Method and system for gift credit card
OwnerJerry L. Albrechtinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for providing purchasable value for gifts and other uses in the form of a credit instrument is provided. A purchaser of a gift credit instrument authorizes a credit institution with which the purchaser holds a credit account to create a limited-value, non-renewable secondary account linked exclusively to the purchaser's credit account. A credit instrument is issued to an authorized user which credit instrument uniquely identifies the secondary account. The gift credit instrument may be used in the same manner as the purchaser's credit instrument; however, it expires after a certain period of time or after the initial value of the secondary account is spent. A system for carrying out the method is also provided.
Claims16
A credit transaction system, comprising:
- a plurality of points of sale;
- a credit data storage and transaction processing system communicatively connected to said points of sale, said credit data storage and transaction processing system including first computer memory for storing credit account data of a primary credit account, and a processor for processing said credit account data and transaction data communicated to said processor from said points of sale;
- second computer memory communicatively connected to said processor adapted to store data of a secondary account, said secondary account having an initially-determined value and being exclusively related to said primary account;
- and
- a credit instrument for conducting transactions at one or more of said plurality of points of sale, said credit instrument uniquely identifying said secondary account,
- wherein data of said transactions are processed by said processor and stored in said second computer memory, and wherein said processor terminates said secondary account when said credit instrument has been used for said transactions such that the value of said transactions substantially equals said initially-determined value of said secondary account.
A method of creating and processing a secondary account linked to a primary credit account and having an initially-determined limit, comprising the steps of:
- receiving authorization from a holder of a primary credit account to create said secondary account;
- determining whether said authorization is sufficient;
- creating said secondary account if said authorization is determined to be sufficient;
- creating a credit instrument uniquely identifying said secondary account for use in credit transactions;
- providing said credit instrument to the primary account holder or to an authorized user;
- allowing continued use of said credit instrument for credit transactions as long as the cumulative value of the transactions does not exceed the initially-determined value;
- and
- terminating said secondary account when the cumulative value of the transactions made using said credit instrument substantially equals said initially-determined value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.