Payment Prevention System Blocking Duplicate Benefit Purchases
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users often make unnecessary payments for benefits they are already entitled to through their account policies, as traditional systems require manual sorting and lack full user knowledge.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that identify when a user is attempting to purchase a benefit and automatically block the purchase if the user is already entitled to that benefit through one or more of their accounts, using signals from user devices and merchant categories to determine eligibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If users manually sort through their policies to understand entitled benefits, then users can identify available benefits, but users still make unnecessary payments due to lack of full knowledge
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically determines user entitlement to benefits by matching purchase attempts against account policy benefits without requiring user manual sorting or analysis. The system serves itself by autonomously comparing the attempted purchase category with the user's entitled benefits and blocking unnecessary payments automatically.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides real-time feedback to users by transmitting messages that inform them of their entitled benefits when a purchase attempt is detected. This feedback loop allows users to understand what benefits they already have, preventing future unnecessary payments while maintaining ease of operation.
2Loss of energy
If the system automatically blocks purchases for entitled benefits, then unnecessary payments are prevented, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-determining user entitlement to various benefits before purchase attempts occur. Account policies are analyzed in advance to establish a database of entitled benefits, allowing the system to quickly block unnecessary payments without complex real-time analysis when purchases are attempted.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary layer between the user and merchant transactions. This intermediary automatically compares purchase attempts against entitled benefits and selectively blocks transactions, preventing unnecessary payments without requiring direct user-system interaction or complex user-side analysis tools.
3Measurement precision
If the system monitors all user purchases to prevent unnecessary payments, then payment accuracy improves, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the monitoring process by categorizing purchases into different merchant category codes (MCCs) and matching them against specific benefit types. This segmentation allows for efficient comparison and quick determination of payment necessity without analyzing every purchase detail, reducing processing time while maintaining precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A system may include processor(s), a memory in communication with the processor(s), and storing instructions, that when executed by the processor(s), are configured to cause the system to prevent unnecessary payments. The system may receive a signal indicative of an event in which a user device associated with a user enters a geofenced area associated with a merchant. The system may identify a merchant category code (MCC) associated with the merchant, and determine whether benefit(s) related to the MCC are associated with account(s) of the user. The system may receive an attempted purchase associated with the merchant, and may determine whether the attempted purchase relates to the benefit(s). The system may automatically block the attempted purchase related to the benefit(s) and associated with the user, and may transmit a message to the user via the user device, the message providing the benefit(s).