Patent ID: 7072851

Claim:
A credit card incentive system comprising: a credit card issuer computing system including a processor and a memory having a program residing therein for causing the processor to perform the steps of establishing a credit card account with the credit card issuer for a credit card holder having an account at a particular lending institution for an installment loan with a cost that requires a fixed number of periodic equal-sized payments made by the credit card holder to retire the loan, accumulating the total value of all purchases made by the card holder using the credit card during a period of time, checking to determine whether the credit card account is in good standing with the credit card issuer, calculating an installment loan benefit amount based on the accumulated value of purchases, if the credit card account is in good standing, determining whether there is an outstanding balance on the credit card holder's installment loan at the particular lending institution, and transferring the installment loan benefit amount to the particular lending institution to apply the installment loan benefit amount, as an additional payment, against the outstanding principal on the installment loan account, if the credit card account is in good standing and there is an outstanding principal balance, so as to reduce the cost of the installment loan.