Enhanced Automatic Savings Program

Abstract

A computer implemented system and method are disclosed of processing a financial transaction that includes determining an automatic savings amount and rewards amount payments. The system may comprises a checking account, a savings account, an account of a merchant, and one or more computer systems including a communication interface, processor, and memory storing computer-executable instructions. The rewards amount may be calculated based on various techniques.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A system for providing rewards amounts comprising:
 a checking account associated with a customer capable of executing debit transactions;   a savings account associated with the customer;   a financial account associated with a designated merchant;   a communication interface adapted to receive financial transaction information over a communication network;   computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
 (a) receiving, at a financial institution, information relating to a first base financial transaction associated with the checking account and relating to a transaction for at least one of goods and services between the customer and the designated merchant; 
 (b) determining that the checking account has sufficient funds to cover the first base financial transaction, and debiting the checking account by amount of the first base financial transaction; 
 (c) receiving, at the financial institution, information relating to a second base financial transaction associated with the checking account; 
 (d) determining that the checking account has sufficient funds to cover the second base financial transaction, and debiting the checking account by amount of the second base financial transaction; 
 (e) periodically calculating at the financial institution an aggregate savings amount based at least on the first and the second base financial transactions; 
 (f) determining that the checking account has sufficient funds to cover the aggregate savings amount; 
 (g) if sufficient funds are available to cover the aggregate savings amount, debiting the aggregate savings amount from the checking account and crediting the aggregate savings amount in the savings account; 
 (h) if inadequate funds are available to cover the aggregate savings amount, bypassing the debiting of the aggregate savings amount from the checking account and the crediting of the aggregate savings amount in the savings account, while still having performed at least one of the steps (b) and (d); 
 (i) periodically calculating a rewards amount based on the number of financial transactions between the customer and the designated merchant, where the rewards amount is increased if the number of financial transactions between the customer and the designated merchant exceeds a predetermined value; and 
 (j) crediting the rewards amount in the savings account, where at least a portion of the rewards amount is debited from the designated merchant's account; 
   a processor for executing the computer executable instructions; and   a memory for storing at least the computer executable instructions.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , where a remaining portion of the rewards amount is provided by the financial institution. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , where the rewards amount comprises a predetermined amount for each of the number of financial transactions between the customer and the designated merchant. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , where the designated merchant is one of a predetermined plurality of merchants that credit a rewards amount to the savings account of the customer. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 (k) waiving a fee associated with at least one of the checking account and the savings account based on the number of financial transactions between the customer and the designated merchant in a fixed period of time.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , where the computer-executable instructions include an incentive engine configured to monitor the number of financial transactions between the customer and the designated merchant and to increase the rewards amount if the number of financial transactions exceeds a predetermined value in a fixed period of time. 
     
     
         7 . A system for providing rewards amounts comprising:
 a computer system comprising a processor for executing computer executable instructions stored in a memory, where the computer system is configured to manage a checking account associated with a customer capable of executing debit transactions and an outstanding debt associated with the customer;   a communication interface adapted to receive financial transaction information over a communication network; and   the computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
 (a) receiving, at a financial institution through the communication interface, information relating to a first base financial transaction associated with the checking account; 
 (b) if the checking account has sufficient funds to cover the first base financial transaction, debiting the checking account by amount of the first base financial transaction; 
 (c) receiving, at the financial institution through the communication interface, information relating to a second base financial transaction associated with the checking account; 
 (d) if the checking account has sufficient funds to cover the second base financial transaction, debiting the checking account by amount of the second base financial transaction; 
 (e) periodically calculating at the financial institution an aggregate savings amount based at least on the first and the second base financial transactions; 
 (f) determining if the checking account has sufficient funds to cover the aggregate savings amount; 
 (g) if sufficient funds are available to cover the aggregate savings amount, debiting the aggregate savings amount from the checking account and crediting, using a credit generating system in communication with the computer system, the aggregate savings amount against the outstanding debt; 
 (h) if inadequate funds are available to cover the aggregate savings amount, bypassing the debiting of the aggregate savings amount from the checking account and the crediting of the aggregate savings amount, while still having performed at least one of the steps (b) and (d); 
 (i) periodically calculating a rewards amount; and 
 (j) crediting, using the credit generating system in communication with the computer system, the rewards amount against the outstanding debt. 
   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , where the rewards amount is provided by the financial institution. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , where the rewards amount is applied to principal of the outstanding debt. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 7 , where the outstanding debt is associated with a credit card. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 7 , where the outstanding debt is associated with a student loan. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 (k) waiving a fee associated with the checking account based on the number of financial transactions by the customer in a fixed period of time.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 7 , where the computer-executable instructions include an incentive engine configured to monitor the number of financial transactions by the customer and to increase the rewards amount if the number of financial transactions exceeds a predetermined value in a fixed period of time. 
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
 (a) posting a plurality of debit transactions to a source account;   (b) calculating using the one or more processors at a financial institution a first savings amount and a second savings amount based on a first and a second, respectively, of the plurality of debit transactions;   (c) subsequent to step (a), calculating using the one or more processors at a financial institution an aggregate savings amount comprising the first savings amount and the second savings amount;   (d) determining that adequate funds are available in the source account from which the aggregate savings amount will be debited to cover the aggregate savings amount, then debiting and crediting the source account and a recipient account, respectively, by the aggregate savings amount, where a credit generating system performs the crediting by the aggregate savings amount;   (e) automatically transferring a predetermined amount of funds from the source account to the recipient account at each of a predetermined interval of time; and   (f) determining that the funds automatically transferred in step (e) exceed a first threshold value, and crediting the recipient account by a first additional amount.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , where the first additional amount is provided by the financial institution using a credit generating system. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , where the first additional amount is a percentage of the aggregate savings amount. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , where the first additional amount is a predetermined amount 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14  storing further computer-executable instructions for causing one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
 (g) if the balance of the savings accounts exceeds a second threshold value over a predetermined period of time, crediting the recipient account by a second additional amount using the credit generating system. 
 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14  storing further computer-executable instructions for causing one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
 (g) waiving a fee associated with the source account after the automatically transferring of the predetermined amount of funds. 
 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the computer-executable instructions comprise an incentive engine configured to monitor the predetermined amount of funds automatically transferred from the source account to the recipient account and to increase the first additional amount if the predetermined amount of funds exceed a predetermined value in a fixed period of time.