First Data Corporation

The Western Union Company

Colleen George

John Cawthorne

Steve Randall

A system and method for the purchase of products, where some products may eligible for special forms of payment, such as payment from a medical savings account (MSA). A POS terminal is used to obtain a product ID (from a product bar code) and an MSA account ID from an MSA account card. The product and account IDs are provided to a database where MSA eligibility and MSA account status information is accessed and retrieved. A display at the POS terminal separates and displays information on both the eligible and non-eligible products. The POS terminal may used to pay for eligible products by electronically debiting the MSA account, and to pay for non-eligible products by traditional methods, such as cash, check or credit card. Eligible products may be given price discounts, and discount information is also retrieved from the database.

System and method for conducting transactions with different forms of payment

A loyalty system that may be integrated with a financial infrastructure is provided. Such a financial infrastructure may accommodate transactions involving participants in the loyalty program as well as transactions that do not involve participants in the loyalty program. When a transaction is initiated by a customer at a merchant, regardless of who are the parties to the transaction, it is intercepted by a loyalty switch, which determines whether the customer and merchant are participants in the loyalty program. The switch transmits the transaction instruction to the financial infrastructure so that authorization may be received. If it is determined that the customer and merchant are participants in the loyalty program, the loyalty switch also executes a loyalty process that conforms with the criteria of the loyalty program.

Systems and methods for operating loyalty programs

Systems and methods are provided for operating an integrated stored-value and loyalty program within a financial infrastructure. An identifier and a packet of transaction information defining a transaction between a merchant and a customer are received at a loyalty host. Qualifying aspects of the transaction are identified from the packet of transaction information. A customer reward is determined from the identified qualifying aspects and a history of information defined by the identifier. Information defining the reward is transmitted to a stored-value host that records a value parameter that may be applied as value by the customer to another transaction.

Growing community of inventors

Centennial, CO, United States of America

Colleen George