Method and apparatus for collaborative filtering of card member transactions

An apparatus for processing financial transaction data from a plurality of card members, comprising:

• means for grouping a plurality of merchants based on an industry code and a geographic location;
• means for determining, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, a number of financial transactions involving card members during a period of time;
• means for determining, for a first merchant of the plurality of merchants, an identification of each card member having at least one financial transaction with the first merchant during the period of time;
• means for determining, for each remaining merchant of the plurality of merchants other than the first merchant, the number of card members having at least one financial transaction with both the first merchant and the remaining merchant during the period of time;
• means for ranking each remaining merchant based on a ratio of the number of card members having at least one financial transaction with both the first merchant and the remaining merchant during the period of time to the number of financial transactions involving card members during the period of time;
• and
• means for reporting at least one remaining merchant, based on said ranking, to card members having at least one financial transaction with the first merchant during the period of time.

An apparatus for processing financial transaction data from a plurality of card members, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory in communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions directing the processor to:
• group a plurality of merchants based on an industry code and a geographic location;
• determine, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, a number of financial transactions involving card members during a period of time;
• determine, for a first merchant of the plurality of merchants, an identification of each card member having at least one financial transaction with the first merchant during the period of time;
• determine, for each remaining merchant of the plurality of merchants other than the first merchant, the number of card members having at least one financial transaction with both the first merchant and the remaining merchant during the period of time;
• rank each remaining merchant based on a ratio of the number of card members having at least one financial transaction with both the first merchant and the remaining merchant during the period of time to the number of financial transactions involving card members during the period of time;
• and
• report at least one remaining merchant, based on said ranking, to card members having at least one financial transaction with the first merchant during the period of time.

A method for processing card member transactions, comprising:

• grouping a plurality of vacation destinations visited by card members;
• determining, for a first destination of the plurality of vacation destinations, a number of card members visiting the first destination during a period of time;
• determining, for each remaining destination of the plurality of vacation destinations, the number of card members that have visited both the first destination and the remaining destination during the period of time;
• ranking each remaining destination based on a ratio of the number of card members that have visited both the first destination and the remaining destination during the period of time to a number of card members visiting the remaining destination during the period of time;
• and
• reporting at least one remaining merchant, based on said ranking, to card members having at least one financial transaction with the first merchant during the period of time.