US 5,297,026 AGranted

System for promoting account activity

OwnerFrank Hoffmaninventor

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Abstract

A system and data processing arrangement for promoting purchases and account activity in a credit card account or other consumer transaction involving sales of goods or services rewards a customer for purchases by providing a high rate of return for funds invested by the customer. A financial institution, general purpose credit card agency, department store, automobile manufacturer, or various other marketers of goods or services agrees to grant the customer a high rate of interest on funds invested with the firm by the customer, provided the customer makes purchases. For purchases made by the customer in a given period (such as one month or six months), the firm gives the customer the right to invest a certain percentage (such as 10%) of the amount of purchases made by the customer in that period. Using automated data processing, the firm calculates the sum of the total purchases made by the customer during the preselected period. Then, funds are accepted from the customer up to the pre-agreed percentage of purchases, and provides a deposit account for the customer, crediting the investment funds in the deposit account. The firm may limit the term during which interest is paid on accepted funds invested for a particular such period, such as a term of six months or one year, or it may simply lower the interest rate at the end of that term.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A method used by an offering entity such as a seller of goods or services or a firm financing goods and services, for using a computer having a memory with associated data processing means to create and operate investment accounts for investors/purchasers and to provide an attractive rate of return for the investor/purchaser in such investment account while also promoting purchases by the investor/purchaser of products or services from or through the offering firm or entity, comprising:

(a) selecting an interest rate and entering and storing the selected interest rate into the memory of the computer,
(b) each time the investor/purchaser makes a purchase from or through the offering entity, entering and storing a record of the purchase in the computer memory, including the date and the amount of the purchase,
(c) using the data processing means of the computer, automatically calculating a sum of total purchases made by the investor/purchaser during a preselected period,
(d) under the control of the computer, automatically calculating a prescribed proportion of the sum of total purchases made by the investor/purchaser during the preselected period, and automatically issuing a statement to the investor/purchaser for the preselected period, indicating said prescribed proportion of the sum of total purchases as a maximum amount which can be received from the investor/purchaser as an investment.
(e) accepting investment funds from the investor/purchaser up to said prescribed proportion of the sum of total purchases and entering and storing the amount of said investment funds into the computer memory and, under the control of the computer, creating a deposit account for the investor/purchaser in the computer memory and crediting such investment funds in the deposit account of the investor/purchaser in the computer memory,
(f) under the control of the computer, automatically accruing interest for the investor/purchaser in the deposit account by automatically calculating interest due based on the amount and date of investment funds in the investor/purchaser's deposit account in the computer memory, by applying said selected interest rate stored in the computer memory, and
(g) at a time when the investor/purchaser's deposit account is to be liquidated, using the computer to automatically determine an amount of principal and accrued interest due the investor/purchaser based on amounts and dates stored in the deposit account in the computer memory, and paying the investor/purchaser such determined amount.

4 more elements

A system comprising a computer and associated data processing programming and data storage, used by an offering entity such as a seller of goods or services or a firm financing goods and services, for promoting saving by providing an attractive rate of return for investors/purchasers while promoting purchases by the investors/purchasers of products or services from or through the offering entity or firm, comprising:

central computer means with associated data storage means, data processing means and data input means,
data including an interest rate stored in the data storage means, being an attractive interest rate to individual investors, the data input means including means for receiving inputs of updated interest rates when appropriate,
the central computer means including purchase tabulating means for automatically receiving and entering into the data storage means records of purchases made by an investor/purchaser from or through the offering entity or firm during a preselected period, and for calculating a sum of total purchases made during such preselected period,
the data storage means having stored a prescribed, preselected proportion or percentage figure for use in inviting an investor/purchaser to invest funds,
the central computer means including means for applying said proportion or percentage figure to the sum of total purchases calculated by the central computer means to produce an investment maximum for the preselected period as a proportion of the sum of total purchases for the preselected period, and means for automatically issuing to the investor/purchaser a statement showing said investment maximum for funds that will be accepted from the investor/purchaser based on purchases made in said preselected period,
deposit account means in the central computer means for establishing and maintaining a deposit account as data in the data storage means, for the investor/purchaser,
investment accepting means in the central computer means, for accepting and storing in the data storage means records of investment funds received from the investor/purchaser up to said investment maximum for the preselected period, including means for automatically comparing the amount of funds received from the investor/purchaser with said investment maximum to determine whether the funds are acceptable, and for automatically crediting such investment funds in the investor/purchaser's deposit account in the data storage means up to the investment maximum for the preselected period,
interest calculating means in the central computer means, for accruing interest for the investor/purchaser in the deposit account at said interest rate stored in the data storage means,
statement means in the central computer means for issuing account statements for the investor/purchaser reporting principal and accrued interest in the deposit account of the investor/purchaser.
redemption means in the central computer means for issuing payment to the investor/purchaser for principal and accrued interest after one of the following events:
(a) entry into the central computer means of a demand by the investor/purchaser
(b) termination of a prescribed term of investment which has been stored in the data storage means.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.