers from the particular customer market segment or category, wherein the financial institution selects to include the merchant as a qualifying merchant in the rewards program independently of the merchant choosing to participate in the rewards program;
wherein the method includes a transaction module for;
determining if the account qualifies for a reward credit;
assigning a reward credit to the account if the account qualifies for a reward credit;
receiving purchase information regarding a purchase made at a merchant by the one customer wherein the payment for such purchase is associated with the account;
identifying from the purchase information whether the purchase was made at a qualifying merchant for the rewards program; and
applying the reward credit towards the purchase made by the one customer at the at least one qualifying merchant by applying the reward credit to the one customer'"'"'s account based upon business rules applicable to the rewards program.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
28 Citations
31 Claims
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1. An automated method of operating a rewards program through a financial institution, comprising:
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enrolling a plurality of customers from a particular customer market segment or category having at least one account with the financial institution in the rewards program, wherein if an account of one of the customers associated with the rewards program meets certain qualifying criteria the one customer receives one or more reward credits in monetary units associated with the account; selecting at least one merchant as a qualifying merchant in the rewards program which provides products or services attractive to customers from the particular customer market segment or category, wherein the financial institution selects to include the merchant as a qualifying merchant in the rewards program independently of the merchant choosing to participate in the rewards program; wherein the method includes a transaction module for; determining if the account qualifies for a reward credit; assigning a reward credit to the account if the account qualifies for a reward credit; receiving purchase information regarding a purchase made at a merchant by the one customer wherein the payment for such purchase is associated with the account; identifying from the purchase information whether the purchase was made at a qualifying merchant for the rewards program; and applying the reward credit towards the purchase made by the one customer at the at least one qualifying merchant by applying the reward credit to the one customer'"'"'s account based upon business rules applicable to the rewards program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system in communication with a core processing system for operating a rewards program through a financial institution for granting reward credits to customers having an account at the financial institution, comprising:
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circuitry for receiving from and transmitting to the core processing system information about the financial institution customers'"'"' accounts and account activity, including purchase information about purchases made at a plurality of merchants by customers through accounts associated with the financial institution; a transaction module coupled to the core processing system 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 enrolling a plurality of customers from a particular customer market segment having at least one account with the financial institution in the rewards program, wherein if an account of one of the customers associated with the rewards program meets certain qualifying criteria the one customer receives one or more reward credits in monetary units associated with the account; circuitry for receiving a selection to include at least one merchant as a qualifying merchant in the rewards program which provides products or services attractive to the particular customer market segment, wherein the selection of the at least one qualifying merchant is independent of the merchant choosing to participate in the rewards program; circuitry for determining if a customer'"'"'s account is associated with the rewards program; circuitry for determining if the account qualifies for a reward credit based upon the qualification criteria; circuitry for instructing the financial institution to assign a reward credit to the account if the account qualifies for a reward 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 for the rewards program; and circuitry for instructing the financial institution to apply a reward credit towards the purchase made by the customer at the at least one qualifying merchant based upon business rules applicable to the rewards program; and wherein the financial institution credits a reward credit or debits a reward credit to the financial institution customer'"'"'s account in response to instructions from the transaction module. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A computer program product containing program instructions for execution on a computer system in communication with a financial institution core processing system, which when executed by the computer system, causes the computer system to perform a method for operating a rewards program through the financial institution, said method comprising:
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enrolling a plurality of customers from a particular customer market segment or category having at least one account with the financial institution in the rewards program wherein if an account of one of the customers associated with the rewards program meets certain qualifying criteria the one customer receives one or more reward credits in monetary units associated with the account; selecting to include the at least one merchant as a qualifying merchant in the rewards program which provides products or services to customers from the particular customer market segment or category, wherein the financial institution selects to include the qualifying merchant in the rewards program independently of the merchant choosing to participate in the rewards program; 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 the at least one merchant by the one customer wherein the payment for the purchase is associated with the account; identifying from the purchase information whether the purchase was made at the at least one qualifying merchant for the rewards program; and applying the reward credit towards the purchase made by the one customer at the at least one qualifying merchant by applying the reward credit to the one customer'"'"'s account based upon business rules applicable to the rewards program. - View Dependent Claims (30)
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31. An automated method of operating a rewards program through a financial institution, comprising:
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enrolling a plurality of customers from a particular customer market segment or category having at least one account with the financial institution in the rewards program, wherein if an account of one of the customers associated with the rewards program meets certain qualifying criteria the one customer receives one or more reward credits in monetary units associated with the account; selecting a merchant as a first qualifying merchant in the rewards program, selecting another merchant as a second qualifying merchant in the rewards program; wherein the financial institution selects to include the merchants as first and second qualifying merchants in the rewards program independently of the merchants choosing to participate in the rewards program and wherein the business rules of the reward program permit the one customer to redeem rewards credits associated with qualifying merchants toward a subsequent purchase at a predefined qualifying merchant designated by the customer from the first and second qualifying merchants; wherein the method includes a transaction module for; determining if the account qualifies for a reward credit; assigning a reward credit to the account if the account qualifies for a reward credit; receiving purchase information regarding a first purchase made at the first qualifying merchant and regarding a second purchase made at the second qualifying merchant wherein the payments for such purchases is associated with the account; identifying from the purchase information whether the purchases were made at the first qualifying merchant or the second qualifying merchant; reporting to the one customer reward credits granted due to purchases made by the one customer during an account cycle at each of the qualifying merchants; the one customer designating a qualifying merchant for applying the reward credits earned at the predefined qualifying merchant during the cycle towards a third purchase made by the one customer at the predefined qualifying merchant; receiving purchase information about a third purchase by the one customer at the predefined qualifying merchant; applying the reward credits associated with the designated qualifying merchant to the third purchase at the predefined qualifying merchant if the purchase is made before the expiration of the reward credits.
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Specification