Patent NZ-589328-A (NZ)
Title: System and method for managing the generation, collection and distribution of contributions from the use of payment cards
Inventor: WORTH JULIAN OTTO
IPC: G06Q30/00
Filed: 2009-05-05
Abstract: A system for managing the generation and the collection of financial contributions from holders of payment cards (50) and for distributing the collected contributions among a plurality of beneficiaries selected by the cardholders is disclosed. This management system is part of a payment card system comprising an institution (10) that issues payment cards to cardholders and transactions using the cards are processed via a transaction network. The cards are each associated with a unique identification (UID) and the payment card system (55) has a data processor that is connectable to points-of-sale via the transaction network for processing transactions made with the payment cards including the payment of merchants through merchant (60) accounts (42), and for providing to individual cardholders statements of transactions made using the individual cardholder's payment card. The management system operates with a set of payment cards (50) for cardholders who elect to make contributions in proportion to the transactions made using the cards. Each of the cards is associated by its unique identification (UID) with a contribution factor (CF) that is selectable by the cardholder, representing the cardholder's selected level of contribution to be made in proportion to the amount of transactions made with the card. The The management system comprises a first data processing means (40) that stores data on the contribution factors along with the unique identifications of the respective cards. The first data processing means is arranged to generate, for each cardholder having a payment card whose unique identification is associated with a contribution factor (CF), output data indicating a cardholder contribution that is a proportion of the value of transactions made by the cardholder according to a level set by the contribution factor associated with the card. The management system further comprises a contributions management entity (10) to which the cardholder contributions are payable by data transfer of the cardholder-contribution output data from the first processing means, using a merchant account held by the contributions management entity. The contributions management entity has second data processing means (20) for receiving and processing i) data on the unique identifications (UIDs) of the payment cards and the associated contribution factors (CF), ii) cardholder-contribution output data from the first data processing means, iii) beneficiary data that identifies a plurality of beneficiaries, and iv) distribution data indicating those beneficiaries that have been selected by the cardholders, and where needed a distribution amongst beneficiaries, this distribution data being associated with the unique identifications of respective payment cards. The second data processing means is arranged to output data which represents a distribution to the different beneficiaries of the contributions made by different cardholders according to the distribution data. The management system further comprises data input means (30) for enabling cardholders to each select one or more beneficiaries or to alter their selection of beneficiaries and where needed to select or to alter the selection of the distribution of contributions amongst two or more selected beneficiaries, all in association with the unique identifications of their cards, to constitute or to update the distribution data received by the second data processing means. The first processing means is operative to provide data representing contributions proportional to the amounts of transactions at a level selected by each cardholder, and the second data processing means of the contributions management entity is operative to provide data representing a distribution of the collected contributions amongst the beneficiaries selected by the cardholders. The contributions management entity (10) of the above described system and a method for managing the generation and the collection of financial contributions from holders of payment cards and for distributing the collected contributions among a plurality of beneficiaries selected by the cardholders, in the above described management system are disclosed.