Patent ID: 8527404

Claim:
A method of adjusting a debit transaction between a merchant and a customer, in response to a request from the merchant, the method comprising: processing, with a computer system, a debit transaction between the customer and the merchant, the debit transaction pertaining to a personal or business check payable in a debit amount from an account held by the customer and a merchant account associated with the merchant; creating, in a database, a transaction record corresponding to the debit transaction, the transaction record comprising a variable having a value corresponding to the debit amount; receiving, at the computer system and from a point of entry device, a request from the merchant to adjust the debit transaction by a credit amount while payment of the personal or business check is pending, the credit amount representing a credit against the debit transaction; identifying the transaction record at the computer system; transmitting a confirmation message for reception by the point of entry device, the confirmation message indicating that the request from the merchant has been received; comparing the request with the transaction record to determine that the credit amount is not greater than the debit amount; processing a second debit transaction while payment of the personal or business check is pending, in the credit amount, against the merchant account; processing a credit transaction, while payment of the personal or business check is pending, in the credit amount, for the customer account; and updating the transaction record while payment of the personal or business check is pending to reflect an adjustment against the debit transaction by the credit amount to reduce the debit amount owed for the debit transaction, wherein updating the transaction record comprises reducing the value of the variable by the credit amount, such that the variable has an updated non-zero value corresponding to the difference between the debit amount and the credit amount.