Paying a reward to a second account based on multiple account qualifications being met by a first account

A system for applying rewards to accounts at a financial institution, comprising:

• a processor in electronic communication with a core processor system for the financial institution;
• and
• a storage device connected to the processor, wherein the storage device has stored thereon (x) an application program for controlling the processor to implement a method of applying rewards to accounts at the financial institution, (y) an accounting period associated with a reward plan;
• and (z) the reward plan, which includes an interest rate plan for applying interest rates to depository accounts at the financial institution comprising;
• (i) a plurality of tiers for a first account, wherein each of the tiers correspond to an account balance range,
• (ii) a base rate for the first account,
• (iii) one or more rate levels for the first account, wherein
• (A) each of the first account rate levels has qualification criteria associated therewith,
• (B) the qualification criteria for each of the first account rate levels comprises at least one account level qualification criteria and at least one account transaction qualification criteria, and
• (C) for each first account rate level, each tier in the plurality of tiers has an alternate interest rate;
• (iv) a second account linked to the first account
• and wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions of the program to implement the method for applying rewards based upon the reward plan to an account at the financial institution, wherein the method comprises:
• a) associating the core processor system with a rate type from a plurality of rate types that is suitable for communicating the one or more rate levels to the core processor system;
• b) accessing the accounting period associated with said reward plan;
• c) accessing the reward plan including the qualification criteria for the one or more first account rate levels;
• d) accessing account criteria data for the first account during the accounting period;
• e) determining whether the account criteria data for the designated first account meets for the accounting period (i) at least one account level qualification criteria for one of the one or more first account rate levels and (ii) at least one account transaction qualification criteria for one of the one or more rate levels;
• f) determining whether the first account is linked to at least a second account at the financial institution;
• g) determining whether the second account is entitled to receive as a reward in response to the determination that one of the one or more rate levels of the first account has met both the account level qualification criteria and the account transaction criteria for the accounting period;
• h) upon determining that the designated first account meets the qualification criteria for one of the one or more first account rate levels, instructing the core processor system to apply a reward to the second account for the accounting period, wherein the instructing includes converting the determined reward of the second account into a code for transmission to the core processor, generating an instruction that includes the code, and sending the instruction to the core processor system to adjust the amount to be paid or accrued by the core processor system for the second account;
• i) upon determining that (i) the account criteria data for the designated first account does not meet the qualification criteria for any of the one or more first account rate levels of the reward plan, and (ii) that the account criteria data for the designated first account qualifies for the application of the at least one base rate, instructing the core processor system to not apply a reward to the second account for the accounting period;
• and
• j) determining how the reward earned by the second account should be credited.

A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, said computer program product having instructions for execution by a computer system, wherein the instructions, when executed by the computer system in communication with a core processor system for a financial institution, cause the computer system to implement a method for applying rewards to accounts at a financial institution, comprising:

• a) providing a reward plan, which includes an interest rate plan for applying interest rates to depository accounts at the financial institution, the interest rate plan comprising:
• (i) a plurality of tiers for a first account, wherein each of the tiers correspond to an account balance range,
• (ii) a base rate for the first account,
• (iii) one or more rate levels for the first account, wherein
• (A) each of the first account rate levels has qualification criteria associated therewith,
• (B) the qualification criteria for each of the first account rate levels comprises at least one account level qualification criteria and at least one account transaction qualification criteria, and
• (C) for each first account rate level, each tier in the plurality of tiers has an alternate interest rate;
• (iv) a second account linked to the first account;
• b) designating the first account to receive a reward based upon the reward plan;
• c) determining if the second account is linked to the designated first account;
• e) associating the core processor system with a rate type from a plurality of rate types that is suitable for communicating the one or more rate levels to the core processor system;
• f) providing an accounting period associated with the reward plan;
• g) accessing the accounting period associated with said reward plan;
• h) accessing the reward plan including the qualification criteria for the one or more first account rate levels;
• i) accessing account criteria data for the first account during the accounting period;
• j) determining whether the account criteria data for the designated first account meets for the accounting period (i) at least one account level qualification criteria for one of the one or more first account rate levels and (ii) at least one account transaction qualification criteria for one of the one or more rate levels;
• k) upon determining that the designated first account meets the qualification criteria for one of the one or more first account rate levels, instructing the core processor system to apply a reward to the second account for the accounting period, wherein the instructing includes converting the determined reward of the second account into a code for transmission to the core processor, generating an instruction that includes the code, and sending the instruction to the core processor system to adjust the amount to be paid or accrued by the core processor system for the second account;
• l) upon determining that (i) the account criteria data for the designated first account does not meet the qualification criteria for any of the one or more first account rate levels of the reward plan, and (ii) that the account criteria data for the designated first account qualifies for the application of the at least one base rate, instructing the core processor system to not apply a reward to the second account for the accounting period;
• and
• m) determining how the reward earned by the second account should be credited.