Systems and Methods to Facilitate the Redemption of Offer Benefits in a Form of Third Party Statement Credits

Abstract

A system and method configured to provide a mechanism allowing a third party, not involved in a payment transaction made between a merchant and a payment account, to provide a credit to the payment account as an offer benefit redeemed in view of the payment transaction. The mechanism includes a transaction handler of a payment processing network configured to provide transaction information relevant to the offer to the third party. If the third party determines that a qualifying transaction in the payment account is entitled to the benefit, the third party communicates a request, via an application programming interface (API), to a portal of the transaction handler for a credit to the payment account for the payment transaction; if the request is approved, in response, the transaction handler generates a credit transaction for the payment account.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method in an electronic payment processing system, the method comprising:
 in response to an authorization request transmitted in the electronic payment processing system from a merchant transaction terminal, detecting, by a computing device comprising a transaction handler coupled between an issuer processor and an acquirer processor and configured in the electronic payment processing system, a payment transaction between a merchant account of a merchant and a payment account of a user controlled by the issuer processor;   determining, by the transaction handler during processing of an authorization request from the merchant transaction terminal, that the payment transaction is of interest to a third party benefit qualifier that is not involved in processing of the payment transaction, the determination based at least partially on trigger records stored in a data warehouse of the computing device that is coupled to the transaction handler, the trigger records generated in response to input by the third party benefit qualifier;   transmitting, by at least one of a message broker and an application programming interface of the computing device configured in the electronic payment processing system, a notification containing transaction information about the payment transaction to the third party benefit qualifier during processing of the payment transaction in the electronic payment processing system, wherein the notification causes the third party benefit qualifier to:
 determine a statement credit to the payment account of the user based on an offer provided to the user; and 
 transmit, using the application programming interface of a portal of the computing device, a request to provide the statement credit to the payment account; and 
   communicating, by the transaction handler in the electronic payment processing system and based on the request to provide the statement credit received from the third party benefit qualifier, a statement credit request to the issuer processor of the payment account using a refund protocol in the electronic payment processing system to provide a refund from a third account to the payment account, wherein the third account is a sponsor account different from the merchant account, and the sponsor account is controlled, on behalf of a sponsor of the offer, by a processor connected in the electronic payment processing system.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device is integrated with the transaction handler of the electronic payment processing system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the statement credit request communicated to the issuer processor using the refund protocol comprises a return clearing transaction message. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the transaction handler comprises the processor connected in the electronic payment processing system that controls the sponsor account. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 determining, by the computing device, whether a budget of the third account has been depleted;   wherein the statement credit request is communicated to the issuer processor of the payment account after a determination that the statement credit to the payment account is allowed by the budget of the third account.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 tracking, by the computing device, availability of funds in the third account for the statement credit to the payment account; and   determining, by the computing device, whether to accept or decline the request received via the application programming interface from the third party benefit qualifier based on the availability of the funds in the third account.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 confirming, by the computing device, validity and permissibility of the statement credit to the payment account based on a set of pre-defined rules of the offer;   wherein the statement credit request is communicated to the issuer processor of the payment account after a determination that the statement credit to the payment account is valid and permissible in accordance with the set of pre-defined rules.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 storing, by the computing device, data associating the statement credit to the payment account with the payment transaction; and   initiating, by the computing device, a change to the statement credit to the payment account in response to a change to the payment transaction;   wherein the payment transaction is processed, independent of the statement credit to the payment account, between the merchant account controlled by the acquirer processor and the payment account controlled by the issuer processor.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the statement credit to the payment account is neutral in interchange fees for the processing of the payment transaction in the electronic payment processing system. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the statement credit request identifies both the merchant and the third party benefit qualifier as responsible parties for the refund. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a sponsor processor independent from the transaction handler comprises the processor connected in the electronic payment processing system controlling the sponsor account. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a sponsor processor implemented within the transaction handler comprises the processor connected in the electronic payment processing system controlling the sponsor account. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 communicating, by the computing device, with the sponsor processor for authorization of the statement credit to the payment account during authorization of the payment transaction;   wherein the statement credit request is communicated to the issuer processor of the payment account after an authorization response from the sponsor processor approving the statement credit to the payment account as a benefit of the offer.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein a budget associated with the offer is controlled by the sponsor processor. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the statement credit to the payment account is settled with the issuer processor after settlement of the payment transaction. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing, in the computing device, data identifying the merchant and the user;   wherein the payment transaction is detected based on monitoring authorization requests of payment transactions between the merchant and the user.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the transaction information about the payment transaction transmitted to the third party benefit qualifier includes identifiers of the user and the merchant without revealing account information of the merchant account of the merchant and the payment account of the user. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the statement credit request is communicated to the issuer processor of the payment account using the refund protocol in response to settlement of the payment transaction. 
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer storage media storing instructions configured to instruct a computing device configured in an electronic payment processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
 in response to an authorization request transmitted in the electronic payment processing system from a merchant transaction terminal, detecting, by a computing device comprising a transaction handler coupled between an issuer processor and an acquirer processor and configured in the electronic payment processing system, a payment transaction between a merchant account of a merchant and a payment account of a user controlled by the issuer processor;   determining, by the transaction handler during processing of the authorization request from the merchant transaction terminal, that the payment transaction is of interest to a third party benefit qualifier that is not involved in processing of the payment transaction, the determination based at least partially on trigger records stored in a data warehouse of the computing device that is coupled to the transaction handler, the trigger records generated in response to input by the third party benefit qualifier;   transmitting, by at least one of a message broker and an application programming interface of the computing device configured in the electronic payment processing system, a notification containing transaction information about the payment transaction to the third party benefit qualifier, during processing of the payment transaction in the electronic payment processing system, wherein the notification causes the third party benefit qualifier to:
 determine a statement credit to the payment account of the user based on an offer provided to the user; and 
 transmitting, using the application programming interface of a portal of the computing device, a request to provide the statement credit to the payment account; and 
   communicating, by the transaction handler in the electronic payment processing system and based on the request to provide the statement credit received from the third party benefit qualifier, a statement credit request to the issuer processor of the payment account using a refund protocol in the electronic payment processing system to provide a refund from a third account to the payment account, wherein the third account is a sponsor account different from the merchant account, and the sponsor account is controlled, on behalf of a sponsor of the offer, by a sponsor processor connected in the electronic payment processing system.   
     
     
         20 . A computing apparatus, comprising:
 a data warehouse;   a first network interface configured to interface with an electronic payment processing system;   a transaction handler coupled to the electronic payment processing system via the first network interface and coupled between an issuer processor and an acquirer processor, and further coupled to the data warehouse;   a second network interface configured to provide a web-based application programming interface;   a portal coupled to the second network interface to provide the web-based application programming interface;   at least one microprocessor; and   a memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one microprocessor to at least:
 in response to an authorization request transmitted in the electronic payment processing system from a merchant transaction terminal, detect, via the first network interface, a payment transaction between a merchant account of a merchant and a payment account of a user controlled by the issuer processor; 
 determine, via the transaction handler during processing of the authorization request from the merchant transaction terminal, that the payment transaction is of interest to a third party benefit qualifier that is not involved in processing of the payment transaction, the determination based at least partially on trigger records stored in the data warehouse, the trigger records generated in response to input by the third party benefit qualifier; 
 transmit, via the second network interface, a notification containing transaction information about the payment transaction to the third party benefit qualifier during processing of the payment transaction in the electronic payment processing system, wherein the notification causes the third party benefit qualifier to:
 determine a statement credit to the payment account of the user based on an offer provided to the user; and 
 transmit, using the web-based application programming interface of the portal, a request to provide the statement credit to the payment account; and 
 
 communicate, via the first network interface and based on the request to provide the statement credit received from the third party benefit qualifier, a statement credit request to the issuer processor of the payment account using a refund protocol in the electronic payment processing system to provide a refund from a third account to the payment account, wherein the third account is a sponsor account different from the merchant account, and the sponsor account is controlled, on behalf of a sponsor of the offer, by a sponsor processor connected in the electronic payment processing system.