Patent ID: 7856399
Filing Date: 2010-12-21
Classification: G06Q,G07F

Abstract:
1. In a computer-implemented system that includes one or more modules for generating and managing a merchant account of a financial institution, wherein the merchant account is not required to be linked to a checking account, savings account, or settlement account of an owner of the merchant account, a method for enabling the merchant account to accept financial cards as payment, the method comprising: using a financial module associated with the financial institution and executed by a computer, linking, by the computer, the merchant card to the merchant account, wherein the merchant account is not required to be linked to a checking account, savings account or settlement account associated with an owner of the merchant account; accepting, by the computer, a financial card of a particular cardholder in a transaction associated with the merchant account; adding, by the computer, an amount authorized by an issuer of the financial card of the particular cardholder of the particular transaction to an available balance of the merchant account; making the available balance of the merchant account immediately available for use as stored value on the merchant card linked to the merchant account without transferring funds to or from a checking account, savings account, or settlement account associated with the owner of the merchant account and without waiting until the transaction has settled with the issuer of the financial card of the particular cardholder; and while the available balance of the merchant account is available to the merchant for use as stored value on the merchant card linked to the merchant account, settling, by the computer, the transaction with the issuer of the financial card of the particular cardholder.