Patent ID: 7472822

Claim:
A method for adding value to a customer account, comprising: distributing to a merchant an identifier associated with a value for distribution to a customer, the identifier being redeemable with a plurality of providers, including a specific provider, the identifier also being usable to add the value to an account associated with a first communication device, the account being with the specific provider; receiving at a central processor a request to activate the identifier from the merchant, the request resulting from a purchase of the identifier; activating the identifier at the central processor and sending an activation notification to the merchant; receiving at the central processor a request via short message service (SMS) to add the value to the account associated with the first communication device, the request being received from a specific communication device, the request being input by a user of the specific communication device, wherein the specific communication device may be the first communication device, and wherein the specific communication device facilitates insertion of value into the account associated with the first communication device, the request comprising: the identifier associated with the value; and account identification information associated with the account associated with the first communication device, wherein body of the SMS message comprises the account identification information; passing to the specific communication device a SMS message to confirm that the request was received and to verify that the value will be added to the account associated with the first communication device; upon receiving a confirmation message at the central processor from the specific communication device verifying the account, identifying at the central processor the value associated with the identifier based on the request; identifying at the central processor the specific provider and the account associated with the first communications device based on the SMS message; causing the value to be added to the account; and passing to the first communication device a confirmation that the value was added to the account.