Patent ID: 7475811

Claim:
A system for authorizing, with a host computer system, a transaction using a negotiable instrument, the system comprising: a point-of-sale device, wherein the point-of-sale device is configured to: read the negotiable instrument provided as payment for the transaction by a user to capture identification information which identifies the negotiable instrument; transmit a first communications signal comprising a request to authorize a transaction using the negotiable instrument, wherein the request includes information indicating a user-specified first amount of funds on the negotiable instrument and the identification information; and receive a response to the request; a database configured to: store identification information for each of a plurality of negotiable instruments; and store a host-specified amount of funds associated with the stored identification information for each of the plurality of negotiable instruments; and a host computer system, in communication with the point-of-sale device and the database, configured to: identify a host-specified second amount of funds allocated to the negotiable instrument, the identified amount for storage in the database with the identification information for the negotiable instrument; receive the first communications signal; authorize the transaction when the database indicates that the host-specified second amount of funds associated with the identification information which identifies the negotiable instrument is equal to the user-specified amount of funds in the request; and transmitting a second communications signal, comprising the response to the request and indicating that the transaction has been authorized.