US 2013/0254086 A1Published application

Gift card credit exchange

OwnerDavid JOA, Timothy J. BENDELinventors

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Abstract

Systems, apparatus, methods, and computer program products for gift card exchange. The gift card holder is able to exchange either the full purchased amount or a residual balance amount. In specific embodiments, gift card credit may be exchanged for financial institution account credit, such as savings, checking, credit card account credit. Thus, gift card exchange alleviates the problem of undesired gift cards (i.e., gift cards from merchants that the recipient does not prefer). Moreover, gift card exchange of residual balances eliminates the problem related to unknown residual gift card balances and keeping track and possession of multiple gift cards with minimal residual balances.

Claims23

Dependent claims

An apparatus for exchanging gift card credit for financial institution account credit, the apparatus comprising:

a computing platform including a memory and a processor in communication with the memory;
a gift card exchange application stored in the memory, executable by the processor and configured to:
receive, from a financial institution customer, gift card information associated with one or more gift cards issued by a merchant, wherein the gift card information includes a gift card number and a Personal Identification Number (PIN),
determine a balance amount remaining on the one or more gift cards by accessing a gift card validation network associated with the merchant and presenting the gift card number and the PIN,
identify a plurality of exchange rates for the balance amount remaining on the gift card, wherein each exchange rate is based on (1) the balance amount remaining on the one or more cards, and (2) a type of financial institution account to which a credit will be issued,
determining an exchange amount for each of a plurality of types of financial institution accounts to which a credit will be issued based on a corresponding identified exchange rate and the balance remaining on the one or more cards;
provide the customer a plurality of offers to exchange the balance amount for the determined exchange amount associated with each of the plurality of types of financial institution accounts, and
in response to the customer accepting one of the offers, credit the financial institution account associated with the offer to reflect the corresponding exchange amount.

5 more elements

A method for a financial institution to exchange gift card credit for financial institution account credit, the method comprising:

receiving, from a financial institution customer, gift card information associated with one or more gift cards issued by a merchant, wherein the gift card information includes a gift card number and a Personal Identification Number (PIN);
determining, by a computing device processor, a balance amount remaining on the one or more gift cards by accessing a gift card validation network associated with the merchant and presenting the gift card number and the PIN;
identifying, by a computing device processor, a plurality of exchange rates for the balance amount remaining on the gift card, wherein each exchange rate is based on (1) the balance amount remaining on the one or more cards, and (2) a type of financial institution account to which a credit will be issued;
determining, by a computing device processor, an exchange amount for each of a plurality of types of financial institution accounts to which a credit will be issued based on a corresponding identified exchange rate and the balance remaining on the one or more cards;
providing, by a computing device processor, the customer a plurality of offers to exchange the balance amount for the determined exchange amount associated with each of the plurality of types of financial institution accounts;
and
in response to the customer accepting one of the offers, crediting, by a computing device processor, the financial institution account to reflect the exchange amount.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.