Real time account update

In a system with a transaction handler processing a plurality of transactions each between an account holder and a merchant upon an account issued to the account holder by an issuer, a computer implemented method comprising:

• electronically forming, at a merchant computing machine executing software, a transmission destined for an acquirer of a merchant requesting a batch comparison of data about a plurality of said accounts to determine any past changes thereto that the acquirer previously received from a transaction handler;
• electronically receiving at the merchant computing machine a transmission from the acquirer including the past changes, respectively, to each of the accounts among the plurality of accounts;
• electronically batch updating, at the merchant computing machine, stored information about each of the accounts among the plurality of said accounts with the respective received past changes thereto;
• electronically forming in real-time, at the merchant computing machine, an authorization request for an issuer to authorize a transaction on one said account among the plurality of said accounts, wherein:
• the authorization request includes at least part of the stored information about the one said account;
• and
• the authorization request is destined for the acquirer to forward to the transaction handler to forward to the issuer of the one said account;
• electronically receiving in real-time from the acquirer, at the merchant computing machine, a denial of the issuer to authorize the transaction that is responsive to the authorization request;
• subsequent to receiving the denial, electronically forming in real-time, at the merchant computing machine, a request transmission destined for the transaction handler including a request for the transaction handler to send data about recent changes to the one said account since the last batch update to the plurality of said accounts;
• electronically receiving in real-time, at the merchant computing machine, the data about the recent changes from a storage record associated with the transaction handler;
• electronically querying in real-time, at the merchant computing machine, the received data about the recent changes against a predetermined criterion to determine whether to authorize the transaction on the one said account.

In a system with a transaction handler processing a plurality of transactions each between an account holder and a merchant upon an account issued to the account holder by an issuer, a merchant computing machine comprising:

• means for forming a merchant transmission destined for an acquirer of a merchant requesting a batch comparison of data about a plurality of accounts for transactions to determine any past changes thereto that the acquirer previously received from a transaction handler;
• means for receiving an acquirer transmission from the acquirer including the past changes respectively to each of the accounts among the plurality of accounts;
• means for batch updating stored information about the plurality of accounts with the respective received past changes thereto;
• means for forming an authorization request for an issuer to authorize a transaction against one said account among the plurality of accounts, wherein:
• the authorization request includes at least part of the stored information about the one said account;
• and
• the authorization request is destined for the acquirer to forward to the transaction handler that forwards the authorization request to the issuer of the one said account;
• means for receiving from the acquirer a denial of the issuer to authorize the transaction that is responsive to the authorization request;
• means for forming, subsequent to receiving the denial, a request transmission destined for the transaction handler including a request for the transaction handler to send data about recent changes to the one said account that is more current than the past changes received from the acquirer;
• means for receiving the data about the recent changes to the one said account from a storage record associated with the transaction handler;
• and
• means for querying the received data about the recent changes against a predetermined criterion to determine whether to authorize the transaction against the one said account.

A merchant computer implemented method for conducting a transaction in real time, the method comprising:

• electronically receiving, in real time at a merchant computing machine executing software, an initial denial of a initial authorization request for a transaction upon an account wherein the initial authorization request includes information about the account previously stored by the merchant computing machine in an electronic batch operation storing other such information for other said accounts;
• subsequent to said electronically receiving the initial denial, electronically receiving, in real time at the merchant computing machine, recent account information about the account from a database of account records associated with a transaction handler;
• subsequent to said receiving of the recent account information, electronically submitting, in real time at the merchant computing machine, a subsequent authorization request for the transaction, wherein the subsequent authorization request includes the recent account information;
• and
• after submitting the subsequent authorization request, electronically receiving, in real time at the merchant computing machine, an approval of the subsequent authorization request for the transaction.