System and method for processing gift cards by intercepting a purchasing transaction
Disclosed herein is a method for enabling gift card recipients to redeem gift card amounts using existing payment accounts. A system identifies a giver and recipient of a gift card amount and associated accounts. A policy is established which governs how the gift card is redeemed, such as a specific merchant or item. When a purchase is made using an existing credit/debit card according to the policy, the system intercepts the purchase and causes the gift card amount to be applied from an account other than the recipient account. No special codes, separate physical gift cards, or printable coupons are necessary for redemption. The recipient makes purchases using their normal purchasing credit/debit card via a qualifying purchase according to the policy, and the gift card is applied automatically. The recipient credit/debit card becomes a combination of an open-looped card and a closed-loop card. Thus, no money is wasted or lost.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, via a processor, an identification of a giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay for the gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time, wherein the giver is associated with a giver payment account comprising a credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, and the recipient is associated with a recipient payment account comprising a credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, wherein the giver payment account and the recipient payment account are independent of each other and have no control over each other, and wherein the gift is to be purchased at a later time by the recipient using the recipient payment account;
associating, via a processor, a policy with the gift, wherein the policy is at least in part giver defined and identifies the gift which must be purchased by the recipient using the recipient payment account to be received by the recipient;
transmitting an electronic notification to a recipient device, the electronic notification comprising an interactive graphical user interface that notifies the recipient of at least one of the giver, the amount of money to pay for the gift, an existence of the gift, and a condition of the policy that will trigger application of the gift;
receiving, via the interactive graphical user interface, recipient input in order to redeem the gift;
upon determining, via a processor that performs a continuous monitoring of purchases of the recipient payment account, that the recipient has initiated, at a second time, which is later than the first time, a qualifying purchase of the gift using the recipient payment account according to the policy, intercepting the qualifying purchase of the gift to yield an interception; and
applying, based on the interception and in an automated manner via a network-based server, at least a portion of a payment for the qualifying purchase of the gift from the giver payment account.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
initiating, at the first time, a transfer of at least part of the amount of money to pay for the gift from the giver payment account to a holding account that is separate from the recipient payment account, wherein applying at least the portion of the payment for the qualifying purchase comprises transferring the at least the portion of the payment from the holding account to a merchant account.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein associating the policy with the gift further comprises receiving the amount of money to pay for the gift from the giver payment account.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein associating the policy with the gift further comprises receiving an identification of a merchant at which the qualifying purchase will trigger applying at least a portion of a payment for the qualifying purchase from the giver payment account.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the policy comprises at least one of: a class of goods or services, an amount of money, a merchant, a ceiling amount of money, a time frame for use of the gift, one or more recipient payment accounts that when used can trigger a transfer of at least part of the amount of money from the holding account to the one or more recipient payment accounts, and a predetermined period of time in which if all the amount of money to pay for the gift is not used according to the policy, a remainder amount of money is transferred from the holding account to the recipient payment account.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, after applying at least a portion of a payment for the qualifying purchase from the giver payment account, whether remaining funds exist according to the policy.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein, when remaining funds exist, the method further comprises transferring the remaining funds to the recipient payment account according to the policy.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the qualifying purchase is made independent of any communication to the recipient.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when applying at least the portion of the payment for the qualifying purchase from the giver payment account does not deplete the amount of money to pay for the gift and yields a remaining gift amount, then after a predetermined period of time in which the recipient payment account is not used for a second purchase according to the policy, then performing one of transferring the remaining gift amount to the recipient payment account and canceling the transfer of the remaining gift amount to the recipient payment account.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when applying at least part of the amount of money to pay for the gift yields a remaining amount of money on the gift, the method further comprises, upon use of the recipient payment account to make an additional purchase under the policy, applying the remaining amount of money to the additional purchase.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy governs how payment of at least part of the amount of money to pay for the gift is applied, but does not prevent purchases using the recipient payment account.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising notifying the recipient of at least one of the gift, the amount of money to pay for the gift, the recipient payment account that is to be used to redeem the gift, and a merchant at which a purchase using the recipient payment account will redeem the gift.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after intercepting the qualifying purchase, sending a notification to the giver that at least part of the amount of money to pay the gift was applied for the qualifying purchase.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the notification comprises at least one of a description of an object of the qualifying purchase, a purchase time, a purchase date, and a merchant.
15. The method of claim 2 , wherein the policy manages applying the at least part of the amount of money for the gift according to whether a respective account of the giver payment account and the recipient payment account is a credit card account or a debit card account.
16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a plurality of recipient debit payment accounts; and
upon use of the recipient payment account from one of the plurality of recipient debit payment accounts to initiate the qualifying purchase, applying the amount of money to pay for the gift to the qualifying purchase in a manner associated with the one of the plurality of recipient debit payment accounts.
17. A non-transitory computer readable storage device storing instructions for controlling a computing device, the instructions, when executed by the computing device, causing the computing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving an identification of a giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay for the gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time, wherein the giver is associated with a giver payment account comprising a credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, and the recipient is associated with a recipient payment account comprising a credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, wherein the giver payment account and the recipient payment account are independent of each other and have no control over each other, and wherein the gift is to be purchased at a later time by the recipient using the recipient payment account;
associating a policy with the gift, wherein the policy is at least in part giver defined and identifies the gift which must be purchased by the recipient using the recipient payment account to be received by the recipient;
transmitting an electronic notification to a recipient device, the electronic notification comprising an interactive graphical user interface that notifies the recipient of at least one of the giver, the amount of money to pay for the gift, an existence of the gift, and a condition of the policy that will trigger application of the gift;
receiving, via the interactive graphical user interface, recipient input in order to redeem the gift;
upon determining, via a processor that performs a continuous monitoring of purchases of the recipient payment account, that the recipient has initiated, at a second time, which is later than the first time, a qualifying purchase of the gift using the recipient payment account according to the policy, intercepting the qualifying purchase of the gift to yield an interception; and
applying, based on the interception and in an automated manner, at least a portion of a payment for the qualifying purchase of the gift from the giver payment account.
18. A system for managing a transaction involving a gift, the system comprising:
a processor; and
a computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, perform operations comprising:
receiving an identification of a giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay for the gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time, wherein the giver is associated with a giver payment account comprising a credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, and the recipient is associated with a recipient payment account comprising a credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, wherein the giver payment account and the recipient payment account are independent of each other and have no control over each other, and wherein the gift is to be purchased at a later time by the recipient using the recipient payment account;
associating a policy with the gift, wherein the policy is at least in part giver defined and identifies the gift which must be purchased by the recipient using the recipient payment account to be received by the recipient;
transmitting an electronic notification to a recipient device, the electronic notification comprising an interactive graphical user interface that notifies the recipient of at least one of the giver, the amount of money to pay for the gift, an existence of the gift, and a condition of the policy that will trigger application of the gift;
receiving, via the interactive graphical user interface, recipient input in order to redeem the gift;
upon determining, by a continuous monitoring of purchases of the recipient payment account, that the recipient has initiated, at a second time, which is later than the first time, a qualifying purchase of the gift using the recipient payment account according to the policy, intercepting the qualifying purchase of the gift to yield an interception; and
applying, based on the interception and in an automated manner, at least a portion of a payment for the qualifying purchase of the gift from the giver payment account.