Use of Payment Card Rewards Points for an Electronic Cash Transfer

Abstract

A computer-implemented technique for applying rewards points associated with a payment card is disclosed. A computer system stores information associated with a person's payment card, such as a credit or debit card, including information indicative of rewards points associated with the card. The computer system then receives from a remote device a first message indicative of a transaction between the person and another entity. The transaction includes a payment of a specified amount from the person to the other entity. In some embodiments the transaction has already been completed, and the computer system causes rewards points to be applied to it post-transaction. In other embodiments the transaction has not yet been executed and may be a requested cash transfer. The computer system determines how many rewards points correspond to the specified amount and causes the rewards points to be used for at least a portion of the transaction amount.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by one or more servers of a payment service, transaction data associated with a pending transaction between a customer and a merchant of a plurality of merchants, wherein the transaction data includes at least a payment amount, a payment instrument identifier corresponding to a payment instrument associated with the customer, and a payment reader identifier corresponding to a payment reader of a plurality of payment readers associated with the merchant;   determining, based at least in part on (i) the payment instrument identifier and (ii) the payment reader identifier, and by the one or more servers of the payment service, rewards available for redemption by the customer in association with the transaction with the merchant;   causing, by the one or more servers of the payment service and on a customer device associated with the customer or a point-of-sale (POS) device associated with the merchant, display of an indication that the rewards are available for redemption in association with the transaction;   receiving, by the one or more servers of the payment service and from the customer device or the POS device, a request to redeem at least a portion of the rewards;   determining, by the one or more servers of the payment service, an updated payment amount based at least in part on the payment amount and at least the portion of the rewards redeemed;   causing, by the one or more servers of the payment service, display of the updated payment amount on at least one of the customer device or the POS device;   modifying, by the one or more servers of the payment service, the rewards available for redemption based at least in part on at least the portion of rewards redeemed in the transaction; and   processing, by the one or more servers of the payment service, payment for the transaction using the updated payment amount.   
     
     
         3 . The method as  claim 2  recites, wherein the rewards available for redemption are additionally redeemable at one or more other merchants of the plurality of merchants. 
     
     
         4 . The method as  claim 2  recites, wherein the payment reader comprises a first payment reader, wherein the rewards are redeemable at the first payment reader and not at a second payment reader associated with the merchant. 
     
     
         5 . The method as  claim 4  recites, wherein the merchant comprises a first merchant, and wherein the rewards available for redemption are also redeemable at a second payment reader of a second merchant of the plurality of merchants, wherein the second payment reader is associated with another payment reader identifier. 
     
     
         6 . The method as  claim 2  recites, further comprising:
 storing, in a data store associated with the payment service, associations between individual payment reader identifiers and locations of the corresponding payment readers. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method as  claim 2  recites, wherein the transaction data further includes an indication of one or more items being purchased in the transaction. 
     
     
         8 . The method as  claim 7  recites, wherein causing display of the indication that the rewards are available for redemption comprises causing display of an indication of a number of rewards points corresponding to each item of the one or more items. 
     
     
         9 . The method as  claim 2  recites, wherein the rewards available for redemption are associated with the payment instrument, and wherein determining the rewards available for redemption comprises receiving an indication of the rewards from an issuer of the payment instrument via an application programming interface (API) of a computing system of the issuer. 
     
     
         10 . The method as  claim 2  recites, wherein determining the rewards available for redemption comprises receiving an indication of the rewards available for redemption from a computing system of the merchant. 
     
     
         11 . The method as  claim 2  recites, wherein modifying the rewards available for redemption comprises transmitting, by the one or more servers and to a computing system of an issuer of the payment instrument, a request to change the rewards available for redemption by the rewards redeemed in the transaction. 
     
     
         12 . The method as  claim 2  recites, wherein the rewards available for redemption are based at least in part on one or more of location of the transaction, date of the transaction, time of the transaction, merchant type of the merchant, or type of an item being purchased in the transaction. 
     
     
         13 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors; and   one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to perform actions comprising:
 receiving transaction data associated with a transaction between a customer and a merchant of a plurality of merchants, wherein the transaction data indicates the merchant, a payment amount, a payment reader identifier corresponding to a payment reader of a plurality of payment readers associated with the merchant, and a payment instrument identifier corresponding to a payment instrument associated with the customer; 
 determining, based at least in part on (i) the payment reader identifier and (ii) the payment instrument identifier, a customer device associated with the customer and rewards available for redemption by the customer in association with the transaction; 
 causing, on the customer device, display of a notification regarding the rewards available for redemption; 
 receiving, from the customer device, a request to redeem at least a portion of the rewards; 
 based at least in part on the request, determining an updated payment amount based at least in part on the payment amount and the at least the portion of the rewards; 
 processing the updated payment amount as payment for the transaction; and 
 causing a reduction of the rewards available for redemption based at least in part on the at least the portion of rewards redeemed in the transaction. 
   
     
     
         14 . A system as  claim 13  recites, wherein the payment reader comprises a first payment reader, the merchant comprises a first merchant, and the payment reader identifier comprises a first payment reader identifier,
 wherein the rewards are redeemable at a second payment reader associated with a second merchant and a second payment reader identifier but are not redeemable at a third payment reader associated with the first merchant and a third payment reader identifier. 
 
     
     
         15 . A system as  claim 13  recites, wherein determining the rewards comprises receiving an indication of the rewards from an issuer of the payment instrument via an application programming interface (API) of a computing system of the issuer. 
     
     
         16 . A method comprising:
 receiving transaction data associated with a transaction between a customer and a merchant of a plurality of merchants, wherein the transaction data indicates the merchant, a payment amount, a point-of-sale (POS) device identifier corresponding to a POS device of a plurality of POS devices associated with the merchant, and a payment instrument identifier corresponding to a payment instrument associated with the customer;   determining, based at least in part on (i) the payment reader identifier and (ii) the payment instrument identifier, a customer device associated with the customer and rewards available for redemption by the customer in association with the transaction;   processing an updated payment amount as payment for the transaction, wherein the updated payment amount is based at least in part on the rewards available for redemption and the payment amount; and   causing a reduction of the rewards available for redemption based at least in part on rewards redeemed in the transaction.   
     
     
         17 . A method as  claim 16  recites, wherein the rewards available for redemption comprise rewards points earned by use of credit extended to the customer by the merchant. 
     
     
         18 . A method as  claim 16  recites, wherein causing the reduction of the rewards available for redemption comprises causing the reduction by an amount specified by the customer at or before a time of the transaction. 
     
     
         19 . A method as  claim 16  recites, further comprising:
 responsive at least in part to determining the rewards available for redemption, causing display of, on the customer device or the POS device, a notification regarding the rewards available for redemption; and 
 receiving, from the customer device or the POS device, a request to redeem at least a portion of the rewards available for redemption, 
 wherein processing the updated payment amount is responsive at least in part to receiving the request. 
 
     
     
         20 . A method as  claim 16  recites, wherein processing the payment using the updated payment amount is based at least in part on registration with the payment service by the customer. 
     
     
         21 . A method as  claim 16  recites, further comprising determining, based at least in part on the payment reader identifier, at least one merchant identifier of a plurality of merchant identifiers.