System and method for combining disparate commercial transactions under a single identification mechanism

A method of processing credit card purchases, said method comprising:

• accepting, from a purchaser at a point of sale (POS), first data pertaining to a financial account to be charged for a particular purchase and second data that identifies a plurality of loyalty based programs, said accepting under control of a first processing system, wherein said first data and said second data are stored within a magnetic stripe of a financial card;
• processing, by said first processing system, said accepted first data for charging said financial account;
• retrieving, from a database based on said second data, discount information associated with a plurality of discounts available to said purchaser, each of said plurality of discounts corresponding to one of said plurality of loyalty based programs;
• communicating said retrieved discount information to said purchaser at said POS by presenting each of said plurality of discounts to said purchaser;
• receiving, at said POS, an input indicating a selection of one or more discounts of said plurality of discounts, wherein an amount charged to said financial account at said POS depends upon said selection of said one or more discounts;
• and
• using said input to send information pertaining to said selection of said one or more discounts to one or more second processing systems for processing secondary functions associated with loyalty based programs, wherein processing of each of said secondary functions includes processing a particular discount of said one or more discounts, wherein said processing of said secondary functions occurs with said processing of said accepted first data, and wherein at least one of said secondary functions is independent from said financial account.

A financial transaction processing system comprising:

• a first processor for:
• processing a financial transaction based upon identification information received from a financial card associated with a purchaser at a point of sale (POS), wherein said financial transaction charges a financial account, wherein said financial card includes a magnetic stripe, and wherein said identification information is stored within said magnetic stripe;
• identifying said purchaser based upon identification information processed by said first processor;
• sending, to a second separate processor, loyalty reward program information such that said second separate processor can conduct a first secondary transaction for said purchaser with said processing of said financial transaction, wherein said loyalty reward program information is stored within said magnetic stripe and identifies a plurality of loyalty reward programs, and wherein said first secondary transaction is associated with said at least one loyalty reward program that is independent from said financial account;
• and
• delaying said financial transaction a period of time in order to allow said first secondary transaction to be completed
• retrieving, from a database based on said loyalty reward program information, discount information available to said purchaser, wherein said discount information includes information associated with a plurality of discounts available to said purchaser, each of said plurality of discounts corresponding to one of said plurality of loyalty reward programs;
• and
• communicating said retrieved discount information to said purchaser at said POS;
• and
• receiving an input indicating a selection of one or more discounts of said plurality of discounts, wherein an amount charged to said financial account at said POS depends upon said selection of said one or more discounts indicated by said input.