Patent ID: 8011578

Claim:
A system for managing and facilitating financial transaction instrument use, the system comprising: a database storing a plurality of accounts each defining approved goods available for purchase and a corresponding prepaid financial balance, wherein: the corresponding prepaid financial balance is available as payment toward one or more future purchases from any one or more of a plurality of affiliated retail settings, the database being accessible by a distribution agency, and the distribution agency is configured to access the plurality of accounts to assign the approved goods available for purchase defined by the database for each of the plurality of accounts and to fund the corresponding prepaid financial balance for each of the plurality of accounts, a retail organization, separate from the distribution agency, including the plurality of affiliated retail settings, offering a plurality of goods for retail purchase at the plurality of affiliated retail settings, and issuing a plurality of financial transaction instruments for redemption, wherein: each of the plurality of financial transaction instruments includes an identifier linking a respective one of the plurality of financial transaction instruments to a corresponding one of the plurality of accounts, each of the plurality of financial transaction instruments is provided by the retail organization to the distribution agency, wherein the distribution agency funds the corresponding prepaid financial balance for each of the plurality of accounts linked to the plurality of financial transaction instruments, the retail organization includes a point-of-sale processor positioned at one of the plurality of affiliated retail settings, and the point-of-sale processor is in communication with the database and is configured to apply at least a portion of the corresponding prepaid financial balance toward a purchase of consumer selected goods from the retail organization when a respective one of the plurality of financial transaction instruments is provided by a consumer, the consumer being separate from the distribution agency and the retail organization; wherein the plurality of accounts each include expiration data specifying one of a date upon which any residual prepaid financial balance funded by the distribution agency to the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts becomes available for recapture by the distribution agency and an occurrence upon which any residual prepaid financial balance funded by the distribution agency to the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts becomes available for recapture by the distribution agency.