Loan Matching for Persistent PAN Payment Transactions

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing systems fail to efficiently associate multiple transactions of a common purchase event with a single loan when using virtual cards, leading to separate loans for each transaction, which is inconvenient for customers and can result in unexpected 'pay now' transactions or facilitator losses.

Innovation Solution

A method and apparatus that utilize a persistent personal account number (PAN) for virtual cards to facilitate loan matching algorithms, allowing transactions to be associated with existing loans or issued as new loans based on a common purchase event, thereby consolidating multiple transactions into a single loan.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If a persistent PAN is provided for virtual cards to enable multiple transactions, then customer convenience and card reusability are improved, but transactions are broken into multiple separate transactions behind the scenes that should be associated with a single loan

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvevirtual card reusabilityVSAvoidtransaction grouping information
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary system (the loan matching service) that sits between the payment processor and the loan management system. This intermediary receives transaction notifications, executes loan matching algorithms, and determines whether transactions belong to the same purchase event, thereby recovering the lost grouping information that was obscured by the persistent PAN

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If traditional one-to-one correspondence between virtual card and PAN is maintained for precise loan tracking, then loan-transaction association accuracy is improved, but customer flexibility and convenience are reduced

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveloan-transaction association accuracyVSAvoidcustomer flexibility
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a dynamic approach where the system adapts its loan-transaction association based on the purchase event analysis. Rather than a static one-to-one mapping, the system dynamically determines whether multiple transactions should be grouped under a single loan or handled separately, allowing both precision and flexibility to coexist

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

3Measurement precision

If loan matching algorithm processes all transactions individually, then processing accuracy is improved, but computational complexity and processing time increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetransaction processing accuracyVSAvoidprocessing system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the loan matching process into distinct modular components: transaction notification reception, loan matching algorithm execution, purchase event determination, and loan association. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and makes the overall complex system more manageable and efficient

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP4645195A1Method and apparatus for loan matching with respect to payment instrument transactions
Publication Date: 2025.11.05 AFFIRM INC
  • EP4645195A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4645195A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4645195A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A method of matching transactions to a loan includes receiving a transaction notification associated with customer use of a payment instrument having a persistent PAN for a transaction with a merchant, facilitating payment of the merchant on behalf of the customer in response to the transaction notification, executing a loan matching algorithm with respect to the transaction notification to determine whether to associate the transaction with an existing loan, responsive to the loan matching algorithm determining that the transaction is one of a plurality of transactions of a common purchase event associated with the existing loan, considering the existing loan as a matched loan, modifying the matched loan to include the transaction, responsive to not determining that the transaction is one among the plurality of transactions of the common purchase event, issuing a new loan for the customer based on the transaction, and facilitating servicing the new or modified loan.