User rewards program and associated communications system

Abstract

A financial system in which an intermediary facilitates transactions between one or more credit card issuers and a plurality of different vendors which may be related by a common characteristic. The financial system of the present invention preferably includes a consumer credit card and a membership card, both including some type of rewards program. A customer applies for the credit card and membership card at a point-of-sale associated with a vendor that sponsors the credit card. The vendor uses a computer with a hardware or software identification system to securely transmit the application to the intermediary via a broad bandwidth communication medium, such as the Internet. The credit card issuer may use an instant on-line approval mechanism to instantly send a credit card number and initial spending limit to the customer via the vendor's computer. If the customer is not instantly or otherwise approved for the credit card, the intermediary may provide the customer with a branded membership card that carries no purchasing power, but which provides certain rewards at the vendor's location, preferably building customer loyalty to the vendor.

Description

CLAIM OF PRIORITY [0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of the earlier filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 281,129 which was filed on Apr. 2, 2001.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to multi-party financial systems, and, more specifically, the present invention relates to credit card acquisition systems in which a single intermediary facilitates transactions between a plurality of vendors and one or more credit card issuers. [0004] 2. Description of the Background [0005] With the advent of new communications schemes and the ever-increasing ability to manage large amounts of information from a centralized location, multi-party financial systems have seen exponential growth recently. Among these financial systems, credit card systems are among the most highly competitive, and among the most varied. [0006] A credit card generally gives a consumer enhanced purchasing power ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] In accordance with at least on preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a financial system in which an intermediary facilitates transactions between one or more credit card issuers and a plurality of different vendors which may be related by a common characteristic. The financial system of the present invention preferably includes a consumer credit card and a membership card, both including some type of rewards program. Each vendor, and each location within each vendor is uniquely identifiable by the intermediary, and the intermediary provides a web-based portal site that facilitates information transfer between the vendors and the credit card issuers.

[0017] Generally speaking, the above process may be repeated with many different credit card issuers and vendors. A single intermediary preferably facilitates the unique identification of the vendor computer during each transaction, for example, to make sure that the credit card issuer sends the customer a card with the vendor's logo. The intermediary may also sponsor a business-to-business web site providing feedback and data mining about customers of each vendor.

[0018] The above multi-party system is especially useful for highly fractured industries wherein a few major goods producers use a wide variety of independent distributors. For example, the automobiles manufactured by only a few companies are sold through thousands of independent automobile dealers who compete with one another. The above system allows each local dealer to generate customer loyalty on the local level—separate from any loyalty to the automobile manufacturer itself.

Problems solved by technology

A major problem with matching these credit card opportunities to the potential customers of the card is to determine a unique characteristic of the customer which may define a certain future spending habit.

In addition to locating the appropriate market for a particular credit card, the issuers may also be disadvantaged in that it is difficult to administer different credit card programs for different groups of users.

When a large variety of vendors all desire to have groups of their customers obtain a branded credit card from a certain credit card issuer, the bookkeeping difficulties are enormous.

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