Method and System for Administering a Bank Rewards Program

A method of managing a rewards program associated with a payment card issued to a user, the method comprising:

• establishing, on an electronic storage medium, a user account record associated with the user and comprising a redemption value balance for the user;
• using a computer to monitor the user's purchase activity associated with use of the payment card;
• using a computer to award redemption value to the user based on the user's purchase activity;
• using a computer to monitor the user's redemption value balance;
• receiving, from the user, a decision to redeem at least a portion of the user's redemption value balance to offset one or more selected transactions made with the payment card;
• and
• using the computer to adjust the user's redemption value balance and the balance associated with the payment card in response to the user's decision to redeem at least a portion of the user's redemption value balance to offset one or more selected transactions made with the payment card.

A system for managing a rewards program associated with a banking product, the system comprising:

• an electronic storage medium for storing a plurality of user account records, wherein each user account record is associated with a user and comprises a redemption value balance;
• an activity monitoring processor that monitors the user's activity with respect to a first bank account belonging to the user and determines a redemption value associated with the activity;
• and
• a balance adjustment processor that
• adjusts the redemption value balance in the user's account record based on the monitored activity with respect to the first bank account;
• processes the user's decision to redeem at least a portion of the user's redemption value balance in favor of a balance in a second bank account belonging to the user;
• adjusts the redemption value balance in the user's account record based on the user's redemption of at least a portion of the user's redemption value balance in favor of the balance in the second bank account belonging to the user;
• and
• adjusts the balance in the second bank account based on the user's redemption of at least a portion of the user's redemption value in favor of the balance in the second bank account belonging to the user.