System and method for a merchant debit card program including a plurality of issuers

Abstract

A merchant debit card program is described that includes a plurality of authorized issuers for debit card accounts. The merchant debit card program includes a merchant loyalty program that provides rewards to enrolled debit card accounts. The authorized issuers provide management of the debit card accounts including customer statements, payment authorizations and customer service. Application data for a new debit card account is transmitted from the merchant to the selected issuer by a card processing system. Enrollment data to the merchant loyalty program may also be transmitted from the merchant to an authorized issuer by the card processing system.

1 - 22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving, at a processing system from a consumer via a merchant, application data including a request for a deposit account associated with a debit account;   identifying, by the processing system, more than one of a plurality of authorized issuers for communication of the request for the deposit account associated with the debit account;   transmitting the request for the deposit account associated with the debit account from the processing system to the identified more than one authorized issuers;   receiving, from more than one of the authorized issuers to which the request for a deposit account was transmitted a response indicating acceptance or rejection of the request for a deposit account; and   forwarding the more than one received responses to the merchant.   
     
     
         24 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23  further comprising:
 storing, at the processing system, program data for a merchant debit account program associated with the merchant. 
 
     
     
         25 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23  further comprising:
 storing, at the processing system, debit account information associated with the consumer and an issuer identifier identifying at least one authorized issuer that accepted the consumer's request for a deposit account and issued a deposit account for the consumer in response to the consumer request. 
 
     
     
         26 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23  wherein identifying, more than one of the plurality of authorized issuers includes:
 selecting, by the processing system, more than one of the authorized issuers using criteria including one or more of geographical region, application flow, and financial terms. 
 
     
     
         27 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23  wherein identifying, more than one of the plurality of authorized issuers includes:
 identifying, by the processing system, more than one of the plurality of authorized issuers from the application data. 
 
     
     
         28 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23  further comprising:
 receiving, at the processing system, enrollment data indicating a request for enrollment in a merchant loyalty program associated with the debit account; and 
 transmitting the enrollment data to the more than one of the authorized issuers. 
 
     
     
         29 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 23  wherein the processing system is a card processing system. 
     
     
         30 . A processing device operable to execute instructions comprising:
 receiving application data including a request for a deposit account associated with a debit account;   identifying more than one of a plurality of authorized issuers for communication of the request for the deposit account associated with the debit account;   transmitting the request for the deposit account associated with the debit account from the processing system to the identified more than one authorized issuers;   receiving, from more than one of the authorized issuers to which the request for a deposit account was transmitted a response indicating acceptance or rejection of the request for a deposit account; and   forwarding the more than one received responses to the merchant.   
     
     
         31 . The processing device of  claim 30  operable to execute instructions further comprising:
 storing program data for a merchant debit account program associated with the merchant. 
 
     
     
         32 . The processing device of  claim 30  operable to execute instructions further comprising:
 storing debit account information associated with the consumer and an issuer identifier identifying at least one authorized issuer that accepted the consumer's request for a deposit account and issued a deposit account for the consumer in response to the consumer request. 
 
     
     
         33 . The processing device of  claim 30  wherein identifying, more than one of the plurality of authorized issuers includes:
 selecting more than one of the authorized issuers using criteria including one or more of geographical region, application flow, and financial terms. 
 
     
     
         34 . The processing device of  claim 30  wherein identifying, more than one of the plurality of authorized issuers includes:
 identifying more than one of the plurality of authorized issuers from the application data. 
 
     
     
         35 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving, by a merchant processing system, application data from a consumer including a request for a deposit account associated with a debit account;   transmitting, by the merchant processing system, the application data to a processing system;   receiving, by the merchant processing system, responses from more than one of authorized issuers to which the request for a deposit account was transmitted, indicating acceptance or rejection of the request for a deposit account associated with the debit account.   
     
     
         36 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 35  further comprising:
 transmitting, by the merchant processing system, program data for a merchant debit account program associated with the merchant. 
 
     
     
         37 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 36  wherein the program data includes information for a plurality of issuers. 
     
     
         38 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 36  wherein the program data includes merchant loyalty program data. 
     
     
         39 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 35  further comprising:
 transmitting, by the merchant processing system, enrollment data indicating a request for enrollment in a merchant loyalty program associated with the debit account. 
 
     
     
         40 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 35  further comprising:
 selecting, by the merchant processing system, an authorized issuer from a plurality of authorized issuers; and 
 including an identification of the authorized issuer in the application data. 
 
     
     
         41 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 40  wherein selecting an authorized issuer includes selection the authorized issuer using criteria including one or more of geographical region, application flow, and financial terms. 
     
     
         42 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 35  further comprising:
 sending, by the merchant processing system, a selection response including a selection of one of the responding authorized issuers. 
 
     
     
         43 . A merchant processing device operable to execute instructions comprising:
 receiving application data from a consumer including a request for a deposit account associated with a debit account;   transmitting the application data to a processing system;   receiving responses from more than one of authorized issuers to which the request for a deposit account was transmitted, indicating acceptance or rejection of the request for a deposit account associated with the debit account.