Proxy card management system
A proxy card used at an ATM, or at any vendor store, that has a legacy point of sale unit or at a store with the smart point of sale. In general, it can be used with any vendor and otherwise as any credit or debit card might be used. The point-of sale unit interacts with a multi-source processing system (MSPS) that, instead of servicing a single money source, interacts with more than one of a plurality of monetary sources that may be associated with the proxy card. The money transferred from credit or debit accounts of the user may be either transferred directly or indirectly via a proxy central account associated with the MSPS that a user maintains.
1 . A computer-implemented method for processing an indirect online purchase transaction by a server computer using a proxy identifier associated with a plurality of independent monetary accounts of a user, the method comprising:
receiving a payment processing request for the indirect online purchase transaction that includes the proxy identifier and a requested transaction amount;
retrieving, in response to the payment processing request, (i) information identifying the plurality of independent monetary accounts and (ii) one or more allocation rules associated with the proxy identifier;
selecting, based on the one or more allocation rules associated with the proxy identifier, at least one of the plurality of independent monetary accounts to fund the indirect online purchase transaction and a respective portion of the requested transaction amount for each selected independent monetary account;
initiating, for each selected independent monetary account, a payment for a respective portion of the requested transaction amount from that independent monetary account;
obtaining authorization information from respective payment processing systems associated with each selected independent monetary account;
generating, based on the authorization information, a proxy authorization code for the indirect online purchase transaction;
storing, in memory, mapping data associating the proxy authorization code with respective authorization information corresponding to each selected independent monetary account;
transmitting respective allocation data of the requested transaction amount to the selected independent monetary accounts; and
transmitting the proxy authorization code in lieu of the respective authorization information corresponding to the selected independent monetary accounts.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining authorization information from respective payment processing systems associated with the selected independent monetary accounts comprises:
receiving, for each selected independent monetary account, an authorization code indicating approval of the respective portion of the requested transaction amount of the indirect online purchase transaction.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the proxy authorization code in lieu of the respective authorization information corresponding to the selected independent monetary accounts comprises transmitting a digital signature using a cryptographic key or other security credential to ensure non-repudiation.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising authenticating the proxy identifier prior to selecting the at least one independent monetary account to fund the indirect online purchase transaction.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating, for each selected independent monetary account, a payment for a respective portion of the requested transaction amount from that independent monetary account, comprises:
transmitting a plurality of separate authorization requests to respective payment processing systems associated with the selected independent monetary accounts, each separate authorization request corresponding to a respective independent monetary account and requesting authorization of a corresponding respective portion of the requested transaction amount of the indirect online purchase transaction from a corresponding independent monetary account;
receiving a plurality of individual authorization responses respectively from the respective payment processing systems for each of the separate authorization requests; and
determining an overall authorization result for the indirect online purchase transaction based on the plurality of individual authorization responses.
6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
detecting that one of the individual authorization responses indicates an authorization failure; and
in response to detecting the authorization failure, reallocating at least a reallocated portion of the requested transaction amount amongst the independent monetary accounts to reallocate an unauthorized portion of an amount of the requested transaction amount to at least one other independent monetary account and initiating at least one additional authorization request for the reallocated portion to a payment processing system associated with at least one of the plurality of independent monetary account.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the reallocating of the at least a reallocated portion of an amount of the indirect online purchase transaction comprises selecting the at least one independent monetary account based on a predetermined priority or ranking.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the reallocating of the at least a reallocated portion of the transaction amount comprises selecting the at least one independent monetary account based on one or more allocation rules that consider an available balance of one or more of the independent monetary accounts.
9 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
after determining an overall requested online transaction authorization result, storing in a data storage, a transaction record that includes the overall requested online transaction authorization result and a breakdown of the requested transaction amount allocated to each selected independent monetary accounts.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein a transaction completion confirmation is digitally signed using security information associated with the proxy identifier, and wherein storing the transaction record comprises storing, in association with the transaction record, a digitally signed transaction completion confirmation.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating, for each selected independent monetary account, a payment for a respective portion of the requested transaction amount from that independent monetary account, comprises:
generating a consolidated authorization request representing a plurality of independent funding accounts associated with the proxy identifier for the requested transaction amount.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more allocation rules comprise a predefined allocation ratio.
13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising completing the indirect online purchase transaction by initiating settlement of the indirect online purchase transaction for each selected independent monetary accounts such that a merchant account receives payment from each of the selected independent monetary accounts.
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting, based on the one or more allocation rules associated with the proxy identifier, at least one of the plurality of independent monetary accounts to fund the indirect online purchase transaction and a respective portion of the requested transaction amount for each selected independent monetary account comprises:
retrieving from a data store, the one or more allocation rules; and
automatically determining an allocation for the requested transaction amount based on applying the one or more allocation rules to the requested transaction amount.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more allocation rules specify how to allocate the requested transaction amount among the plurality of independent monetary accounts based on one or more transaction parameters, the transaction parameters including at least an available balance of at least one of the plurality of independent monetary accounts.
16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, via the Internet from a client device, an instruction to disassociate one of the plurality of independent monetary accounts from the proxy identifier; and
in response to the instruction to disassociate one of the plurality of independent monetary accounts from the proxy identifier, disassociating the proxy identifier and a reference identifier corresponding to the one independent monetary account to detach the one independent monetary account without having to engage in closure of the one independent monetary account.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein disassociating the proxy identifier and the reference identifier corresponding to the one independent monetary account comprises updating a mapping stored in a data storage such that subsequent online purchase transaction requests associated with the proxy identifier do not involve the detached independent monetary account.
18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving, via the Internet from a client device information identifying a new independent monetary account; and
associating the proxy identifier with the new independent monetary account such that the new independent monetary account becomes one of the plurality of independent monetary accounts available for allocation of subsequent online transaction requests.
19 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
aggregating transaction records for a plurality of online purchase transactions associated with the proxy identifier.
20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
updating at least one allocation rule based on the aggregated transaction records, such that allocation of transaction amounts among the plurality of independent monetary accounts in subsequent online purchase transactions is modified in response at least a portion of the aggregated transaction records.
21 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising transmitting a spending report to a client device, the spending report being generated based on at least a portion of the requested transaction amount.
22 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising transmitting a confirmation message to a client device associated with a buyer, the confirmation message including an allocation summary that indicates the respective portion of the transaction amount charged to each of the one or more plurality of independent monetary accounts for the indirect online purchase transaction.