Selecting a financial account associated with a proxy object based on fund availability

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10692059-B1
Application number	US-201414208800-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 13, 2014
Priority date	Mar 13, 2014
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

A method and apparatus for selecting a financial account associated with a payment object based on fund availability are disclosed. A payment object, such as a proxy card associated with multiple financial accounts, is used by a consumer to make a purchase. In one example, the consumer selects a debit card associated with the proxy card to use for the purchase. A computer system determines that the debit card account has insufficient funds available for the purchase, and determines that an alternate account associated with the proxy card has sufficient funds. The computer system notifies the consumer, via a mobile device of the consumer, that the debit account has insufficient funds, and provides the consumer with the option of using the alternate account. The consumer indicates a desire to use the alternate account, and the computer system processes the payment based on the alternate account.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
enabling, by a buyer/seller platform implemented on a networked computer system, a plurality of merchants to engage in financial transactions with a plurality of consumers,
the financial transactions including payments made using payment cards by the plurality of consumers,
the buyer/seller platform processing the payments made using the payment cards, the processing including obtaining funds from financial accounts associated with the payment cards and depositing a portion of the funds in accounts of the plurality of merchants;

receiving, by the buyer/seller platform, from a point of sale (POS) system of a merchant, transaction information of a financial transaction involving a payment card of a consumer, the payment card being associated with a plurality of financial accounts of the consumer including a first financial account, the financial transaction involving a payment by the consumer for an amount of funds initially indicated to be obtained based on the first financial account; and
preventing, by the buyer/seller platform, an insufficient funds condition associated with the payment from occurring at the POS system by:
determining that the first financial account does not have sufficient funds available for the payment;
determining that a second financial account of the plurality of financial accounts of the consumer has sufficient funds available for a portion of the amount of the payment;
in response to the determination that the first financial account does not have sufficient funds available for the payment, sending a first communication, for delivery to a mobile device associated with the consumer, that, upon receipt by the mobile device, causes the mobile device to display a selection interface that indicates that obtaining funds for the payment based on the first financial account will trigger an insufficient funds condition, that indicates, based on the determination that the second financial account has sufficient funds available, that the portion of the amount of the payment can be obtained based on the second financial account, and that enables the consumer to indicate a selection of the second financial account;
receiving a second communication, from the mobile device, that indicates to allocate the portion of the amount of the payment to the second financial account; and
in response to the receiving of the second communication, processing the payment, wherein the processing of the payment causes the portion of the amount of the payment to be obtained based on the second financial account.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the causing of the portion of the amount of the payment to be obtained based on the second financial account includes sending a third communication that causes a transfer of funds for the payment based on the second financial account.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the first financial account does not have sufficient funds available for the payment includes determining that the first financial account does not have sufficient funds available for the payment based on a determination that attempting to obtain the funds for the payment based on the first financial account will trigger an insufficient funds condition at the first financial account.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the first financial account does not have sufficient funds for the payment includes determining that a difference between a current balance of the first financial account and an overdraft threshold of the first financial account is less than the amount of the payment.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the first financial account does not have sufficient funds for the payment includes determining that a difference between a current credit balance of the first financial account and a credit limit of the first financial account is less than the amount of the payment.

6. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the determination that the first financial account does not have sufficient funds for the payment includes a determination that the first financial account does not have access to the amount of funds.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the preventing the insufficient funds condition from occurring further includes:
determining eligible accounts of the plurality of financial accounts, a determination that a selected account is an eligible account being based on a determination that the selected account has sufficient funds available for a portion of the payment, the portion being greater than zero percent, wherein the first communication is further configured to trigger the mobile device to display a listing of the eligible accounts, and wherein the eligible accounts include the second financial account.

8. The method of claim 7 ,
wherein the payment associated with the financial transaction is from the consumer to a payee, and
wherein the determination of the eligible accounts is further based on a determination that the selected account is accepted by the payee.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a reduced amount of funds that are available for the payment based on the first financial account, the reduced amount of funds being less than the amount of the payment;
allocating the reduced amount of funds to the first financial account; and
allocating a second amount of funds to the second financial account, a total of the reduced amount of funds and the second amount of funds corresponding to the amount of the payment.

10. A magnetic stripe card comprising:
a substantially flat substrate,
a processor coupled to the substrate;
a communication interface coupled to the processor, through which to communicate with remote devices; and
a non-volatile memory coupled to the processor, the non-volatile memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the magnetic stripe card to perform operations including:
receiving digital data, via the communication interface, that indicates a financial transaction involving the magnetic stripe card, the digital data being received after the digital data was sent by a point of sale (POS) system via short-range wireless communication, the magnetic stripe card being associated with a plurality of financial accounts of a payer via association information, the association information representing an association between the magnetic stripe card and the plurality of financial accounts, the financial transaction involving a payment by the payer for an amount of funds initially indicated to be obtained based on a first financial account of the plurality of financial accounts; and
preventing an insufficient funds condition associated with the payment from occurring at the POS system by:
determining that the first financial account does not have sufficient funds available for the payment;
obtaining account information for a second financial account from a device configured to obtain the account information based on the association information;
determining that the second financial account has sufficient funds available for a portion of the amount of the payment; and
causing the portion of the amount of the payment to be obtained based on the account information of the second financial account.

11. The magnetic stripe card of claim 10 , wherein the second financial account is associated with a second payment card, further comprising:
a magnetic stripe emulator coupled to the processor,
wherein the causing the portion of the amount of the payment to be obtained based on the second financial account includes sending a signal to cause the magnetic stripe emulator to emulate a magnetic s

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Thome James Paul
• Khan Imran Sana
• Lamba Kartik

Classifications

• G06Q20/36

  using electronic wallets or electronic money safes · CPC title

• G06Q20/3221

  Access to banking information through M-devices · CPC title

• G06Q20/227

  characterised in that multiple accounts are available, e.g. to the payer · CPC title

• G06Q20/102 Primary

  Bill distribution or payments · CPC title