Points-based payment system

Abstract

Payment systems allowing credit and/or points to fund financial transactions are provided. In one example, a payment system comprises a credit device issued to a consumer enabling the consumer to purchase products or services from a plurality of merchants using funds from a credit account associated with the consumer. The payment system comprises a payment network enabling the plurality of merchants to receive payment from an issuer that issues the credit device to the consumer. A funding device is configured to access information regarding credit available from the credit account, the funding device further configured to access information regarding points available to the consumer. The funding device is configured to use pre-established rules to determine the use of available credit and available points for completing a transaction with a first merchant of the plurality of merchants. The transaction appears to the first merchant as a regular credit card transaction.

1 . A payment system comprising:
 a credit device issued to a consumer to enable the consumer to purchase products or services from a plurality of merchants using funds from a credit account associated with the consumer;   a payment network enabling the plurality of merchants to receive a settlement payment from an issuer that issues the credit device to the consumer; and   a funding device configured to access information regarding credit available from the credit account, the funding device further configured to access information regarding points available to the consumer;   wherein the funding device is configured to use pre-established rules to determine the use of available credit and available points for completing a transaction with a first merchant of the plurality of merchants;   wherein the transaction appears to the first merchant as a regular credit card transaction; and   wherein the points are a representation of non-fiat currency.   
     
     
         2 . The payment system of  claim 1 , wherein the first merchant is an unrestricted merchant that requires no action regarding the available points, requires no modification of a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, and requires no membership or network of preferential merchants. 
     
     
         3 . (canceled) 
     
     
         4 . The payment system of  claim 1 , wherein the funding device is configured to determine whether the transaction is approved based at least on the available credit and the available points. 
     
     
         5 . The payment system of  claim 4 , wherein, when the transaction is approved, the funding device sends an approval message to the first merchant regardless of how the available credit and available points are used to fund the transaction. 
     
     
         6 . The payment system of  claim 1 , further comprising a points processor configured to manage and store information regarding the points available to the consumer. 
     
     
         7 . The payment system of  claim 1 , further comprising a credit processor configured to manage and store information regarding the credit available to the consumer. 
     
     
         8 . The payment system of  claim 1 , further comprising an account management device configured to store the pre-established rules regarding the use of available credit and available points for completing transactions. 
     
     
         9 . The payment system of  claim 8 , wherein the account management device enables the consumer to provide input to establish the rules regarding the use of available credit and available points. 
     
     
         10 . The payment system of  claim 9 , wherein the consumer is configured to provide the input to establish the rules using one of a smart phone, a computer, a telephone call center, and a mailed paper form. 
     
     
         11 . (canceled) 
     
     
         12 . The payment system of  claim 1 , wherein the credit device is one of a credit card, a payment card, and a proxy device. 
     
     
         13 . The payment system of  claim 1 , wherein, if the pre-established rules define a transaction as being paid by points and the available points are insufficient to cover the entire costs, the pre-established rules may further define various alternatives, a first alternative being a rejection of the transaction for insufficient funds, a second alternative being the funding of the transaction by the credit from the credit account, and a third alternative being a partial funding of the transaction by points and a partial funding of the transaction by credit. 
     
     
         14 . The payment system of  claim 1 , wherein the funding device is configured to use pre-established rules to determine the use of available credit and available points after an original transaction with the first merchant is conducted, and wherein the funding device alters or modifies the original transaction to create a new transaction based on the use of available credit and available points. 
     
     
         15 . A transaction management system comprising:
 a credit processor configured to manage and store information regarding credit available to a consumer;   a points processor configured to manage and store information regarding points available to the consumer, the points being defined as a value of a non-fiat currency representation; and   a funding device configured to access information regarding the available credit and available points;   wherein the funding device is configured to apply usage rules to determine the use of available credit and available points for completing a financial transaction between a merchant and the consumer; and   wherein the use of available points during the financial transaction appears to the merchant as a regular credit card transaction.   
     
     
         16 . The transaction management system of  claim 15 , wherein the funding device uses at least a portion of the available points without any action required on the part of the merchant and without modification of a point-of-sale (POS) terminal associated with merchant. 
     
     
         17 . The transaction management system of  claim 15 , wherein the funding device is configured to determine whether the transaction is approved based at least on the available credit and the available point, and wherein, when the transaction is approved, the funding device sends an approval message to the merchant regardless of how the available credit and available points are used to fund the transaction. 
     
     
         18 . The transaction management system of  claim 15 , further comprising an account management device configured to store the pre-established rules regarding the use of available credit and available points for completing transactions. 
     
     
         19 . A method for conducting a financial transaction, the method comprising the steps of:
 during a financial transaction, obtaining information regarding an account associated with a consumer;   deducting points and/or credit from the account based on pre-established usage rules regarding the use of points and credit to fund the financial transaction, the points being a non-fiat currency representation; and   providing a settlement payment to a merchant offering products and/or services to the consumer during the financial transaction such that the financial transaction appears to the merchant as a regular credit card transaction.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising the step of enabling the consumer to provide input to establish the usage rules via one of a smart phone, a computer, and a telephone call center. 
     
     
         21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the step of deducting points and/or credit from the account based on the pre-established usage rules further comprises:
 determining if a financial transaction to be paid at least partially by points includes available points sufficient to cover the costs; and   if the available points are insufficient to cover the costs, performing one of the following: 1) rejecting the transaction for insufficient funds, 2) funding the transaction by credit from a credit account, and 3) partially funding the transaction by points and partially funding the transaction by credit.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the step of deducting points and/or credit from the account based on pre-established usage rules is executed after the step of providing the settlement payment to the merchant, and further comprising conducting an original credit card transaction with the merchant and modifying the original credit card transaction to create a new transaction based on the use of available credit and available points.