Location controls on payment card transactions

Abstract

Geographical location information provided by a mobile device is used as a control on the use of a payment card as described. Mobile device identification is linked to a payment card account such that when a payment card authorization request is received, information about the geographic location of the origination of the request is checked against the geographic location provided by the mobile device, and if there is a match, the transaction can further processed for authorization or directly authorized.

1 . A financial transaction system comprising:
 a managing computer system comprising a memory device capable of storing data associating identification information of at least one mobile device with at least one individual payment card account, and a computer processor configured to:
 (i) receive a request from a merchant for authorization of a payment card transaction against a payment card account of a customer, wherein said authorization request from the merchant indicates the geographic origin of the request for authorization; 
 (ii) receive information communicated by said at least one mobile device regarding a current geographic location and identity of the mobile device as determined by the mobile device, wherein the mobile device has electronics capable of determining a geographic location of the mobile device; 
 (iii) identify at least one mobile device associated with the payment card account against which the request for authorization has been received by accessing data stored in the memory device; 
 (iv) determine whether said geographic origin of the request for authorization matches the geographic location determined by the at least one mobile device; and 
 (v) one of: (1) permit the payment card transaction to be processed for authorization when said geographic origin of said authorization request matches the geographic location determined by said mobile device, and (2) take action to permit denying the authorization request for the transaction to be processed for authorization when said geographic origin of the authorization request does not match the geographic location of the mobile device. 
   
     
     
         2 . A financial transaction system in accordance with  claim 1 , further comprising a payment card transaction processor configured to:
 receive information from the managing computer system indicating that the payment card transaction is to be processed for authorization,   process the payment card transaction for authorization by reviewing transaction details of the request for authorization against conditions associated with the payment card account of the customer identified in the request for authorization, and   authorize or deny the request for authorization based on said review.   
     
     
         3 . A financial transaction system in accordance with  claim 2 , wherein the managing computer system is part of the payment card transaction processor. 
     
     
         4 . A financial transaction system in accordance with  claim 1 , further comprising a payment card transaction acquirer that receives requests from merchants for authorization of payment card transactions and forwards said authorization requests to the managing computer system. 
     
     
         5 . A financial transaction system in accordance with  claim 1 , further comprising a financial transaction acquirer that receives requests from merchants for authorization of payment card transactions, wherein said managing computer system is part thereof. 
     
     
         6 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein said authorization request includes information that indicates the geographic origin of the request for authorization based on the geographic location of the merchant terminal for card-present transactions. 
     
     
         7 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein said authorization request includes information that indicates the geographic origin of an interface which receives payment card account information from a user for card-not-present transactions. 
     
     
         8 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the mobile device determines the geographic location of the mobile device using the Global Positioning System (GPS). 
     
     
         9 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the mobile device determines the geographic location of the mobile device through at last one wireless local area network transmitter the location of which is known. 
     
     
         10 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the mobile device determines the geographic location of the mobile device based on transmissions from cellular phone communication providers. 
     
     
         11 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the determination of whether said geographic origin of the authorization request matches the geographic location determined by the mobile device is based on at least one of: (1) the geographic origin of the transaction authorization request being within a given distance of the geographic location of the mobile device, (2) the geographic origin of the transaction authorization request being within the same local community as the geographic location of the mobile device, and (3) the geographic origin of the transaction authorization request being within the same country as the geographic location of the mobile device. 
     
     
         12 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , further comprising an interface through which a customer can associate in the memory device information identifying one or more mobile devices with one or more individual payment card accounts. 
     
     
         13 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 12 , wherein said interface permits a customer to set one or more limits or profiles of limits on the use of the payment card account based on matching at least one mobile device with at least one of the individual payment card accounts with which the individual mobile device is associated. 
     
     
         14 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , further comprising an interface that permits a payment account issuer to set one or more limits or profiles of limits on the use of the payment card account based on matching the at least one mobile device with at least one of the individual payment card accounts with which the individual mobile device is associated. 
     
     
         15 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein said information communicated by the mobile device is from an application that a customer can selectively activate or install on the mobile device. 
     
     
         16 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein information communicated by the mobile device regarding a current geographic location of the mobile device is received through a data communication service and channel including at least one of: TCP/IP over the Internet, a SMS messaging service, an e-mail messaging service, and point-to-point communications. 
     
     
         17 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the managing computer system takes action to permit denying of the transaction by sending a message to the merchant that the transaction authorization has been denied. 
     
     
         18 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the managing computer system takes action to permit denying of the transaction by communicating a denial message to a card payment processor, which in turn can deny or authorize a transaction regardless of the action taken by the managing computer system, based on pre-established criteria. 
     
     
         19 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the managing computer system takes action to permit denying of the transaction by:
 communicating a denial message to the merchant requesting authorization, and   sending an alert to at least one of the customer and the payment card account issuer.   
     
     
         20 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 1 , wherein the managing computer system takes action to permit denying the transaction by sending an alert to the customer such that the customer may indicate that the transaction is to be either authorized or denied, or not respond, and either denies the transaction unless the customer authorizes the transaction within a given period of time, or authorizes the transaction unless the customer indicates that the transaction is to be denied within a given period of time. 
     
     
         21 . A financial transaction method comprising:
 (i) receiving, in a managing computer system comprising a memory device capable of storing data associating identification information of individual mobile devices with individual payment card accounts, and a computer processor, a request from a merchant for authorization of a payment card transaction against a payment card account of a customer, the authorization request from the merchant indicating the geographic origin of the request for authorization;   (ii) receiving, in the managing computer system, information communicated by a mobile device regarding a current geographic location as determined by the mobile device and identity of the mobile device as determined by the mobile device, wherein the mobile device has electronics capable of determining a geographic location of the mobile device;   (iii) identifying, in the managing computer system, at least one mobile device associated with the payment card account against which a request for authorization has been received by accessing data stored in the memory device;   (iv) determining, in the managing computer system, whether said geographic origin of the authorization request matches the geographic location determined by the mobile device; and   (v) one of: (1) permitting the payment card transaction to be processed for authorization when said geographic origin of said authorization request matches the geographic location determined by said mobile device, and (2) taking action to permit denying the authorization request for the transaction to be processed for authorization when said geographic origin of the request does not match the geographic location of the mobile device.   
     
     
         22 . A financial transaction method in accordance with  claim 21 , further comprising:
 forwarding to a payment card transaction processor information from the managing computer system indicating that the payment card transaction is to be processed for authorization;   processing the payment card transaction for authorization by reviewing transaction details of the transaction authorization request against conditions associated with the payment card account of the customer identified in the transaction authorization request, and   authorizing or denying a transaction authorization request based on said review.   
     
     
         23 . A financial transaction method in accordance with  claim 22 , wherein the managing computer system is part of the payment card transaction processor. 
     
     
         24 . A financial transaction method in accordance with  claim 21 , further comprising:
 receiving in a payment card transaction acquirer transaction authorization requests from merchants for authorization of payment card transactions; and   forwarding from the payment card transaction acquirer said authorization requests to the managing computer system.   
     
     
         25 . A financial transaction method in accordance with  claim 21 , further comprising receiving, in a financial transaction acquirer, transaction authorization requests from merchants for authorization of payment card transactions, wherein said managing computer system is part of the financial transaction acquirer. 
     
     
         26 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , wherein said authorization request includes information that indicates the geographic origin of the request for authorization based on the geographic location of the merchant terminal for card-present transactions. 
     
     
         27 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , wherein said authorization request includes information that indicates the geographic origin of an interface which receives payment card account information from a user for card-not-present transactions. 
     
     
         28 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , wherein the mobile device determines the geographic location of the mobile device using the Global Positioning System (GPS). 
     
     
         29 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , wherein the mobile device determines the geographic location of the mobile device through at least one of wireless local area network transmitter the position of which is known. 
     
     
         30 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , wherein the mobile device determines the geographic location of the mobile device based on transmissions from cellular phone communication providers. 
     
     
         31 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , wherein the determination of whether said geographic origin of the authorization request matches the geographic location determined by the mobile device is based on at least one of: (1) the geographic origin of the transaction authorization request being within a given distance of the geographic location of the mobile device, (2) the geographic origin of the transaction authorization request being within the same local community as the geographic location of the mobile device, and (3) the geographic origin of the transaction authorization request being within the same country as the geographic location of the mobile device. 
     
     
         32 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , further comprising associating, through a user interface through which a customer can associate in the memory device, information identifying one or more mobile devices with one or more individual payment card accounts. 
     
     
         33 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 32 , further comprising permitting, through said user interface, a customer to set one or more limits or profiles of limits on the use of the payment card account based on matching at least one mobile device with at least one of the individual payment card accounts with which the individual mobile device is associated. 
     
     
         34 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 32 , further comprising permitting, through said user interface, a payment account issuer to set one or more limits or profiles of limits on the use of the payment card account based on matching the at least one mobile device with at least one of the individual payment card accounts with which the individual mobile device is associated. 
     
     
         35 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , further comprising permitting a customer to selectively activate or install an application on a mobile device to provide the information and communicate from the mobile device regarding a current geographic location and identity of the mobile device. 
     
     
         36 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , further comprising communicating information from a mobile device regarding a current geographic location of the mobile device is received through a data communication service and channel including at least one of: TCP/IP over the Internet, a SMS messaging service, an e-mail messaging service, and point-to-point communications. 
     
     
         37 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , wherein taking action by the managing computer system to permit denying of the transaction is in the form of sending a message to the merchant that the transaction authorization has been denied. 
     
     
         38 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , wherein taking action by the managing computer system to permit denying of the transaction is in the form of communicating a denial message to a card payment processor, which in turn can deny or authorize a transaction regardless of the action taken by the managing computer system, based on pre-established criteria. 
     
     
         39 . A financial transaction system according to  claim 21 , wherein taking action in the managing computer system is in the form of denying of the transaction by:
 communicating a denial message to the merchant requesting authorization, and   sending an alert to at least one of the customer and the card account issuer.   
     
     
         40 . A financial transaction method according to  claim 21 , wherein taking action by the managing computer system to permit denying the transaction is in the form of sending an alert to the customer such that the customer may indicate that the transaction is to be either authorized or denied, or not respond, and either denying the transaction unless the customer authorizes the transaction within a given period of time, or authorizing the transaction unless the customer indicates that the transaction is to be denied within a given period of time.