Patent Publication Number: US-2015066623-A1

Title: Systems and methods for providing flexible incentive rewards

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/729,734, filed Oct. 25, 2005, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention generally relates to financial account products, including credit card products. More particularly, the invention relates to systems, methods, and computer program products for managing financial accounts with flexible reward incentives. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Credit card products have become so universally well known and ubiquitous that they have fundamentally changed the manner in which financial transactions and dealings are viewed and conducted in society today. Credit card products are most commonly represented by plastic card-like members that are offered and provided to customers through credit card issuers (such as banks and other financial institutions.) With a credit card, an authorized customer or cardholder is capable of purchasing services and/or merchandise without an immediate, direct exchange of cash. With each purchase, the cardholder incurs debt to their credit card account, which the cardholder may thereafter pay upon receipt of a periodic, for example, monthly statement. In most cases, the cardholder will have the option to either fully pay the outstanding balance or, as a matter of necessity or choice, defer at least a portion of the balance for later payment with accompanying interest or finance charges for the period during which payment of the outstanding debt is deferred (also referred to as a revolving charge credit line.) 
     In order to attract or retain customers, credit card issuers may offer credit card products that are associated with one or more incentives. These incentives may include points that are accumulated based on purchases made with these types of credit card products. A cardholder may use the accumulated points to receive goods and/or services provided by the credit card issuer and/or third party vendors. These incentives may also include a cash back incentive in which a certain percentage of the customers&#39; purchases are returned to the customers in the form of cash, check, and/or credit on a credit card statement. For example, credit issuers may provide 1% cash back to the customers for all purchases made using the credit card products. Additionally, these incentives may provide a tiered incentive program that provides additional points or cash back for purchases made at vendors designated by or having established relationships with the credit card issuer. For instance, credit card issuers may offer credit card products associated with refueling stations for vehicles, such as a franchised gas station. When a cardholder makes purchases at a designated franchised gas station, the credit card issuer may credit the cardholder&#39;s account with a certain number of additional points or cash back, such as 5% of the total purchases. 
     Accordingly, such credit card products provide more points or incentives to the cardholder as the cardholder purchases more qualified goods or services. However, several drawbacks exist with these conventional approaches. For example, rewards cards provide tiered programs for points or incentives to participating customers, but only with vendors selected by the credit card issuer. In other words, customers can receive a higher number of points or other incentives, such as 5% cash back, only by making purchases at vendors that have been designated by or partnered with the credit card issuer. Many times, customers are not frequent shoppers at these pre-selected vendors and/or lose interest in the incentives and, thus, never fully realize the benefits. Further, customers may already have one or more preferred merchants or vendors for particular sets of goods and services and may not be interested in switching merchants. 
     Another problem that exists is that financial institutions have had difficulties in providing incentives or forging relationships with merchants in specific markets or smaller sized merchants or retailers, such as traditional “mom and pop” shops or specialty stores where fewer purchases are made by customers as a whole. The same is also true for other types of merchants or vendors, including on-line merchants and service providers, which have grown in popularity with customers but have not traditionally partnered or entered into relationships with financial institutions. These factors make it difficult for financial institutions, such as credit card issuers, to offer traditional incentives, including reward points for purchases made at these and other types of merchants and service providers. This leads to missed opportunities and lost benefits to individual customers who are frequent shoppers at these merchants. 
     In view of the foregoing, a need exists for improved systems and methods for providing incentives to customers, including incentives to attract or retain customers. There is also a need for such systems and methods that can be applied to a wider array of merchants, such as on-line merchants, local retailers, and specialty stores. Additionally, incentives are needed that do not require customers to make purchases only at merchants or vendors pre-selected by the financial institution to qualify or receive the full benefit of the promoted incentive or reward. 
     SUMMARY 
     Accordingly, embodiments consistent with the present invention relate to systems and methods for providing incentives to customers, including flexible incentive awards for financial products. Moreover, embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for providing financial accounts with an incentive program that can alleviate one or more of the above-described disadvantages existing in the related art. 
     Embodiments consistent with the invention include computer-implemented methods for providing a financial account with incentives. In one embodiment, a method is provided that includes receiving a selection of at least one identified merchant from a customer, the customer being associated with the financial account. The method also includes providing a first incentive to the financial account for one or more purchases made with the financial account at a merchant other than the identified merchant. Further, the method may include providing a second incentive to the financial account for one or more purchases made at the identified merchant with the financial account, wherein the first incentive is different than the second incentive. 
     In another embodiment, a method for providing a credit card account with incentives is provided that includes receiving a selection of an identified merchant from a customer, the customer being associated with the credit card account. The method further includes providing an incentive to the credit card account for purchases made at the identified merchant with the credit card account. 
     Embodiments consistent with the invention also include systems for providing a financial account with incentives. In one embodiment, a system is provided that comprises a financial account provider that provides a financial account for a customer and is configured to receive a selection of at least one identified merchant from a customer, the customer being associated with the financial account. The financial account provider may also provide a first incentive to the financial account for one or more purchases made with the financial account at a merchant other than the identified merchant. Further, the financial account provider may provide a second incentive to the financial account for one or more purchases made at the identified merchant with the financial account, wherein the first incentive is different than the second incentive. 
     Embodiments consistent with another aspect of the invention further relate to computer program products including instructions for execution by a processor to perform methods for providing a financial account with incentives. The method includes receiving a selection of at least one identified merchant from a customer, the customer being associated with the financial account. The method also includes providing a first incentive to the financial account for one or more purchases made with the financial account at a merchant other than the identified merchant. Further, the method may include providing a second incentive to the financial account for one or more purchases made at the identified merchant with the financial account, wherein the first incentive is different than the second incentive. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and should not be considered restrictive of the scope of the invention. Further, features and/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, embodiments of the invention may be directed to various combinations and sub-combinations of the features described in the detailed description. 
     Additional aspects of the disclosed invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The aspects of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary system environment for implementing embodiments consistent with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a flowchart of an exemplary process for offering customers a reward incentive account, consistent with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart of an exemplary process for processing responses from customers, consistent with an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart of an exemplary point tracking process, consistent with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments consistent with the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. 
     The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. While several exemplary embodiments and features of the invention are described herein, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the components illustrated in the drawings, and the exemplary methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering or, adding steps to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the scope of the invention. 
     Embodiments consistent with the present invention are directed to methods, systems, and computer program products for providing financial account products, such as credit card products, with flexible reward incentives. As further disclosed herein, financial products may be provided that enable customers to obtain greater benefits for purchases made at one or more merchants individually chosen by each customer. Such merchants may comprise preferred or favorite merchants of a customer. As used herein, the term “merchant” includes any business entity that is capable of public commerce and in particular is capable of processing transactions through a credit network (such as Visa or MasterCard). Merchants include but are not limited to any retail, wholesale, online or mail order business that consumers purchase goods or services from. 
     Embodiments consistent with the invention may be implemented in various environments, including computer-based environments, such as personal computers, workstations, servers, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, handheld devices, and other computing devices, workstation, networked and other computing-based environments with one or more customers. The present invention, however, is not limited to such examples and embodiments consistent with the invention may be implemented with other platforms and in other environments. 
     By way of example, embodiments consistent with the invention may be implemented using conventional personal computers (PCs), desktops, hand-held devices, multiprocessor computers, pen computers, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics devices, minicomputers, mainframe computers, personal mobile computing devices, mobile phones, portable or stationary personal computers, palmtop computers or the like. 
     The storage media referred to herein symbolize elements that temporarily or permanently store data and instructions. Although storage functions may be provided as part of a computer, memory functions can also be implemented in a network, processors (e.g., cache, register), or elsewhere. Various types of storage mediums can be used to implement features of the invention, such as a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), or a memory with other access options. Further, memory functions may be physically implemented by computer-readable media, such as, for example: (a) magnetic media, like a hard disk, a floppy disk, a magnetic disk, a tape, or a cassette tape; (b) optical media, like an optical disk (e.g., a CD-ROM), or a digital versatile disk (DVD); (c) semiconductor media, like DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, memory stick, and/or by any other media, like paper. 
     Embodiments consistent with the invention may also include computer program products that are stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted using a carrier, such as an electronic carrier signal communicated across a network between computers or other devices. In addition to transmitting carrier signals, network environments may be provided to link or connect components in the disclosed systems. Networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet (i.e., the World Wide Web). The network may be a wired or a wireless network. To name a few network implementations, the network may be, for example, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a public switched telephone network (PSTN), an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), an infrared (IR) link, a radio link, such as a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), or a satellite link. 
     Systems, methods, and computer program products consistent with the present invention may provide flexible incentives to new or existing customers of credit card issuers and other financial institutions. Consequently, systems, methods, and computer program products consistent with the present invention may enable a customer to obtain greater benefits for purchases made by the customer at one or more merchants chosen by the customer. More specifically, systems, methods, and computer program products consistent with the present invention may obtain a list of merchant(s) selected by the customer and provide the customer additional rewards or benefits for purchases made at the selected merchant(s.) The list of merchant(s) may be designated with or without limitations defined by the credit card issuer or financial institution. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary system environment  1000  in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , system environment  1000  includes a plurality of customers (consumers) ( 1010 - 1040 ), a response vehicle system  1100  including a plurality of different response vehicles ( 1110 - 1140 ), a credit card issuer  1200 , a central database  1300 , and a communications channel  1400 . While systems, methods, and computer program products consistent with the present invention are described herein with respect to credit cards and credit card accounts, the present invention may be used for any type of financial product or account for purchasing goods or services, such as a debit card, charge card, smartcard, gift card, pre-paid card, Discover card, Amex card, ATM card, direct debit account, checking account, etc., wherein the account is issued or managed by a financial institution or entity. 
     Each customer in system environment  1000  may be associated with a different customer category. For instance, customer  1010  may be a web site customer that accesses and retrieves information through a web site on the World Wide Web of the Internet. The web site may be a branded web site operated by one or more vendors, or may be a web site operated by a credit card issuer  1200 . Customer  1020  may be a telephone customer that accesses and receives information using conventional telephonic communication techniques and systems. This includes, for example, wireline and wireless telephony systems. Customer  1030  may be a conventional mail customer that accesses and receives information by conventional mail techniques and services. This includes, for example, a customer that is part of a credit card issuer&#39;s mailing list. Finally, customer  1040  may be a customer that accesses and receives information using electronic mail services. Customers  1010 - 1040  may also represent entities (such as an individual, a group of individuals, corporate entities, or any combination thereof) that hold credit card accounts with credit card issuer  1200 . The categories of customers illustrated in  FIG. 1  are exemplary and should not be considered limiting. For example, a variety of different customer categories may also be implemented in environment  1000 , such as customers using kiosk computers or personal digital assistants (PDAs.) Alternatively, a credit card issuer may only allow one of a few different types of categories for customers (e.g., mail only customers, or mail and web site customers.) 
     Response vehicle  1100  represents a system for handling communications between the customers  1010 - 1040  and credit card issuer  1200 . Response vehicle  1100  may be part of a credit card issuer&#39;s network and, as shown in  FIG. 1 , include one or more response vehicles  1110 - 1140  that correspond to different categories of customers  1010 - 1040 . Each response vehicle is responsible for handling communications to and from customers based on each customer&#39;s category. For example, web site response vehicle  1110  may handle Internet related communications, such as web-based transactions, between customer  1010  and credit card issuer  1200 . Telephone response vehicle  1120  handles telephonic communications between the customer  1020  and credit card issuer  1200 . Thus, in the event credit card issuer  1200  wishes to solicit customers telephonically, response vehicle  1120  includes the necessary systems to support such operations including, for example, operators and telecommunications equipment to communicate with customers  1020 . Response vehicle  1130 , on the other hand, includes the necessary systems and organizations to handle conventional mail processing to and from customers  1030 . Response vehicle  1140  includes the necessary systems and organizations to process electronic mail transactions with customers  1040 . Response vehicle  1100  may receive responses from the customers and forward them to credit card issuer  1200  for appropriate processing. Notifications to the customers may also be performed from issuer  1200  to the customer through response vehicle  1100 . The notifications may include, for example, messages indicating acceptance of a reward incentive credit card product offered by credit card issuer  1200 . Furthermore, response vehicle  1100  may provide the reward incentive credit card products to accepted customers through an appropriate response vehicle, such as conventional mail response vehicle  1130 . 
     Communication channel  1400  facilitates communications between the various customers and response vehicle  1100  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Such communications may include communications related to offering and issuing lines of credit to selected customers. Communications channel  1400  may include, for example, a conventional mail distribution network such as that provided by the U.S. Postal Service, a telephony-based network, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a dedicated intranet, the Internet, and/or a wireless network. Further, any suitable combination of wired and/or wireless components and systems may be incorporated into communications channel  1400 . Any suitable combination of point-to-point communications or networked communications may also be incorporated into communication channel  1400  to facilitate communication between the different entities illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Moreover, any part of communication channel  1400  may be implemented through traditional infrastructures or channels of trade to permit operations associated with credit card offers to be performed manually or in-person by the various entities illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
     Credit card issuer  1200  receives communication information from response vehicle  1100  and processes it using central database  1300 . Central database  1300  may contain various information including, for example, credit information, potential customer lists, risk scores for potential and current customers, approved customers, credit limits for approved customers, customer information, purchase information, authorization information, etc. Central database  1300  also can include merchant data, such as merchant identification (“ID”), merchant description, etc. Merchant ID is a unique identifier assigned to each merchant capable of processing transactions through the credit network. For example, Visa or MasterCard may assign a unique identifier to each merchant that is capable of processing Visa or MasterCard transactions. For each transaction that is processed, the transaction data that comes through includes the merchant ID such that one can determine the location of a particular transaction. Merchant description is created by each merchant and can include any kind of information desired by the merchant, such as the name of the merchant, location of the merchant, etc. 
     Credit card issuer  1200  also sends information to response vehicle system  1100  for delivery to the appropriate customers. In one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  is responsible for providing various credit cards and establishing associated accounts. Credit card issuer  1200  may include one or more of the following: a bank, an acquiring bank, a merchant bank, a merchant or any commercial institution capable of providing a financial account, such as a credit card account, consistent with the features disclosed herein. Further, although  FIG. 1  only illustrates one credit card issuer  1200 , it is of course possible that more than one credit card issuer be provided in system environment  1000 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary process associated with providing offers to customers for reward incentive credit card products, consistent with an embodiment of the present invention. Although the present invention is described with reference to credit card products, one skilled in the art would realize that the present invention may be applied with any type of financial account and/or products without departing from the scope of the invention. 
     According to one aspect of the invention, credit card issuer  1200  may access a customer account database located in central database  1300  (Step  210 ). The customer account database may include financial account information associated with each customer of credit card issuer  1200  and/or other customers. The financial account information may include, for example, credit card account data, such as account numbers and account parameters for each credit line associated with a customer (i.e., interest rates, credit limits, terms and conditions.) The financial account information may also include payment history information and personal financial information, such as annual income, debts and assets, etc. for customers of credit card issuer  1200 . The customer account database may also include financial information of potential customers of credit card issuer  1200 . A potential customer may be an individual who may not have a credit card account with credit card issuer  1200 , but may be targeted as an individual whom credit card issuer  1200  may want to offer a reward incentive credit card product, consistent with the present invention. 
     Once the customer account database is accessed, credit card issuer  1200  may determine a financial risk value associated with each customer in the account database (Step  220 ). A customer&#39;s financial risk value may be associated with a risk that the customer may have potential for making late payments and overcharging a financial account based on past payment history data. Also, a customer&#39;s financial risk value may be associated with the customer&#39;s income and debts. Credit card issuer  1200  may consider several factors when determining a financial risk value for a customer. Such factors may be based on credit information received from one or more credit information sources (i.e., sources that provide credit information to credit card issuer  1200 ). Credit information may also be provided to credit card issuer  1200  when customers respond to credit card offers from issuer  1200 . Moreover, credit information may be requested by issuer  1200  directly from a customer in previous solicitations. Credit information may include credit history information and/or personal information (e.g., income, employment status, etc.) that is used when evaluating a customer&#39;s credit worthiness. Credit information sources may comprise commercial credit information source (such as TRW/Experian, Equifax and TransUnion or a similar commercial credit service bureau) and/or private credit information services. Credit information sources may also represent credit information that was provided by customers, such as when a customer applied for an existing credit card. 
     In one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may group customers based on their determined risk value (Step  230 ). Accordingly, customers with similar financial risk values may be grouped together and credit card issuer  1200  may generate offers for a reward incentive credit card product based on the different groups of customers (Step  240 ). For example, credit card issuer  1200  may allocate customer to one of four groups based on each customer&#39;s financial risk value. The first group may be associated with customers whose financial risk values are the highest among the four groups, while the fourth group may be associated with customers whose financial risk values are the lowest. Accordingly, credit card issuer  1200  may generate an offer for a customer in the first group for a reward incentive credit card product that includes terms and conditions different than those associated with an offer for a customer in the second through fourth groups. Alternatively, only specific group(s) of customers may be offered a credit card product with a reward incentive program, while the other groups receive other offers or no offer at all. 
     Although embodiments of the present invention discussed below describe an exemplary reward incentive in the form of reward points, one skilled in the art would realize that various other configurations may be employed by methods, systems, and computer program products consistent with certain principles related to the present invention without affecting its scope. For instance, reward incentives in the form of cash back, traveler miles, etc. may also be employed 
     In addition to various credit limits and interest rates associated with an offered reward incentive credit card product, credit card issuer  1200  may adjust the type of reward incentive parameters that may be associated with an offered credit card product. In one embodiment, the reward incentive parameter may include the option for a customer to identify one or more merchants for receiving reward points based on purchases at those merchants. The reward points may be at the same level per dollar spent as purchases made at merchants pre-designated by the credit card issuer (if any), or the reward points for purchases at a customer&#39;s preferred merchant may be allotted at a higher rate. In addition, or alternatively, a customer with a high financial risk may be offered a reward incentive account that includes a reward parameter that awards X (i.e., 5) number of reward points for every one dollar spent using the credit card product. A low financial risk customer, however, may be offered a reward incentive account including a reward parameter that awards a higher number of reward points for every dollar spent using the credit card product such as X+10 (i.e., 15 points). One skilled in the art would realize that the types of a reward parameters offered by credit card issuer  1200  may vary and is not limited to the above example. For instance, credit card issuer  1200  may take into consideration predetermined criteria to adjust the number of reward points that may be awarded to a customer. Such criteria may include the timeliness of payments received by credit card issuer  1200  (i.e., reducing the number of reward points for late payments, and/or adding reward points for payments received before a due date) and the amount of a received payment in relation to a minimum payment due to credit card issuer  1200 . Furthermore, one skilled in the art would realize that credit card issuer  1200  may implement one or more criteria to determine the amount of reward points to associate with a reward incentive account. 
     Once the reward incentives offers are created, credit card issuer  1200  may send the offers to response vehicle  1100  for distribution to respective customers (Step  250 .) Each response vehicle in vehicle  1100  processes the offers in order to provide them to the customers through communication channel  1400 . For instance, response vehicle  1110  formulates offers for generation and viewing on one or more web sites. The web sites may be associated with a card issuer&#39;s web site or sites that are operated by selected vendors. Once each response vehicle has processed the offers, they are sent to the specified customers for response. Customers  1010 - 1040  may respond (accept or decline) to the offers using the medium associated with their category. The responses are sent back to response vehicle  1100 , where they are processed for presentation to card issuer  1200  (Step  260 ). 
     Based on the category of a customer, responses may or may not be processed immediately. For instance, responses may be received and processed instantaneously and/or automatically for customers  1010  and  1020 , while responses from customers  1030  may be delayed. For example, suppose a customer  1010  using a personal computer views a web site operated by credit card issuer  1200 . The site may include a designated page that presents the customer with the reward incentive offer determined by credit card issuer  1200 . The customer may decide to accept or decline the offer by merely selecting an icon representing their choice and perhaps providing financial information through the web site. The response is then sent back to response vehicle  1110 . Response vehicle  1110  processes the response and prepares it for presentation to credit card issuer  1200 . The response is processed at credit card issuer  1200  and a notification may be sent back to customer  1010  through response vehicle  1110 . The notification may indicate to the customer that their response to an offer has been processed and their acceptance to receive a reward incentive credit card product from credit card issuer  1200 . The notifications may be displayed through a web page that the customer was viewing when the offer was presented or on a separate web page. In one embodiment, the customer may check the web page to receive the notification. Additionally or alternatively, credit card issuer  1200  may provide an e-mail to the customer including the notification or a message indicating to the customer to check a particular web site to receive the notification. 
     As can be seen, a customer who has accepted an offer through a web site may receive immediate notification of an approval for a credit card provided by credit card provider  1200 . On the other hand, a customer who has been solicited by conventional mail, such as customer  1030 , may respond to the offer by mailing back an acceptance form to the card issuer. The acceptance form may be received and processed by response vehicle  1130 , and eventually processed by credit card issuer  1200 . Notification of an acceptance by credit card issuer  1200  may then be sent back to the customer using the same conventional mail process. 
     There may be a plurality of variations available to credit card issuer  1200  when communicating with customers. That is, mail customer  1030  may wish to respond by telephone or through a web site. Additionally, customers may respond by one medium, and request notification by another. For instance, mail customer  1030  who has received an offer in the mail, may respond by mail, yet request notification by email. Accordingly, a variety of user-friendly options are available to customers for receiving and responding to the offers presented by credit card issuer  1200 . The above descriptions are for illustration purposes alone and should not be viewed as limitations to the present invention. One of ordinary skill in the art would realize that any number of combinations of communication techniques may be implemented without departing from the principles of the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary process that may be performed by credit card issuer  1200  when processing a customer&#39;s acceptance to an offer described with respect to  FIG. 2 . As shown, credit card issuer  1200  may receive a response from a customer indicating their acceptance to receive a reward incentive credit card product from credit card issuer  1200  (Step  310 ). In one embodiment, the response may include financial information provided by the customer. Credit card issuer  1200  may use this information to determine a credit worthiness for the customer to determine the customer&#39;s eligibility to receive a reward incentive credit card product. This configuration may be useful where the customer&#39;s financial information may have changed since credit card issuer  1200  determined a financial risk value for the customer as part of step  220 . In the event the customer&#39;s financial information has changed such that credit card issuer  1200  deems the customer ineligible to receive a reward incentive credit card product, credit card issuer  1200  may notify the customer of ineligibility through response vehicle  1100 . 
     Referring back to  FIG. 3 , credit card issuer  1200  may create a reward incentives financial account for the customer (Step  320 ). Creating such an account may include providing an account segment in central database  1300  for the customer. The segment may include financial account parameters associated with the created account, such as fields including data associated with an account number, customer identification information, interest rates for one or more lines of credit associated with the account, penalty fee amounts and associated terms and conditions for receiving a penalty fee, a credit limit for each line of credit associated with the account, and any other financial account parameter information known in the art. In addition to these parameters, credit card issuer  1200  may also include reward incentive parameters associated with the customer&#39;s account. The reward incentive parameters may include, but are not limited to, a reward point distribution parameter, a preferred reward point distribution parameter, total reward point parameter and an aggregate reward point parameter. 
     The reward point distribution parameter may be a value that determines the number of reward point(s) that are to be associated with the reward incentive account for each predetermined amount spent using the credit card product. For example, the reward point distribution parameter may be a value reflecting a number of reward point(s) that are to be associated with the reward incentive account for each predetermined amount spent using the credit card product. The preferred reward point distribution parameter may reflect a number of additional reward point(s) that are to be associated with the reward incentive account for each predetermined amount spent using the credit card product at merchants selected by the customer. The total reward point parameter may reflect a total number of reward points that are associated with the account based on the reward point distribution parameter and preferred reward distribution parameter. The aggregate reward point parameter may reflect the customer&#39;s aggregate number of reward points associated with the customer&#39;s account. One skilled in the art would realize that the reward incentive parameters described above are exemplary and not intended to be limiting. Credit card issuer  1200  may implement one or more of these and other reward incentive parameters to comply with their business goals and plans. 
     Once the reward incentive account has been created and the appropriate parameters set, credit card issuer  1200  may create and provide a reward incentive credit card product to the customer (Step  330 ). Credit card issuer  1200  may also receive identification data associated with one or more merchants selected by the customer (Step  335 ). For instance, web site customer  1010  may select a merchant from a pull-down menu by accessing the web site or a secure page offered by credit card issuer  1200 . Alternatively, or in addition, web site customer  1010  may search for a particular merchant by entering text into a text box included in a web site or a secure page associated with credit card issuer  1200 . In another embodiment, the customer can also provide a customer ID and password for authentication by credit card issuer  1200 . Thereafter, the customer may select a merchant having an ID (as discussed above) that is recognized by credit card issuer  1200  as an acceptable merchant to be included in the merchant list. For example, in addition to being able to select traditional merchants, such as Sears and Wal-Mart, the customer may select one or more on-line merchants (e.g., Amazon.com, E-Bay, etc.). In one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may provide a list of merchants from which the customer may choose. The list of merchants may be provided based on one or more criteria defined by credit card issuer  1200 . For example, credit card issuer  1200  may provide the customer a list of merchants that have a pre-established relationship with credit card issuer  1200 , such as a partnership, strategic alliance, joint venture, business partnerships, etc. Credit card issuer  1200  may access data stored in central databases  1300  to locate merchants having a pre-established relationship with credit card issuer  1200  and provide the list of merchants to the customer. Alternatively, or in addition, credit card issuer  1200  may locate selected merchants based on characteristics of the merchants, such as a merchant&#39;s popularity, size of the merchant in terms of number of locations or sales figures, and location of the merchant (e.g., nationwide or located in a geographic zone associated with the customer). Credit card issuer  1200  may provide this list of merchants to the customer for selection of one or more merchants as a favorite or preferred merchant. Credit card issuer  1200  may identify the popularity of a merchant based on one or more criteria, such as the information obtained from surveys associated with the brand name of a merchant, sales figures of a merchant, number of locations of a merchant, etc. In another embodiment, in response to a customer request to search for merchants, credit card issuer  1200  may compare text provided by the customer in the request with merchant descriptions stored in central database  1300  to identify one or more matching merchants for the customer. Moreover, credit card issuer  1200  may access data stored in central database  1300  to locate one or more merchants that the customer has performed purchase transactions with over a certain period of time, such as the previous six months. Credit card issuer  1200  may also provide a list of these identified merchants to the customer. The customer may select one or more of the listed merchants as a favorite or preferred merchant. In a preferred embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may implement processes that limit the customer to selecting up to three merchants. However, embodiments consistent with the invention may allow credit card issuer  1200  to implement processes that enable the customer to select any number of preferred merchants from the list or select up to a predetermined number of merchants. In one aspect, credit card issuer  1200  may vary the predetermined number of merchants the customer may select based on one or more criteria defined by credit card issuer  1200 . Moreover, in another embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may be configured to allow the customer to update the customer&#39;s selected merchants. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may restrict the number of times the customer can change the selected merchants. For example, credit card issuer  1200  may allow the customer to make only three changes to the customer&#39;s selection of merchants during a given time period (e.g., a year). One skilled in the art would appreciate that many variations to the disclosed embodiments may be implemented by credit card issuer  1200 . For instance, credit card issuer  1200  may be configured to recognize multiple changes to the selected merchants by the customer during a given time period (e.g., during a single day) as a single change to the selected merchants. 
     Further, to prevent the customer from selecting a particular merchant twice, credit card issuer  1200  may remove the selected merchant from the list of merchants provided to the customer. Credit card issuer  1200  may also compare a customer&#39;s current selection of merchants with previously selected merchants to prevent multiple selections of the same merchant. Credit card issuer  1200  may store data reflecting the customer&#39;s selected merchants in central database  1300 . In one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may include additional merchants in the list of selected merchants that are logically related to the merchant selected by the customer. For example, if the customer selects one merchant of a particular franchise having a particular merchant ID, credit card issuer  1200  may identify other merchants of the franchise by analyzing the merchant descriptions stored in central database  1300 . Credit card issuer  1200  may include the other merchants in the selected list of merchants. Credit card issuer  1200  may also consider the other merchants as separate entities. Alternatively, if the customer selects a parent company merchant, credit card issuer  1200  may locate all subsidiaries of the parent company by analyzing the merchant descriptions stored in central database  1300  and include them in the selected list of merchants. Credit card issuer  1200  may be configured to include the additional merchants based on any criteria established by credit card issuer  1200  or another system or entity. For instance, credit card issuer  1200  may be configured to include the additional merchants in the list for the largest or most popular merchants or for merchants having established relationships with credit card issuer  1200 , but not for the others. Returning to  FIG. 3 , credit card issuer  1200  may perform a point tracking process based on one or more purchases made with the credit card product (Step  340 ). This step may be performed in accordance with, for example, the embodiment of  FIG. 4 . 
       FIG. 4  shows a flowchart of an exemplary point tracking process that may be executed by a processor within credit card issuer  1200 , consistent with an embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may determine the amount of reward points to associate with the customer&#39;s account (Step  420 ). Credit card issuer  1200  may determine the amount of reward points periodically or at dynamically selected times, such as periodically or at the end of a billing cycle or month. In one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may perform this determination by analyzing the customer&#39;s transactions over a given period or billing cycle and determining reward points or other types of incentives to award for each qualified transaction. For example, credit card issuer  1200  may, for example, analyze and compare the merchant ID associated with a transaction with the merchant IDs associated with the list of merchants associated with the customer&#39;s account, which may be stored in central database  1300 . In addition to reward points being given based on purchase volume, reward points may also be given for a number of behaviors as defined by credit card issuer  1200 , including but not limited to, points by transaction, points by payment or payment size, points by number of transactions of a minimum size, etc. 
     In one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may determine the total reward points to include in the total reward point parameter based on the reward point distribution parameter and the preferred reward point distribution parameter. For example, suppose a reward point distribution parameter indicates that the customer&#39;s account is to receive 10 reward points for every dollar spent (which may be rounded to the nearest dollar value) using the customer&#39;s account. Further, suppose a preferred reward point distribution parameter indicates that the customer&#39;s account is to receive an additional 15 reward points for every dollar spent (which may be rounded to the nearest dollar value) using the customer&#39;s account at one or more merchant(s) included in the customer&#39;s favorite or preferred merchants list. Based on this example, if the customer&#39;s account was used to purchase $1,000 worth of goods and $300 of those purchases were performed at merchants included in the customer&#39;s preferred merchant list, credit card issuer  1200  may include 14, 500 points in the total reward point parameter (e.g., (1,000×10)+(300×15)). Further, in a preferred embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may restrict “double counting” in its determination of the total reward points. For example, based on the example above, credit card issuer  1200  may only include (700×10)+(300×15), or 11,500 in the total reward point parameter. 
     Credit card issuer  1200  may also implement a tiered reward incentive program. For instance, credit card issuer  1200  may provide a certain amount of reward points for purchases made up to a certain predetermined limit and then provide a higher number of reward points for purchases made after reaching the predetermined limit. For example, following the above described example using a reward point distribution parameter equal to 10, credit card issuer  1200  may provide 5 reward points (e.g., reward point distribution parameter minus 5) for purchases made up to $3,000, then provide 10 reward point (e.g., reward point distribution parameter) for purchases made after reaching $3,000 up to $10,000, and then provide 13 reward points (i.e., reward point distribution parameter+3) for purchases made after reaching $10,000. Similarly, tiered reward incentives can be given with reference to the preferred reward point distribution parameter. One skilled in the art will appreciate that any combination of the tiered and fixed reward incentive programs may be used. For instance, a fixed number of reward points, such as a number equal to the preferred reward point distribution parameter, may be awarded for all purchases made at merchants selected by the customer, while a tiered program-based number of reward points may be awarded for all other purchases. Alternatively, credit card issuer  1200  may apply a tiered program reward incentive for purchases made at merchants selected by the customer and a fixed program reward incentive for all other purchases. Credit card issuer  1200  may also implement multiple tiered reward incentive programs. For example, purchases made with a customer&#39;s account at one group of merchants, such a retail merchants, may be processed based on a first tiered program, and purchases made at another group of merchants, such as on-line merchants, may be processed based on a second tiered incentive program. 
     Credit card issuer  1200  may also make adjustments to the number of reward points included in the total reward point parameter based on other reward incentive parameters associated with the customer&#39;s account and/or the determinations performed in Step  420 . For example, in addition to the reward incentive parameters discussed above, credit card issuer  1200  may include a redemption ratio parameter to prevent abuse by the customer. For example, if the customer uses the customer&#39;s account to make significantly more purchases at merchants selected by the customer than for other purchases, then the customer&#39;s account may not be profitable to credit card issuer  1200 . Therefore, credit card issuer  1200  may include a redemption ratio parameter that defines a required ratio between purchases made at the merchants selected by the customer and other purchases at non-selected merchants. For example, suppose credit card issuer  1200  included a redemption ratio parameter requiring the value of purchases made by the customer at the merchants selected by the customer not to be more than three times the value of all other purchases made by the customer. Thus, if credit card issuer  1200  determined in step  420  that the customer&#39;s account was used to make purchases valuing $600 with $500 spent at one or more merchants selected by the customer, then credit card issuer  1200  may adjust the total reward points based on one or more criteria defined by credit card issuer  1200 . For instance, based on a predetermined redemption ratio parameter, credit card issuer  1200 , may apply only the preferred reward incentive for $300 of the $500 spent at the merchants selected by the customer. 
     Additionally, credit card issuer  1200  may include a cap spending parameter that enables credit card issuer  1200  to provide a preferred reward incentive for purchases made at merchants selected by the customer up to a certain predetermined value, such as $300. Additionally, credit card issuer  1200  may implement controls that prevent particular transactions that qualify for the preferred reward incentive, from receiving any additional reward points, even if the transaction qualifies for the preferred reward incentive for another merchant chosen by the customer. One skilled in the art will realize that the examples described above are not intended to be limiting and methods, systems, and computer program products consistent with certain principles related to the present invention may incorporate any combination of reward incentive parameters, or none at all, to adjust the number of reward points included in the total reward point parameter. 
     Returning back to  FIG. 4 , once credit card issuer  1200  has determined and adjusted the total reward points for the customer&#39;s account based on the reward incentive parameters, the aggregate reward point parameter may be adjusted (Step  430 ). For example, if the total reward point parameter, after any adjustments made by credit card issuer  1200 , is 1,000 points and the aggregate reward point parameter is 20,000 points, credit card issuer  1200  may adjust the 20,000 points to a new value of 21,000 points. In one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may allow the total reward point parameter to be a negative number, based on any penalty parameters associated with the customer&#39;s account. In this configuration, the number of reward points in the aggregate reward point parameter may be reduced by this negative value, thus providing an additional penalty to the customer&#39;s account based on undesirable activities associated with the customer&#39;s account (i.e., abuse, over-charging, etc.) 
     Following the adjustments (if any) of the aggregate reward point parameter, credit card issuer  1200  may determine whether the customer&#39;s account is eligible for a reward benefit based on the number of points included in the aggregate reward point parameter (Step  440 ). This determination may be based on the types of consumer goods that are offered by either credit card issuer  1200  and/or third party vendors that accept the reward points issued by credit card issuer  1200 . Consumer goods may include goods and/or services that are provided by an entity, such as travel services provided by an airline, magazine subscriptions, music CDs, and/or items offered by a department store. For example, credit card issuer  1200  may maintain a database that includes a list of all of goods and/or services that are offered by credit card issuer  1200  and any third party vendor that accepts the reward points issued by credit card issuer  1200 . The list may include, for example, various consumer goods and services offered and the number of reward points required by a customer to obtain them. Credit card issuer  1200  may analyze the list and the number of points included in the aggregate reward point parameter to determine the types of goods or services the customer may be eligible to receive. 
     In the event the customer is not eligible to receive any consumer goods (Step  440 ; NO), the point tracking process returns to Step  420 . If credit card issuer  1200  determines that the customer&#39;s account is eligible for one or more rewards benefits based on the aggregate reward point parameter (Step  440 ; YES), a reward benefit indication may be created and provided to the customer through response vehicle  1100  (Step  450 ). In one embodiment, the reward benefit indication may identify the types of goods or services the customer is eligible to receive and the identity of the provider of these goods or services. Also, credit card issuer  1200  may include in the reward benefit an indication of goods or services that the customer may be eligible to obtain with an additional number of reward points. For example, the indication may include a message reflecting that the customer may obtain one or more items with an additional 2,000 points. Once the reward benefit indication is provided to the customer, the point tracking process may return to Step  420 . 
     As described, methods, systems, and computer program products consistent with certain principles related to the present invention enable a customer to receive a financial product, such as a credit card product, from a credit card issuer  1200 . The credit card product enables the customer to accumulate reward points based on purchases at one or more merchants selected by the customer. The reward points may be associated with goods or services that may be obtained by the customer. Credit card issuer  1200  may manage the credit card product by adjusting the number of reward points based on desired criteria, such as a redemption ratio. Accordingly, credit card issuer  1200  provides a flexible credit card product that allows the customer to receive reward points for purchases using a customer&#39;s account at one or more merchants selected by the customer for use to obtain consumer goods that may be provided by credit card issuer  1200  or one or more third party vendors. 
     Although embodiments of the present invention have been described based on the system environment  1000  shown in  FIG. 1 , one skilled in the art will realize that various other configurations may be employed by methods, systems, and computer program products consistent with certain principles related to the present invention without affecting its scope. Furthermore, the types of reward parameters and their use in the point tracking process described in  FIG. 4  may be adjusted to meet the needs of the credit card issuer and its customers, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
     Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims. For example, the process steps shown in the drawings are not limited to the sequences described above. Variations of these sequences, such as the removal and/or the addition of other process steps may be implemented without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, in one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may adjust an account&#39;s reward point distribution parameter based on changes to a corresponding customer&#39;s financial risk value. In this configuration, credit card issuer  1200  may perform periodic financial risk assessments for each of its reward incentive credit cardholders. Based on a change in financial risk associated with a customer, the amount of reward points per dollar spent may be adjusted by credit card issuer  1200 . For example, suppose a high credit risk customer of a reward incentives credit card has an initial reward point distribution parameter that allows the customer&#39;s account to obtain 20 points for each dollar spent. The distribution parameter may be adjusted by credit card issuer  1200  to reflect that the customer&#39;s account will obtain 30 points per dollar spent based on a determination that the customer&#39;s financial risk has decreased (i.e., the customer is now less of a financial risk to credit card issuer  1200  and thus more incentives may be provided to reward the customer.) Credit card issuer  1200  may adjust the distribution parameter to decrease the number of reward points per dollar spent. 
     A skilled artisan will appreciate that the amount of reward points and reward incentive parameters can also be determined or updated by considering various factors over time that affect valuation determinations, such as cost of rewards, profit margins, length of relationships, financial forecasts, number of reward points redeemed, number of reward points that remain outstanding, number of reward points that have expired, and/or reward points redemption statistics, etc. 
     For example, in one embodiment, credit card issuer  1200  may execute software that develops a reward incentive model over a given time period by analyzing and testing the results of various combinations and permutations involving the factors discussed above. For example, data regarding the above-mentioned factors stored in central database  1300  can be collected from customers that have been found to provide profitable relationships for credit card issuer  1200  and, using multivariate regression analysis, predictive reward incentive models can be developed to enable the prediction of the best incentive programs for existing and future customers. For instance, after a multivariate regression model identifies the most predictive factors for determining profitability of customers, credit card issuer  1200  may create a profitability model formula including only the identified factors. The formula can weigh each identified factor to minimize the error in generating a predictive profitability score for customers. For example, the multivariate logistic regression model may, by using regression techniques well known in the art, weigh the most predictive of the identified factors more heavily than the least predictive of the identified factors. 
     Also, the weights may account for differences in the types of data analyzed. For example, the formula, when executed by a processor, may allow a user or a computer process to provide percentages, probabilities, numbers, and/or dollar amounts simultaneously. A small number, such as a probability (e.g., ranging from 0-1) may be weighed more heavily than a large number, such as revenue, to account for the different data types. Although the multivariate logistic regression model described herein initially determines the weights, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the weights may be modified later to comply with experimental results or other personal experience, for example. 
     After generating the formula, credit card issuer  1200  can create a profitability grid using historical customer data. To accomplish this, credit card issuer  1200  can use the determined weighted combination of factors to determine the profitability score for each current customer of credit card issuer  1200 . Credit card issuer  1200  then can generate a profitability grid by dividing these profitability score determinations into a predetermined number of groups. For example, the determined profitability scores may be divided into five groups, each group receiving a group score ranging from a score of 1 (low) to 5 (high). In a preferred embodiment, credit issuer  1200  can determine the range of profitability scores for each group according to the percentage of customers that fall within that range. For example, the range of determined profitability scores containing the highest 20% of the determined profitability scores receives a group score of five (5.) The range containing the next highest 20% of the profitability score determinations receives a group score of four (4,) etc. One skilled in the art will recognize that other scoring methods are possible. The formula and profitability grid may then be used to determine the reward points and/or reward incentive parameters for a particular customer (current or future.) More particularly, credit card issuer  1200  may enter the identified factors associated with a customer into the formula to determine the profitability score of the customer. Credit card issuer  1200  then may use the profitability grid to determine a group score (e.g.,  1 - 5 ) for the customer based on the determined profitability score. 
     Credit card issuer  1200  then can make a determination about the reward incentive and/or reward incentive parameters based on the score. For instance, for a customer found to have a group score of five (5) and considered to provide a profitable relationship to the financial institution, credit card issuer  1200  may determine that higher reward incentives and/or reward incentives parameters may be established to reward the customer. On the other hand, if the customer has a lower group score, such as four (4), then credit card issuer  1200  may determine that lower reward incentives and/or reward incentive parameters may be required. 
     In another configuration, credit card issuer  1200  may collect data and/or statistics regarding transactions made by customers at various merchants. For example, this data may include statistics on the number of transactions customers of credit card issuer  1200  have made at various merchants, the frequency of transactions made by customers of the credit card issuer  1200 , increase in purchases made by customers of credit card issuer  1200  because of the reward incentive, forecasts of projected transactions by customers of credit card issuer  1200  at the various merchants, etc. This data can then be provided to the various merchants and credit card issuer  1200  can request monetary compensation or other benefits for the increase in transactions at the various merchants by the customers of credit card issuer  1200 . 
     Additionally, embodiments of the present invention may be applied to financial accounts other than credit card accounts. Any financial institution that provides financial accounts to customers may employ methods, systems, and computer program products consistent with certain principles related to the present invention. 
     Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended, therefore, that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.