Surcharge auditing

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for auditing a transaction record are provided. The transaction record may correspond to a credit card transaction. The auditing may include identifying a surcharge violation. The surcharge violation may be an unlawful surcharge. The auditing may identify patterns of double surcharging. Transaction-level auditing may include ensuring that a surcharge is returned upon a product return. A mobile wallet application may allow consumers to access and/or report merchant surcharge compliance activity. Functionality may include surcharge receipt scanning for use in crosschecking authenticity of a consumer report. Additional crosscheck functionality provided by geographic location support. Embodiments may include a registry for merchants that certify their surcharge calculations.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for waiving a surcharge comprising:
 one or more receivers configured to receive:
 transaction attributes, in response to a customer presenting a payment instrument to a merchant at a point-of-sale terminal to purchase an item scanned at the point-of-sale terminal, the transaction attributes comprising:
 a customer identifier that identifies the customer; 
 a payment instrument type associated with the payment instrument; 
 an affinity agreement associated with the payment instrument; and 
 a surcharge amount; 
 
 a surcharge exemption record comprising surcharge exemption attributes, the surcharge exemption attributes comprising:
 an exempt payment instrument type; and 
 an exempt affinity agreement; 
 
   one or more processors configured to assign the surcharge amount a zero-value, when:
 the payment instrument type is identical to the exempt payment instrument type; and 
 the affinity agreement is identical to the exempt affinity agreement; 
   the one or more processors are further configured to assign the surcharge amount a non-zero value, when:
 the payment instrument type is not identical to the exempt payment instrument type; or 
 the affinity agreement is not identical to the exempt affinity agreement; 
   the one or more processors are further configured to generate a transaction record comprising the customer identifier and the surcharge amount;   a transmitter configured to transmit the transaction record to the point-of-sale terminal; and   in response to receiving the transaction record, the one or more processors are further configured to determine a purchase amount charged by the merchant to the payment instrument, the purchase amount comprising a sum of a price of the item and the surcharge amount.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein, when the transaction attributes further comprises a geographical location of the point-of-sale terminal and the surcharge exemption attributes further comprises an exempt geographical location, the one or more processors further configured to assign the surcharge amount a non-zero value when the geographical location of the point-of-sale terminal is not identical to the exempt geographical location. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the non-zero value comprises a percentage of the price of the item. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the non-zero value further comprises a fixed fee. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein, during a predetermined period of time, in response to the processor assigning the surcharge amount a zero value, the processor is further configured to generate a surcharge exemption override, and assign the non-zero value to the surcharge amount. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the predetermined period of time is a holiday shopping season. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein, in response to the processor assigning the surcharge amount the zero-value, the one or more processors is further configured to generate a surcharge exemption override, and assign a non-zero value to the surcharge amount based on a transaction volume of the merchant. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the exempt geographical location is a zip code. 
     
     
         9 . An apparatus for waiving a surcharge at a point-of-sale comprising:
 a computer system configured to receive a transaction initiated by a customer at the point-of-sale terminal using a payment instrument;   the computer system is further configured to receive a surcharge, associated with the transaction, the surcharge determined based on an acquirer fee, a transaction network fee and an issuer fee,   a surcharge engine configured to:
 receive surcharge exemption attributes comprising:
 a surcharge exempt geographical location; 
 a surcharge exempt payment instrument type; and 
 a surcharge exempt affinity agreement; 
 
 receive customer attributes comprising:
 a customer identifier; 
 a geographical location of the point-of-sale; 
 a payment instrument type presented at the point-of-sale; and 
 an affinity agreement associated with the payment instrument; 
 
 generate a surcharge waiver when:
 the geographical location of the point-of-sale is identical to the exempt geographical location; 
 the payment instrument type presented at the point-of-sale is identical to the exempt payment type; and 
 the affinity agreement associated with the payment instrument is identical to the exempt affinity agreement; and 
 
 transmit the surcharge waiver to the point-of-sale; and 
   a processor at the point-of-sale configured to waive the surcharge associated with the transaction in response to receiving the surcharge waiver at the point-of-sale.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the surcharge comprises a percentage of a price of an item scanned at the point-of-sale. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the surcharge further comprises a fixed fee. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein, during a predetermined period of time, in response to the surcharge engine generating the surcharge waiver, the surcharge engine is further configured to generate a surcharge exemption override that deletes the surcharge waiver. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the predetermined period of time is a holiday shopping season. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein, during a predetermined period of time, in response to the surcharge engine generating the surcharge waiver, the surcharge engine is further configured to generate a surcharge exemption override that deletes the surcharge waiver based on a transaction volume of the merchant. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the exempt geographical location is a zip code. 
     
     
         16 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor on a computer system, performs a method for waiving a surcharge at a point-of-sale terminal, the method comprising:
 in response to a customer presenting at the point-of-sale terminal, a payment instrument to a merchant, as a payment, determining a payment instrument brand associated with the payment instrument, the payment instrument brand comprising at least one of:
 an issuer of the payment instrument; or 
 a transaction processing network associated with the payment instrument; 
   based on the payment instrument brand, calculating a surcharge amount imposed by the merchant on the payment;   in response to the calculating, determining whether the payment instrument brand is associated with least one surcharge exception attribute;   in response to determining that the payment instrument brand is associated with at least one surcharge exception attribute, charging the payment instrument a first purchase amount that excludes the surcharge amount; and   in response to determining that the payment instrument brand is not associated with at least one surcharge exception attribute, charging the payment instrument a second purchase amount that includes the surcharge amount.   
     
     
         17 . The media of  claim 16  wherein, in the method, the surcharge exception attribute is an affinity agreement associated with the payment instrument brand. 
     
     
         18 . The media of  claim 16  wherein, in the method, the surcharge exception attribute is a rewards program associated with the payment instrument brand. 
     
     
         19 . The media of  claim 16  wherein, in the method, the surcharge exception attribute is a transaction processing network associated with the payment instrument brand. 
     
     
         20 . The media of  claim 16  wherein, in the method, when the payment instrument is a first payment instrument:
 the first payment instrument is associated with the issuer and the surcharge exception attribute; 
 a second payment instrument is associated with the issuer and is not associated with the surcharge exception attribute. 
 
     
     
         21 . The media of  claim 20  wherein the method further comprises:
 charging the first payment instrument the first purchase amount; and 
 charging the second payment instrument the second purchase amount.