Systems and methods for mobile payments

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for mobile payments. A financial institution may offer an electronic prepaid card of a merchant for sale to holders of Demand Deposit Accounts (DDA) and/or Line of Credit Account and/or Loan Account. If the DDA account holder and/or Line of Credit Account holder and/or Loan Account holder purchases the prepaid card through the financial institution, the account holder may be able to redeem the prepaid card at the merchant. The prepaid card may be provided in electronic form that may be scanned off the account holder's mobile device or by the account holder's mobile device. When the account holder purchases the prepaid card, the financial institution may perform a real-time check whether the account holder has sufficient funds for the purchase. If funds are sufficient, a transfer may be performed from the account holder's DDA account and/or Line of Credit Account and/or Loan Account to a holding account of another party at the same financial institution via ON-US transfer. The other party may settle the account with the merchant with ACH or ON-US transfer with or without a clearing account in a settlement (clearing) bank. The time to purchase the prepaid card prior to redemption can be shorten to seconds as if the purchase happened in the same time as the redemption (e.g., Instant Prepaid Card) at a physical point of sale. The time duration between prepaid card purchase and its redemption can be so short that the purchaser does not feel the prepay process behind the scene. This Instant Prepaid Card may be referred to as an AnyWhereMobile Debit Card if Demand Deposit Accounts are used as founding source and may be referred to as an AnyWhereMobile Credit Card if a Line of Credit Account or Loan Account is used as founding source.

1 - 24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . A method for purchasing an instant prepaid card comprising:
 receiving, by one or more computing devices of an intermediary entity, a request for a single-use identifier from a mobile device for purchase of the instant prepaid card by a user of the mobile device, wherein the instant prepaid card is redeemable with one or more merchants;   providing, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, the single use-identifier to the mobile device, wherein the mobile device comprises a display configured to show the single-use identifier for recognition at a point of sale;   receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, a transaction request for purchase of the instant prepaid card from one or more purchase processing devices of the point of sale;   requesting, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, a funds transfer request to a financial institution of the user of the mobile device;   receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, approval for the transaction request from the financial institution; and   providing, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, approval for the transaction request to the one or more purchase processing devices of the point of sale, thereby effecting generation and purchase of the instant prepaid card for redemption by the user within seconds of receiving the transaction request from the point of sale.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the single-use identifier is a single-use barcode. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the transaction request is received from the one or more purchase processing devices of the point of sale subsequent to the one or more purchase processing devices receiving the single-use identifier from the mobile device. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the single-use identifier is received by scanning the display of the mobile device using a scanner of the point of sale. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the single-use identifier is received by entering the single-use identifier as an alphanumeric string at the one or more purchase processing devices of the point of sale. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the transaction request is received from the purchase processing devices of the point of sale subsequent to the purchase processing devices providing transaction details to the user of the mobile device and receiving confirmation of the transaction. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the approval for the transaction request from the financial institution is provided when the financial institution determines that the user has sufficient funds or line of credit in the user's account at the financial institution for the purchase of the instant prepaid card. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the intermediary entity has (1) a holding account, or a general ledger account as a proxy of the holding account, at the financial institution, and (2) holding accounts, or general ledger accounts as proxies of the holding accounts, at multiple other financial institutions offering instant prepaid cards. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising effecting an ON-US transfer of funds from the user's account at the financial institution to the holding account or the general ledger account at the financial institution. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , further comprising effecting a transfer of funds from a disbursement holding account of the intermediary entity or the general ledger account at the financial institution to the merchant account associated with a merchant who will redeem the instant prepaid card, wherein the disbursement holding account of the intermediary entity or the general ledger account at the financial institution and the merchant account are at the same financial institution. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 33 , further comprising effecting a transfer of funds from a disbursement holding account of the intermediary entity or the general ledger account at the financial institution to the merchant account associated with a merchant who will redeem the instant prepaid card, wherein the disbursement holding account of the intermediary entity or the general ledger account at the financial institution and the merchant account are at different financial institutions. 
     
     
         36 . A method for purchasing an instant prepaid card comprising:
 receiving, by one or more computing devices of an intermediary entity, a request for a single-use identifier from one or more purchase processing devices of a point of sale for purchase of the instant prepaid card by a user at the point of sale, wherein the instant prepaid card is redeemable with one or more merchants;   providing, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, the identifier to the one or more purchase processing devices of the point of sale, wherein the one or more purchase processing devices comprise a display configured to show the identifier for receipt by a mobile device of the user;   receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, a query for transaction details from the mobile device;   providing, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, the transaction details to the mobile device;   receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, a transaction request for purchase of the instant prepaid card from the mobile device;   requesting, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, a funds transfer request to a financial institution of the user of the mobile device;   receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, approval for the transaction request from the financial institution; and   providing, by the one or more computing devices of the intermediary entity, approval for the transaction request to the point of sale, thereby effecting generation and purchase of the instant prepaid card for redemption by the user within seconds of receiving the transaction request from the one or more purchase processing devices of the point of sale.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the receipt of the single-use identifier by the mobile device occurs by scanning the display of the one or more purchase processing devices of the point of sale for the identifier. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the identifier is a barcode. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the receipt of the identifier by the mobile device occurs by manually entering the identifier shown on the display into the mobile device. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 36  further comprising:
 recording the value of the purchased instant prepaid card into a database; 
 reading and redeeming the value displayed by the instant prepaid card at the point of sale; and 
 updating the database to reflect the change in the underlying value held on the instant prepaid card upon transactions. 
 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 36  wherein the value of the instant prepaid card is reloadable. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 36  further comprising permitting the user to send the generated instant prepaid card to another individual. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the approval for the transaction request from the financial institution is provided when the financial institution determines that the user has sufficient funds or line of credit in the user's account at the financial institution for the purchase of the instant prepaid card, and wherein intermediary entity has (1) a holding account, or a general ledger account as a proxy of the holding account, at the financial institution, and (2) holding accounts, or general ledger accounts as proxies of the holding accounts, at multiple other financial institutions offering instant prepaid cards. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 43 , further comprising effecting an ON-US transfer of funds from the user's account at the financial institution to the holding account or the general ledger account at the financial institution. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , further comprising effecting a transfer of funds from a disbursement holding account of the intermediary entity or the general ledger account at the financial institution to the merchant account associated with a merchant who will redeem the instant prepaid card, wherein the disbursement holding account of the intermediary entity or the general ledger account at the financial institution and the merchant account are at the same financial institution. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 44 , further comprising effecting a transfer of funds from a disbursement holding account of the intermediary entity or the general ledger account at the financial institution to the merchant account associated with a merchant who will redeem the instant prepaid card, wherein the disbursement holding account of the intermediary entity or the general ledger account at the financial institution and the merchant account are at different financial institutions.