Systems and methods for dynamic transaction-payment routing
View Patent ↗A mobile payment transaction aggregator designed to identify, on a per transaction basis, a payment processor from a plurality of available payment processors with the lowest processing fee for the given transaction. Additionally, the aggregator may bundle multiple payment transactions of a single consumer across multiple merchants for additional savings.
1. A computer-implemented method of conducting a payment transaction between a merchant and a consumer, the method comprising:
receiving and storing payment-processing fee rates from a plurality of payment processors available to process the transaction, the fee rates being classified by at least one transaction attribute;
receiving, by a payment server from a merchant system, a payment-transaction authorization request for a purchase by the consumer;
determining, based on computational analysis of the authorization request, at least one transaction attribute for the payment transaction;
identifying, from the plurality of payment processors, a payment processor with a lowest fee based at least in part on the at least one determined transaction attribute; and
transmitting the authorization request to the identified payment processor to complete the payment transaction.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the authorization request comprises a payment token, a transaction amount, and a merchant identifier.
3. The method of 2 , wherein the payment token is encoded with data identifying a financial account.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises a type of payment card presented by the consumer.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises a merchant type.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises a purchase type.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises a time of transmission of the authorization request.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises an aggregate value of unprocessed transactions of a consumer involving a single financial institution.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to transmitting the authorization request to the identified payment processor, computationally determining a transaction bundling savings for each of the plurality of processors based on the at least one transaction attribute; and
if the determined savings is above a predetermined amount, suspending processing of the authorization request until the earlier of (i) expiration of a predetermined delay period or (ii) receipt of additional authorization that when bundled qualify for the determined savings.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising determining a financial risk level for the consumer by analyzing a stored transaction history and suspending processing only if the risk level is determined to be acceptable.
11. The method of 1 , further comprising:
analyzing the processing fees charged by the identified payment processor upon transaction completion; and
updating the stored fee rates for the identified processor based on the charged fees.
12. A system for conducting a payment transaction between a merchant and a consumer, the system comprising:
a fee database for storing payment-processing fee rates from a plurality of payment processors available to process the transaction, the fee rates being classified by at least one transaction attribute;
a processor for executing:
a transaction classification module for (i) receiving, from a merchant system, a payment transaction authorization request and (ii) computationally analyzing the authorization request to determine at least one payment attribute for the payment transaction;
an identification module for identifying, from the plurality of payment processors, a payment processor with a lowest fee based on the at least one determined transaction attribute; and
a communication module for causing transmission of the authorization request to the identified payment processor to complete the payment transaction.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the authorization request comprises a payment token, a transaction amount, and a merchant identifier.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the wherein the payment token is encoded with data identifying a financial account.
15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises a type of payment card presented by the consumer.
16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises a merchant type.
17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises a purchase type.
18. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises time of transmission of the authorization request.
19. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises an aggregate value of unprocessed transactions of a consumer involving a single financial institution.
20. The system of claim 12 , further comprising:
a transaction database for storing records of suspended and completed transactions;
a bundling module for (i) computationally determining a transaction bundling savings for each of the plurality of processors based on the at least one transaction attribute and (ii) if the determined savings is above a predetermined amount, suspending processing of the authorization request and storing the suspended transaction in the transaction database.
21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the bundling module is configured to maintain suspension of the transaction until the earlier of (i) expiration of a predetermined delay period or (ii) receipt of additional authorization requests that when bundled qualify for the determined savings.
22. The system of claim 20 wherein the bundling module is configured to determine a financial risk level for the consumer by analyzing a stored transaction history and to suspend processing only if the risk level is determined to be acceptable.