PROCESS OF AND SYSTEM FOR ADVANCING CREDIT FOR CASH COLLECTIONS
A process for providing bank credit to retailers for cash collections that are carried out during retailers' normal business operations. The process entails a retailer collecting cash over a period of time, such as over a single or multiple business days, generally in exchange for goods and/or services, depositing the collected cash into one or more electronic safes disposed at the retailer's location or locations, calculating at a designated time, such as the end of day at each location, a total amount of cash that has been deposited into the retailer's safes over such period of time, and electronically transmitting data files that identify the calculated total amounts of cash accepted by the retailer over the period of time. The retailer is credited, for example, by a bank, with the total cash deposits as reported by the electronic safes at the end of each business day. The process advantageously makes funds readily available and improves cash flow to retailers who take-in cash as part of their normal business operations.
1 . A process for providing bank credit to a retailer for cash collections, comprising the steps of:
collecting cash by a retailer over a period of time;
depositing the collected cash into a safe disposed at the retailer;
calculating, at a designated time, a total amount of cash deposited into the safe over said period of time; and
electronically transmitting a data file identifying the calculated total amount of cash deposited into the safe over said period of time to enable for the crediting of the retailer by a bank with the calculated total amount of cash deposited into the safe as identified in the data file.
2 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of receiving by a facility the electronically transmitted data file; and arranging by the facility for the retailer to be credited by the bank with the calculated total amount of cash deposited into the safe as identified in the data file.
3 . The process of claim 2 , wherein arranging by the facility for the retailer to be credited by the bank occurs before the cash deposited into the safe is physically taken out of the safe.
4 . The process of claim 2 , wherein arranging by the facility for the retailer to be credited by the bank occurs before the cash deposited into the safe is physically delivered to a financial institute.
5 . The process of claim 2 , further comprising the steps of transferring the cash deposited into the safe to the bank, verifying the amount of cash to produce a verified amount; and adjusting the credit previously provided to the retailer based on differences, if any, between the verified amount and the calculated total amount of cash deposited into the safe as identified in the data file.
6 . A process for providing credit to a retailer for cash collections, comprising the steps of:
collecting cash by a retailer over a plurality of business days;
depositing the collected cash into a safe disposed at the retailer;
calculating, at an end of day for each of the business days, a total amount of cash deposited into the safe between the end of day of a business day preceding the respective business day and the end of day for the respective business day; and
electronically transmitting, at the end of day of each of the business days, a respective data file identifying the respective calculated total amount to enable for the respective crediting of the retailer by a bank with the respective calculated total amount.
7 . The process of claim 6 , further comprising the steps of receiving by a facility, on each of the business days, the respective electronically transmitted data file; and arranging by the facility for the retailer to be credited by the bank with the respective calculated total amount.
8 . The process of claim 7 , wherein the cash deposited into the safe over the plurality of business days is not withdrawn from the safe over the plurality of business days.
9 . The process of claim 7 , further comprising picking up the cash deposited into the safe in accordance with a pickup schedule; and wherein the end of day does not coincide with the pickup schedule.
10 . The process of claim 6 , wherein each data file identifies the calculated total amount broken down by business day, including a total amount of cash deposited into the safe between the end of day of the preceding business day through an end of the preceding business day, and a total amount of cash deposited into the safe between a beginning of the respective business day and the end of day for the respective business day.
11 . The process of claim 10 , further comprising the steps of receiving by a facility, on each of the business days, the respective electronically transmitted data file; and arranging by the facility for the retailer to be credited by the bank on a business day basis based on the respective calculated total amounts identified in the respective electronically transmitted data file.
12 . The process of claim 11 , further comprising the step of providing the retailer with a report identifying amounts of credit provided to the retailer on a business day basis.
13 . A process for providing credit to a retailer for cash collections, comprising the steps of:
collecting cash by a retailer at a plurality of retailer locations over a period of time;
depositing cash collected at each of the retailer locations into safes respectively disposed at the retailer locations;
calculating a respective total amount of cash deposited into the respective safe at each of the retailer locations over the period of time;
electronically transmitting, for each of the retailer locations, a respective data file identifying the respective calculated total amount deposited at each of the retailer locations;
receiving by a facility all of the electronically transmitted data files; and
arranging by the facility for the retailer to be provided by a bank with a total credit corresponding to a sum of the calculated total amounts of cash deposited into the safes at each of the retailer locations as identified in the received data files.
14 . The process of claim 13 , wherein arranging by the facility for the retailer to be provided by the bank with a total credit occurs before the cash deposited into the safes are physically removed from the safes.
15 . The process of claim 13 , wherein calculating a respective total amount of cash deposited into the respective safe at each of the retailer locations is carried at a respective designated time for each of the retailer locations, and a designated time for a first of the retailer locations is substantially different from a designated time for a second of the retailer locations.
16 . A system for providing bank credit to a retailer for cash collections, comprising:
cash collected by a retailer over a period of time at the retailer location;
a safe disposed at a retailer location, the collected cash deposited into the safe, the safe being adapted to calculate, at a designated time, a total amount of cash deposited into the safe over the period of time, and adapted to electronically transmit a data file identifying the calculated total amount of cash deposited into the safe over said period of time to enable for the crediting of the retailer by a bank with the calculated total amount of cash deposited into the safe as identified in the data file.
17 . A system for providing credit to a retailer for cash collections, comprising:
cash collected by a retailer at a plurality of locations of the retailer;
a plurality of safes, each of the safes disposed at a respective one of the plurality of locations of the retailer, cash collected at each of the plurality of locations of the retailer being deposited into a corresponding respective one of the plurality of safes, each of the safes being adapted to calculate a respective total amount of cash deposited into the respective safe and adapted to electronically transmit a respective data file identifying the respective calculated total amount deposited at each of the retailer locations; and
a facility for receiving all of the electronically transmitted data files, the facility adapted to arrange for the retailer to be provided with a total credit corresponding to a sum of the calculated total amounts of cash deposited into the safes at each of the retailer locations as identified in the received data files.