Patent ID: 7613629

Claim:
A method for facilitating a transfer of loyalty points from a consumer account associated with a sponsoring company to a consumer account associated with a host company, said method including: receiving and storing, by a loyalty computing device, manufacturer item identifiers, wherein said manufacturer item identifiers are received from said manufacturer; receiving and storing, by said loyalty computing device, retail item identifiers, wherein said retail item identifiers are received from said merchant; associating and storing, by said loyalty computing device, each of said retail item identifiers with a corresponding one of said manufacturer item identifiers; receiving and processing, by said loyalty computing device, a purchase transaction, wherein said purchase transaction includes a consumer ID, a merchant item identifier, and a purchase price; retrieving, by said loyalty computing device, a manufacturer item identifier corresponding to said merchant item identifier; calculating, by said loyalty computing device, merchant loyalty points based on said consumer ID, said purchase price and a first currency to point ratio corresponding to said merchant item identifier; calculating, by said loyalty computing device, manufacturer loyalty points based on said consumer ID, said purchase price and a second currency to point ratio corresponding to said manufacturer item identifier; calculating, by said loyalty computing device, a third set of loyalty points based on said consumer ID, said purchase price and a third currency to point ratio corresponding to affiliated Service Establishment (SE) numbers; combining, by said loyalty computing device, said merchant loyalty points, said manufacturer loyalty points, and said third set of loyalty points within loyalty account balances associated with said consumer ID; acquiring, by said loyalty computing device, balance data related to said loyalty point balances of consumer accounts associated with a sponsoring company, wherein said loyalty account balances comprise said manufacturer loyalty points issued by a manufacturer and said merchant loyalty points issued by a merchant, determining, by said loyalty computing device and using said balance data and rules, said consumer accounts that have loyalty point balances below a certain threshold amount; deducting, by said loyalty computing device, at least a portion of said loyalty point balance of said consumer accounts associated with a sponsoring company that have loyalty point balances below the threshold amount; and, crediting, by said loyalty computing device, loyalty point balances of said consumer accounts associated with said host company that have loyalty point balances below the threshold amount, wherein at least one of said sponsoring company or said host company initiated a transfer of said loyalty points.