Prepaid rewards credited to a transaction account

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016307226-A1
Application number	US-201615195781-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 28, 2016
Priority date	Jul 18, 2006
Publication date	Oct 20, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and method provide rewards or loyalty incentives to card member customers. The system includes an enrolled card member customer database, an enrolled merchant database, a participating merchant offer database and a registered card processor. The enrolled card member customer database includes transaction accounts of card member customers enrolled in a loyalty incentive program. If the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit, the registered card processor provides the rebate credit to an account of the enrolled card member customer. The registered card processor also provides for electronic notification of rewards offers or credit to prepaid cards, in response to purchases conforming to a specific set of merchant criteria. The system provides a coupon-less way for merchants to provide incentive discounts and/or credits to enrolled customers, along with notifying customers of other available incentive offers.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method, comprising:
linking, by a computer based system, a rewards program having a rewards program identifier, a prepaid transaction account identifier for a prepaid transaction account, a transaction account and a social networking channel profile for a social networking channel; receiving, by the computer based system and from a merchant, an authorization request for a transaction including transaction information, wherein the transaction was initiated with the prepaid transaction account; determining, by the computer based system and in response to the receiving the authorization request and based on the transaction information, an offer from a plurality of offers; determining, by the computer based system, a reward credit amount based on the transaction information and in response to the transaction information complying with a rule from the offer; transmitting, by the computer based system and through the social networking channel, a notice of the reward credit amount; authorizing, by the computer based system, the transaction based on the transaction information received from the merchant; and crediting, by the computer based system, the reward credit amount to the transaction account in response to the authorizing the transaction initiated by the prepaid transaction account.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a user of the transaction account is identified in response to registering the transaction account.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the prepaid transaction account code does not particularly identify a user of the prepaid transaction account.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring, by the computer based system, transactions associated with the prepaid transaction account.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
registering, by the computer based system, the transaction account with the rewards program; assigning, by the computer based system, the rewards program identifier to the transaction account; and registering, by the computer based system, the prepaid transaction account with the rewards program based on the prepaid transaction account code.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing, by the computer based system and in response to the linking, notifications through the social networking channel of the plurality of offers for the prepaid transaction account.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting, by the computer based system and in response to the linking, the transaction account to receive the reward credit amount for transactions initiated by the prepaid transaction account that are eligible for reward credit amounts.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reward credit amount is credited to the transaction account based on the rewards program identifier being associated with the transaction account and the prepaid transaction account.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the computer based system, that the transaction information satisfies the rule associated with the offer, wherein the offer is associated with the rewards program.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the offer is a merchant offer, and wherein the offer is funded by the merchant.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rule is provided by the merchant and the rule defines a basis for providing the offer from the merchant.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reward credit amount is provided by a transaction account issuer.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising evaluating, by the computer based system, at least one of a first activity associated with the prepaid transaction account or a second activity associated with the transaction account against offer rules.

14 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising transmitting, by the computer based system, the offer in response to at least one of the first activity or the second activity conforming with at least a portion of the offer rules.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the offer has a monetary value.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transaction information is real time spend data and includes requests for authorization and transactions that have been posted to the prepaid transaction account.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the prepaid transaction account is used for purchasing from the merchant participating in the rewards program.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the prepaid transaction account code anonymously associates the prepaid transaction account with the reward program.

19 . A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer based system, causes the computer based system to be capable of performing a method comprising:
linking, by the computer based system, a rewards program having a rewards program identifier, a prepaid transaction account identifier, a transaction account and a social networking channel profile for a social networking channel; receiving, by the computer based system and from a merchant, an authorization request for a transaction including transaction information, wherein the transaction was initiated with the prepaid transaction account; determining, by the computer based system and in response to the receiving the authorization request, an offer of a plurality of offers for the prepaid transaction account based on monitoring transactions associated with the prepaid transaction account, wherein the offer applies to the transaction; determining, by the computer based system, a reward credit amount based on the transaction information and in response to the transaction information complying with a rule from the offer; transmitting, by the computer based system and through the social networking channel, a notice of the reward credit amount; authorizing, by the computer based system, the transaction based on the transaction information received from the merchant; and crediting, by the computer based system, the reward credit amount to the transaction account in response to the authorizing the transaction initiated by the prepaid transaction account.

20 . A system comprising:
a processor; a tangible network interface communicating with a non-transitory memory; the non-transitory memory communicating with the processor; and the processor, when executing a computer program, being capable of performing operations comprising:
linking, by the processor, a rewards program having a rewards program identifier, a prepaid transaction account identifier, a transaction account and a social networking channel profile for a social networking channel;
receiving, by the processor and from a merchant, an authorization request for a transaction including transaction information, wherein the transaction was initiated with the prepaid transaction account;
determining, by the processor and in response to the receiving the authorization request, an offer of a plurality of offers for the prepaid transaction account based on monitoring transactions associated with the prepaid transaction account, wherein the offer applies to the transaction;
determining, by the processor, a reward credit amount based on the transaction information and in response to the transaction information complying with a rule from the offer;
transmitting, by the processor and through the social networking channel, a notice of the reward credit amount;
authorizing, by the processor, the transaction based o

Assignees

• American Express Travel Related Services Co Inc

Inventors

• Wolf David
• Tiku Sripriya V
• Roen Scott M
• Russo Jennifer M

Classifications

• G06Q20/387

  Payment using discounts or coupons (relating to marketing G06Q30/02) · CPC title

• G06Q30/0234

  Rebates after completed purchase · CPC title

• G06Q30/0226 Primary

  Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems · CPC title

• G06Q30/0215

  Including financial accounts · CPC title

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title