Systems and methods for operating data card terminals for transaction chargeback protection

A method for processing a financial card transaction between a merchant and a cardholder to obviate involvement of said merchant in the event of a retrieval request, comprising the steps of:

• obtaining, in response to the presentation of a data card by said cardholder in connection with said transaction, transaction information corresponding to said transaction with a terminal at said merchant;
• capturing a signature of said cardholder with a signature capturing device and providing signature signals corresponding to said signature;
• transmitting said transaction information and said signature signals to a transaction processor via a communication link;
• storing said transaction information and said signature signals in a data storage facility associated with said transaction processor;
• in response to a retrieval request regarding said transaction from a requesting institution, retrieving said transaction information and said signature signals from said data storage facility;
• and
• providing to said requesting institution a transaction receipt comprising said transaction information and a facsimile of said signature.

A system for guaranteeing a financial transaction conducted by a cardholder utilizing a data card against predetermined categories of chargebacks of the transaction to a merchant participating in the transaction, comprising:

• an authorization source computer system;
• a transaction processing computer system associated with a transaction processor;
• and
• a data card transaction terminal utilized by a merchant, comprising:
• (a) a card reader for automatically detecting an account number associated with a data card presented by a cardholder in connection with a proposed transaction;
• (b) a signature capture device for capturing the signature of the cardholder in connection with the transaction;
• (c) a controller operative for requesting authorization indicia from said authorization source computer system in response to the presentation of the data card, and for obtaining and storing in the terminal:
• (1) financial information corresponding to the transaction,
• (2) said authorization indicia,
• (3) said cardholder signature, and
• (4) a transaction protected flag indicative that the transaction is chargeback protected;
• and
• (d) a communications device for communicating said financial information corresponding to the transaction, said authorization indicia, said cardholder signature, and said transaction protected flag to said transaction processing computer system as a chargeback protected transaction,
• whereby in response to a dispute concerning the transaction within the predetermined categories of disputes, the transaction is not referred back to the merchant by the transaction processor for handling nor is charged back to the merchant by the transaction processor.

A method for guaranteeing a financial transaction conducted by a cardholder utilizing a data card against chargebacks of the transaction to a merchant participating in the transaction, comprising the steps of:

• (1) providing to the merchant a data card transaction terminal;
• (2) at the terminal, and in response to the presentation of a data card by a cardholder in connection with a proposed transaction:
• (a) automatically detecting an account number associated with the data card, and
• (b) capturing a signature of the cardholder in connection with the transaction;
• (3) at the terminal, and in response to a proposed transaction, obtaining authorization indicia from an authorization source;
• (4) at the terminal, and in response to the presentation of the data card, obtaining and storing in the terminal:
• (a) financial information corresponding to the transaction,
• (b) the authorization indicia, and
• (c) the cardholder signature;
• (5) in response to the storing of the information of the preceding step, storing a transaction protected flag in the terminal indicative that the transaction is chargeback protected;
• (6) communicating the financial information corresponding to the transaction, the authorization indicia, the cardholder signature, and the transaction protected flag to a transaction processing host computer system;
• and
• (7) processing the transaction in a manner so that the merchant is not charged back for the transaction.