Personally customizable credit card accounts

Abstract

Account holders may specify vendor-specific charge restrictions for charging transactions against their accounts, where each vendor-specific charge restriction includes a unique identifier for the corresponding vendor to which the charge restriction is applicable. The charge restriction may be an exclusion from approval of all charge authorization requests, an amount limit on charge authorization requests which may be approved, a “rebill” limit on the number of times subsequent charge authorization requests may be approved, or a combination of such restrictions and/or other restrictions. When a charge authorization request is received for a charge against an account having vendor-specific charge restrictions set by the account holder, the vendor identifier is extracted from the charge authorization request and employed to determine whether any charge restrictions are applicable to the requesting vendor. The vendor-specific charge restrictions for a particular vendor may be specified by the account holder either before or after an initial charge transactions involving that vendor, with the vendor identifier either manually entered by the account holder or automatically extracted from an account transaction record.

1 . A system for limiting charging transactions, comprising:
 means, responsive to receiving a charge authorization request for a charge on a charge account designated by a unique charge account number, for determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account;   means, responsive to determining that the account holder has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for the charge account, for determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions; and   means, responsive to identifying a match between the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and a vendor identifier within an entry in the list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions, for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account further comprises:
 means for employing the unique charge account number to retrieve account records for the charge account.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the means for determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions further comprises:
 means for comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an allowed vendors listing associated with the charge account; and   means for comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an excluded vendors listing associated with the charge account.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the means for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprises:
 means for determining whether a charge amount from the charge authorization request would exceed an amount limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing; and   means for determining whether the charge would exceed a rebill limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the means for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprises:
 means for determining whether the allowed vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the allowed vendors listing are to be declined.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the means for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprises:
 means for determining whether the excluded vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the excluded vendors listing are to be approved.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 means for approving the charge authorization request if no charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge; and   means for declining the charge authorization request if any charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge.   
     
     
         8 . A computer program product within a computer usable medium for limiting charging transactions, comprising:
 instructions, responsive to receiving a charge authorization request for a charge on a charge account designated by a unique charge account number, for determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account;   instructions, responsive to determining that the account holder has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for the charge account, for determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions; and   instructions, responsive to identifying a match between the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and a vendor identifier within an entry in the list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions, for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request.   
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions for determining whether an account holder for the charge account has specified vendor-specific charge restrictions for charges against the charge account further comprise:
 instructions for employing the unique charge account number to retrieve account records for the charge account.   
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions for determining a vendor identifier from the charge authorization request and comparing the vendor identifier to a list of vendor identifiers for the vendor-specific charge restrictions further comprise:
 instructions for comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an allowed vendors listing associated with the charge account; and   instructions for comparing the vendor identifier from the charge authorization request to each vendor identifier within an entry in an excluded vendors listing associated with the charge account.   
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the instructions for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprise:
 instructions for determining whether a charge amount from the charge authorization request would exceed an amount limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing; and   instructions for determining whether the charge would exceed a rebill limit specified within an entry in the allowed vendors listing.   
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the instructions for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprise:
 instructions for determining whether the allowed vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the allowed vendors listing are to be declined.   
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the instructions for employing a charge restriction associated with the matching entry in responding to the charge authorization request further comprise:
 instructions for determining whether the excluded vendors listing specifies that charge authorization requests from all vendors not identified within the excluded vendors listing are to be approved.   
     
     
         14 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 instructions for approving the charge authorization request if no charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge; and   instructions for declining the charge authorization request if any charge restriction specified by the account holder for the charge account will be violated by the charge.