METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS
Systems and methods are disclosed whereby credit and debit card transactions are processed at a merchant point-of-sale terminal in a manner that provides customers the opportunity to receive one or more charge enhancement offers which are presented to the customer on a record of charge.
1 . An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a storage device in communication with the processor, the storage device storing instructions that when executed by the processor direct the processor to:
receive a request for authorization of a purchase amount, the purchase amount to be paid from a financial account of the customer;
determine an offer based on the received request;
transmit an authorization of the purchase amount;
transmit the offer for output to the customer on a record of charge;
receive an acceptance of the offer by the customer; and
provide a benefit to the customer after receiving the acceptance,
wherein the offer defines an obligation for the customer to fulfill in exchange for the benefit.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the record of charge includes a first signature line associated with and for indicating acceptance of the purchase amount only.
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the record of charge includes a second signature line associated with and for indicating acceptance of the offer output on the record of charge.
4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , the storage device storing instructions that when executed by the processor direct the processor further to:
determine that the customer has signed the second signature line of the record.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , in which the offer is a cross-subsidy offer and in which the benefit comprises a discount toward the purchase amount.
6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , in which the offer is selected from the group consisting of:
a supplemental product offer for the obligation of an additional payment in addition to the purchase amount to be provided by the customer in exchanged for a supplemental product, and
a cross-subsidy offer for providing a discount toward the purchase amount in exchange for the obligation of the customer accepting an offer of a third party other than the customer and the merchant.