Patent AU-2019101394-A4 (AU)
Title: Method and system to provide, control, reward and communicate allocation of peer funds to a funding facility available to an installment payments service provider to provide funding liquidity for peer purchases of goods and/or services on the basis of buy now and pay in installments
Inventor: SULLIVAN JOHN
IPC: G06Q20/22
Filed: 2019-11-13
Granted: 2020-01-02
Abstract: SPECIFICATION INVENTION TITLE: Method and system to provide, control, reward and communicate allocation of peer funds to a funding facility available to an installment payments service provider to provide funding liquidity for peer purchases of goods and/or services on the basis of buy now and pay in installments Abstract A method and system to provide, activate, accrue, monitor, record, reward, communicate, control, reward and remunerate peer group funding of liquidity required for individual peer purchases of goods and/or services on the basis of buy now and pay in installments, with communication through an interactive communication system such as a mobile communications network. The interactive communication system provides users with the ability to opt-in or opt out of the associated savings system and/or to opt-in or opt-out of customer peer funding of purchases of goods and/or services on the basis of buy now and pay in installments. The automated elements of the savings system may include but are not limited to: - Roundups on user purchases. Roundups involve roundup of purchase value. For example, if a user purchases a coffee for $3.40 a roundup to the next dollar would generate a roundup of $0.60 which would accrue to the user's account. - Recurring savings. For example, $50/ week - Cash backs provided by merchants as rewards and incentives for users' purchases - Winnings from gambling, betting and/or esports Page 1 of 2 - Ad hoc, discretionary amounts saved Buy now and pay in installments requires a payment by the customer peer at the time of purchase. For example, a customer peer may pay 25% or 50% or some other acceptable proportion of the full purchase price for their chosen good(s) and/or service(s) at the time of purchase. The balance would be paid by the customer peer in installments. For example, a customer peer who pays 50% at the time of purchase may have the option to pay in two further installments of 25% at certain time intervals (for example, an installment may be due at two weekly intervals). Users may opt-in to allocate a portion of their automated savings to a peer fund which provides the liquidity for purchase payments to merchants less the fees charged by the payment service provider. In return for contributing to the peer fund, users may earn interest from the provision of this liquidity which enables the buy now and pay instalments system to operate. Inventor: John Sullivan Appl. No.: Filed: November 13, 2019 Page 2 of 2 FIGURE 1 100 INSTALLMENTS PAYMENTS SERVICE PROVIDER RECEIVES A REAL TIME INSTRUCTION FROM CUSTOMER 100 (ONE OF THE INSTALLMENTS PAYMENTS PROVIDER'S CUSTOMERS) TO TURN ON (ACTIVATE) THE ALLOCATION OF THE CUSTOMER SELECTED PORTION OF THEIR FUNDS TO THEIR ELIGIBLE OPT-IN/ OPT-OUT INSTALLMENTS PAYMENTS LIQUIDITY FUNDING ACCOUNT INSTALLMENTS PAYMENTS SERVICE PROVIDER ACTIVATES INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMER OPT-IN TO THE CUSTOMER'S ELIGIBLE OPT-IN / OPT-OUT INSTALLMENTS PAYMENTS LIQUIDITY FUNDING ACCOUNT AND AT THE SAME TIME NOTIFIES CUSTOMER 100 OF ACTIVATION FIGURE 2 100 INSTALLMENTS PAYMENTS SERVICE PROVIDER RECEIVES A REAL TIME INSTRUCTION FROM CUSTOMER 100 TO TURN OFF (DE- ACTIVATE) INSTALLMENTS PAYMENTS LIQUIDITY FUNDING ACCOUNT AND AT THE SAME TIME NOTIFIES CUSTOMER 100 OF DE-ACTIVATION INSTALLMENTS PAYMENTS SERVICE PROVIDER ALSO NOTIFIES CUSTOMER 100 OF PAUSE IN ACCESS TO POTENTIALLY EARNING A RETURN ON THE CUSTOMER 100 FUNDS PREVIOUSLY AVAILABLE TO ALLOCATION TO THE PEER INSTALLMENT PAYMENTS LIQUIDITY FUNDING FACILITY