Granted Patent B1

US 12,619,970 · App. 18/634,641 · Granted May 5, 2026

Inventors: Brian Grassadonia (San Francisco, CA); Tobi Kral (San Francisco, CA); Eric Firestone (San Francisco, CA); Kristopher David Stipech (West Hollywood, CA); Michael Dustin Moring (San Francisco, CA)

Assignee: Block, Inc.

G06Q20/223G06Q20/102G06Q20/322G06Q20/4016

Abstract

Claims (70)

1 . A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more servers of a payment service and from a first application executing on a first device of a first user associated with a first account, a first payment request identifying a second account of a second user associated with a second device;

determining, by the one or more servers, that the second account of the second user does not have sufficient funds to satisfy an amount of the first payment request;

generating, by the one or more servers, an offer of funds to satisfy the first payment request, the offer of funds comprising a plurality of payment installments for repayment of the amount of the first payment request over a predetermined time period;

transmitting, by the one or more servers and to a second application executing on the second device, the offer of funds, the offer of funds being displayed via a user interface of the second device;

in response to receiving, by the one or more servers, and from the second application, an acceptance of the offer of funds, causing the amount of the first payment request to be transferred from a host account owned by the payment service to the first account of the first user;

subsequent to the amount of the first payment request being transferred to the first account, receiving, by the one or more servers and from the second application, a second payment request identifying a third account of a third user associated with a third device;

transmitting, by the one or more servers and to a third application executing on the third device, the second payment request; and

in response to receiving, by the one or more servers and from the third application, an indication of acceptance of the second payment request and determining that the second account has an outstanding balance associated with the repayment of the amount associated with the offer of funds:

intercepting, by the one or more servers, a payment message comprising instructions to deposit at least a first portion of a value of funds corresponding to the second payment request from the third account into the second account in a peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer facilitated by the payment service; and

responsive to intercepting the payment message and prior to any funds associated with the payment message being deposited into any account, modifying, by the one or more servers, the instructions of the payment message to divert the first portion of the value of funds corresponding to the second payment request to the host account instead of being deposited into the second account.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the modified instructions cause the first portion of the value of funds corresponding to the outstanding balance to be deposited into the host account and a second portion corresponding to a remaining value of funds to be deposited into the second account.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein intercepting the payment message comprises diverting the payment message from being directed to the second account to being directed to the host account, and wherein diverting the payment message further comprises:

decoding the payment message to determine a payment recipient, wherein the payment recipient corresponds to the second user of the second device; and

identifying account information of the payment recipient,

wherein diverting the payment message is in response to determining that the account information of the payment recipient includes at least one record of an outstanding advance funds transfer for repayment.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the offer of funds corresponds to an offer of an advance funds transfer.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

causing the user interface displayed within the second application executing on the second device to display a plurality of funding sources associated with the second account concurrently with one or more generated terms and conditions for providing at least the first portion of the value of the offer of funds to satisfy the first payment request.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein prior to receiving the second payment request, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the one or more servers, transaction data associated with a sale of one or more items by the second user; and

causing, by the one or more servers, the second device to display a message via the user interface, the message comprising an option associated with the repayment of the outstanding balance, the option corresponding to a transaction amount corresponding to the sale.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the offer corresponds to repayment of all or a portion of the outstanding balance.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the offer of funds is based at least in part on assessing a risk of providing the offer of funds based on factors comprising one or more of a type of transaction, a type of recipient, the amount of funds, a debit history, a credit history, a credit score, and an employment history.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the offer of funds is based at least in part on:

predicting, based on a transaction history associated with the second account, a predicted amount of funds to be received into the second account from one or more of a plurality of funding sources associated with the second account within a second predetermined time period, wherein predicting the predicted amount of funds to be received into the second account comprises determining that the second account is to receive funds equal to or greater than the amount of the first payment request,

wherein the offer of funds is equal to or less than the predicted amount of funds.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the predicted amount of funds to be received into the second account comprises a predicted amount of credits predicted to be received into the second account from a direct deposit source.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the amount of the first payment request to be transferred further comprises:

recording, by the one or more servers, the acceptance of the offer of funds in a record of the second account stored in a data store of the payment service;

deducting, from the host account, the amount corresponding to the first payment request; and

crediting, to the first account of the first user, the amount of the first payment request.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more servers, and from a merchant computing device, purchase information associated with the first device; and

storing, by the one or more servers into a database, the purchase information,

wherein generating terms and conditions associated with the offer of funds is further based at least in part on the purchase information.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a payment service, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a first application executing on a first device of a first user associated with a first account, a first payment request identifying a second account of a second user associated with a second device;

determining that the second account of the second user does not have sufficient funds to satisfy an amount of the first payment request;

generating an offer of funds to satisfy the first payment request, the offer of funds comprising a plurality of payment installments for repayment of the amount of the first payment request over a predetermined time period;

transmitting, to a second application executing on the second device, the offer of funds, the offer of funds being displayed via a user interface of the second device;

in response to receiving, from the second application, an acceptance of the offer of funds, causing the amount of the first payment request to be transferred from a host account managed by the payment service to the first account of the first user;

subsequent to the amount of the first payment request being transferred to the first account, receiving, from the second application, a second payment request identifying a third account of a third user associated with a third device; and

in response to receiving, from a third application executing on the third device of the third user, an indication of acceptance of the second payment request and determining that the second account has an outstanding balance associated with the repayment of the amount associated with the offer of funds:

intercepting a payment message comprising instructions to deposit at least a first portion of value of funds corresponding to the second payment request from the third account into the second account in a peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer facilitated by the payment service; and

responsive to intercepting the payment message and prior to any funds associated with the payment message being deposited into any account, modifying the instructions of the payment message to divert the first portion of the value of funds corresponding to the second payment request to the host account instead of being deposited into the second account.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the modified instructions cause the first portion of the value of funds corresponding to the outstanding balance to be deposited into the host account and a second portion corresponding to a remaining value of funds to be deposited into the second account.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein prior to receiving the second payment request, the operations further comprise:

receiving transaction data associated with a sale of one or more items by the second user; and

causing the second device to display a message via the user interface, the message comprising an option associated with the repayment of the outstanding balance, the option corresponding to a transaction amount corresponding to the sale.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the offer corresponds to repayment of all or a portion of the outstanding balance.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein generating the offer of funds is based at least in part on assessing a risk of providing the offer of funds based on factors comprising one or more of a type of transaction, a type of recipient, the amount of funds, a debit history, a credit history, a credit score, and an employment history.

18 . A payment service computing platform associated with a payment service, the payment service computing platform comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a first application executing on a first device of a first user associated with a first account, a first payment request identifying a second account of a second user associated with a second device;

determining that the second account of the second user does not have sufficient funds to satisfy an amount of the first payment request;

generating an offer of funds to satisfy the first payment request, the offer of funds comprising a plurality of payment installments for repayment of the amount of the first payment request over a predetermined time period;

transmitting, to a second application executing on the second device, the offer of funds, the offer of funds being displayed via a user interface of the second device;

in response to receiving, from the second application, an acceptance of the offer of funds, causing the amount of the first payment request to be transferred from a host account owned by the payment service to the first account of the first user;

subsequent to the amount of the first payment request being transferred to the first account, receiving, from the second application, a second payment request identifying a third account of a third user associated with a third device; and

in response to receiving, from a third application executing on the third device of the third user, an indication of acceptance of the second payment request and determining that the second account has an outstanding balance associated with the repayment of the amount associated with the offer of funds:

intercepting a payment message comprising instructions to deposit at least a first portion of value of funds corresponding to the second payment request from the third account into the second account in a peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer facilitated by the payment service; and

responsive to intercepting the payment message and prior to any funds associated with the payment message being deposited into any account, modifying the instructions of the payment message to divert the first portion of the value of funds corresponding to the second payment request to the host account instead of being deposited into the second account.

19 . The payment service computing platform of claim 18 , wherein causing the amount of the first payment request to be transferred further comprises:

recording the acceptance of the offer of funds in a record of the second account stored in a data store of the payment service;

deducting, from the host account, the amount corresponding to the first payment request; and

crediting, to the first account of the first user, the amount of the first payment request.

20 . The payment service computing platform of claim 18 , the operations further comprising:

causing the user interface displayed within the second application executing on the second device to display a plurality of funding sources associated with the second account concurrently with one or more generated terms and conditions for providing at least the first portion of the value of the offer of funds to satisfy the first payment request.

Assignments (4)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (12)