MXPA06000966A - Financial account up-front incentives management system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for incentivizing holders of financial accounts, e.g., credit card account holders, to engage in certain activities with those accounts. Account holders may be provided an up-front incentive based on a commitment to engage in certain account activities in the future. If the account holder fails to satisfy his commitment, at least a portion of the value of the incentive may be charged to a customer account. Rewards provided to an account holder to encourage particular account activities also may include merchandise rewards, discounts and rebates or entries into a lottery type drawing for prizes.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANAGEMENT OF ADVANCED INCENTIVES IN FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS FIELD OF THE INVENTION This application claims the benefit of the Provisional Application in the United States No. 60/490, filed on July 25, 2003.

[0001] The present invention is directed in general terms to financial accounts, such as credit card accounts, and computerized systems and methods for automatically managing said accounts and, more particularly, to systems and methods to incentivize specific activities. with respect to said accounts by the owners of the same and the systems and methods to manage said activities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Banks and other financial institutions, here referred to broadly as financial institutions, make a variety of different types of financial accounts available to their clients, both natural and commercial and institutional. These vat-fan accounts, for example, from checking and savings accounts to credit card accounts, retirement accounts, stock exchange investment accounts, etc. These varieties of financial accounts allow clients of financial institutions greater flexibility in the way they can save, spend and invest their money. A single client can have different accounts with the same financial institution. Such different accounts can be integrated in many ways. For example, a customer's savings account can be linked to their current account so that any overdraft of the current account is automatically corrected by funds deposited in the savings account. By integrating accounts in different ways, customers have greater flexibility.

[0003] Computer systems are now used to manage and maintain the wide variety of financial accounts provided by financial institutions to their clients. Computerized account management programs implemented in computer systems perform a wide variety of account management functions, such as facilitating the establishment (opening) of accounts, maintaining accounting records and balance sheets, debiting and crediting accounts, automatically transferring funds between accounts on certain dates, automatically issue statements of accounts for clients (as well as for the financial institution itself), etc. Any improvement in the existing systems and processes for the management of financial accounts should be implemented, as far as possible, in the automatic operation, either as part of the computerized systems for managing financial accounts or in addition to them.

[0004] Financial institutions obtain money from the different accounts that maintain their clients in different ways. For example, in the case of savings accounts, the financial institution can lend the funds deposited in it, charging a higher interest rate than the one paid to the savers, thereby obtaining a profit. Financial institutions can also make significant profits through interest charged to credit card accounts. The interest rates that can be charged on these accounts are usually much higher than those charged to secured loans, such as mortgage loans. Another source of income for financial institutions is the fees that they can apply to different accounts. For example, clients may be required to pay periodic commissions for maintaining accounts, such as annual commissions for credit cards. Each time a credit card is used, the company in which it is used pays a commission, a portion of which goes back to the financial institution that issued the credit card. It is possible to charge commissions for the activities carried out by the holders of consumer accounts according to the different conditions of the accounts. For example, the periodic commissions charged to clients by certain checking and savings accounts can be reduced when the balance maintained in the accounts is increased. Credit cardholders may be charged commissions (in addition to interest) for cash provisions in the case of credit card accounts (such commissions on transactions generally do not apply to normal purchases of products made with one. credit card). It is also possible to charge commissions to a client for breach of the regulations set by the financial institution for the maintenance of the account. For example, it is possible to charge such commissions for exceeding the limits of the account (account overdraft) or for not making a payment in a credit card account or for making it after the due date, etc.

[005] Therefore, financial institutions wish to increase their profits by encouraging potential customers to open and use accounts with a specific financial institution, instead of with one of the competition, and, after the account is opened, encouraging the owner of the account to carry out specific activities that may generate higher commissions, collection of interest and / or other income for the financial institution. For example, as an incentive to deposit money in a financial institution and keep it there, said financial institution can reduce its commissions and / or increase the interest paid as the amount deposited by a client in said financial institution increases. In this case, the income lost by the bank due to the reduction in interest and the increase in interest payments to the account holder are more than compensated by the income obtained by the financial institution when using the highest amount of interest. money that the saver puts at their disposal.

[0006] In particular, credit card issuers have used a series of systems to encourage customers to open credit card accounts and use those accounts to generate more income for the credit card issuer. For example, a financial institution issuing credit cards can propagate a very low initial interest rate to encourage customers to open accounts (these low interest rates may increase later). Once the account is opened, the credit card issuer may try to encourage the active use of the credit card account by providing the customer with various incentives or prizes. For example, the holder of a credit card can receive a prize, either in the form of cash return, discount certificates, etc. in relation to the purchases made by said client using the credit card. The more the client charges the account, the greater the prize awarded. The award may be granted by the financial institution itself or in association with a specific company or group of companies with which the financial institution has established a joint commercial relationship. Thus, the prize may consist of points that can be used to obtain discounts in a company or group of companies, such as "frequent flyer" miles that can be redeemed to travel on an airline or certain airlines. Additionally, purchases in a company or certain companies involved in such a commercial relationship can generate more valuable prizes or a faster accumulation of points towards obtaining a level of prizes. In another system, credit card issuers may offer entry to a prize draw every time credit card holders use a credit card associated with a specific account during a given period. Thus, the holder of a credit card is encouraged to use it frequently, to increase their chances of winning a prize.

[0007] A major disadvantage of most current systems in encouraging customers to open and use different financial accounts, such as credit card accounts, is that there is often a disconnect and delay between the use of the account by the customer. and the awarding of the benefit or prize. For example, a customer • who receives money returns, discounts, "frequent flyer" miles, etc. By using your credit card you do not receive the benefit or the reward until long after you have used the credit card many times. In the example described above, in which participation is referenced by prize draw every time a credit card is used, the user probably never receives a prize or even an indication that he has actually entered a drawing for win a prize. The disconnection between the prizes provided to encourage credit card holders to open and use their accounts in specific ways and the effective behavior of the account holders in this regard reduces the effectiveness of the prizes to really achieve that holders of account modify their behavior in the desired way.

[0008] Therefore, what is sought is an improved and effective system and method to encourage the customer to open and actively use their financial accounts, such as credit card accounts, and to reward the customer for carrying out certain activities with your account in a way that is likely to cause the client to alter his behavior in that regard. Said system and method of preference must be implemented through a substantially automatic operation in a computerized system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention provides a system and method for rewarding the holders of financial accounts, for example holders of credit card accounts, for carrying out certain activities associated with said accounts. According to the present invention, the incentives are provided and managed in such a way as to effectively incentivize specific types of activity and use of the accounts that ultimately increase the income for the financial institution that provides the account to the client. A system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the present invention can present a series of incentives, each of which effectively transfers value from a financial institution to a customer account holder to incentivize or reward a specific behavior of the client with respect to a financial account. An advanced incentive management system in accordance with the invention will preferably be implemented as a multi-tiered, comprehensive process for automatically managing a series of incentives that can be provided to a client to incentivize a specific behavior. Preferably, it should be possible for system users to activate or deactivate each element of the process or type of incentive offered according to the product, financial institution or specific client. Examples of component elements or types of incentives that could be provided and managed by an incentive management system advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the present invention include prizes, discounts and gifts. Prizes are incentives earned by account holder for using their account on a regular basis and / or in a particular way. Discounts are reduced prices on products or services purchased using a specific account at a specific company or to purchase a specific product. Gifts are objects or bonuses given to customers for activating or maintaining an account. In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to administer different types of incentives, and preferably all of them, through a single integral system for handling advanced incentives, the system automatically generating a single account statement from the data received regularly, usually monthly, from the different accounting and customer database systems of the financial institution. In accordance with the present invention, the prizes, discounts and gifts are presented to the client and are managed in such a way that the effectiveness of the incentives is maximized to stimulate specific client behaviors with respect to their financial accounts, while minimizing the cost what it has for the financial institution to manage a system of this type. In accordance with this invention, an incentive can be granted to a client holding an account before the latter carries out a desired activity on the basis of the client's commitment to carry out the desired activity in the future. A penalty may be imposed on the customer's account if the account holder breaches the commitment.

[0010] The incentives provided to the customers by means of a system and method of managing incentives advanced in accordance with the present invention seek to encourage customers to use their accounts regularly and in a certain way. Operationally, incentives can be implemented to function in a similar way to a frequent flyer program that is common in the commercial aviation sector. Each time a customer uses his account, he earns points. These points accumulate over time and are credited to your account. The customer can change their points at any time for a specific prize. In accordance with the present invention, a customer can also borrow advanced points at any time or at selected times (for example, at the opening of his account or during other promotional periods). In accordance with the invention, prizes can be administered by means of certificates issued to account holders at their request to acquire specific goods or services from a prize catalog or from a list included in the account holder's statement. The certificate can be exchanged (physically or electronically) to acquire the chosen merchandise or to obtain a specific value in a specific company. Examples of awards of this type include electronic equipment, travel, tour packages, jewelry, furniture, etc.

[0011] In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to provide prizes to customers in the form of advanced incentives. Advance incentives are specific rewards that the customer can choose in advance based on a planned activity of his account, such as opening an account or making a series of purchases using the account. The account holder agrees to develop a specific activity with his account (for example, use the account to make a minimum number of monthly purchases or maintain a minimum monthly balance during the committed period of, for example, one or two arms) . If the account holder breaches these commitments, the retail value, or a portion thereof, of the advanced prize that was provided may be charged to his account. It is also possible to provide advanced incentives to clients holding accounts based on a combination of past and anticipated activity in their account. For example, an account holder may receive a prize for opening an account and / or reaching a certain balance in his account (for example, transferring the balances of other credit cards to a credit card account and / or taking an advance in cash of said account) (past activity) as well as by committing to maintain a minimum account balance during a period of time (anticipated activity). This reduces the risk that a customer who is offered an advance incentive does not perform any anticipated activity with their account, since at least some desired activity is required to receive the prize.

[0012] In accordance with the invention, it is possible to earn incentive points for any transaction that can be documented and electronically transferred to an advanced incentive management system in accordance with the present invention. For example, it is possible to earn incentive points for charges to credit cards, advances on account, payments, balances held, balances transferred, deposits, withdrawals or any activity in a related account. In addition, incentive points can be increased through the participation of companies or service providers. For example, buying airline tickets on an affiliated airline using a specific credit card account can generate double points for the account (for example, two points per dollar of purchase instead of one point). Buying a television in an associated store using the account can generate double points for the purchase.

[0013] In some cases, an incentive may be provided to the customer to perform an activity with his account only once or to perform a limited number of activities (for example, opening an account or maintaining a minimum balance). ).

[0014] In addition to managing the process of assigning points, an advanced incentive management system in accordance with the present invention also automatically manages, preferably, the generation, distribution and redemption processes of prizes. These processes may include, for example, the issuance of award certificates, the expiration and monitoring of the term to exchange prizes, and the accounting of the outstanding and redeemed prizes. The system also preferably generates information on statements of account related to rewards for inclusion in the process of generation of account statements existing in the financial institution. In addition, the system can also handle the billing of companies for their participation in double-score programs or other incentive programs linked to or related to the awards program.

[0015] A system and method of handling advanced incentives in accordance with the present invention can also provide and manage the supply of discounts to customers to incentivize a specific activity in the account of the account holders. The discounts may include discounts at the time of purchase of products and / or services and refunds on purchases already made. Discounts may include pre-negotiated discounts for customers who use their accounts to purchase specific merchandise and / or go to a specific provider, for example within a specific period. Examples of discounts can include: "25% discount on your next purchase of a Sony TV", "Pay one dish and receive another free", "30% discount on all purchases made next week at Home Depot", • etc. Refunds are discounts granted after the customer has met specific purchase requirements using their account and seek to encourage the customer to repeat their purchases at a company using their account. Examples of reimbursements may include: "Just buy a PC, return and receive a free printer," "Just buy - a refrigerator, come back and get a free cooking game," "You just bought your tenth CD, come back and receive a free CD ", etc. Both discounts and refunds can generally be financed by the seller, company or service provider that sells the products or services to which the discount or rebate applies. An advance incentive management system and method in accordance with the invention preferably automatically lists the details of all discounts and reimbursements available to the customer in each client's account statement. The list of discounts and reimbursements in the customer's account statement is subject to the company providing data on the availability of products and other data to the processing system of the financial institution in which an advanced incentive management system has been implemented. in accordance with the present invention.

[0016] A system and method of handling advanced incentives in accordance with the present INVENTION may also allow and administer the supply of gifts - for customers in order to incentivize a particular activity with their account. Gifts seek, for example, to incentivize numerous small transactions by a client using a specific account and keep the account active. Gifts may include generic gifts for each account holder you make - a specific activity with your account (for example, maintaining a level of expense or a specific balance during a given period). Examples of generic gifts could include: "Free credit protection service if you make three purchases this month" or "Free Ginsu knives if you charge more than $ 300 this month on your credit card," etc.

[0017] Gifts may also include contests and draws based on individual purchases or deposits or other activities in the accounts during a promotion period. The management of the contests through a system in accordance with the invention includes the handling of the specific criteria necessary to enter the draw as well as the administration of the entry numbers. In accordance with the invention, drawings can be administered at three levels. At 'level one, the customer enters the raffle based on criteria related to a specific activity in the account (for example, an option in the raffle for each purchase made using the account). The second level consists in linking this option with a "public" number that allows you to enter a lottery of the grand prize. The third level is to select a fixed number of winners of the grand prize from the options.

[0018] For example, as a reward for meeting the objectives of a financial institution, each client holding an account that satisfies selected criteria on account activities may enter a series of raffles that award different prizes to one or more account holders. . Prizes can be awarded periodically, for example daily, weekly, monthly or using another frequency, and can range from small prizes (for example, movie tickets) to large prizes (such as cars). Being the winner of a small prize or can be used as a criterion to be eligible for a later drawing for a more substantial prize.

[0019] When using an account as indicated by the financial institution (for example, making purchases, maintaining the current account, paying in a timely manner, using the account in selected (associated) companies, etc.) the client will automatically enter a drawing for a prize . Options can be based on time criteria (for example, one option per account per month) and / or activity (for example, one option per purchase) (The process for obtaining a draw option must, of course, meet local laws regarding lottery-type events and may require options to be delivered and processed in the form of paper tickets). In accordance with the invention, the preference options can be made and processed automatically from transactions generated by the system, extracting information about the activity of the accounts from the archived data of the monthly account statements or of the data archived on the basis of the invention. daily transactions in all items. This information can be obtained from the account processors of the financial institution (additionally, the options can be determined manually by entering the data obtained from the paper tickets). All options must have an expiration date or an expiration event, for example the prize draw.

[0020] According to the invention, the prize winners of draws are randomly selected and are not predetermined or decided in any way. Therefore, each option must have exactly the same probability of winning as any other option. Various methods can be used to implement such a system of awarding prizes to raffle winners. For example, a fixed number of winners can be determined and each winning option can be selected in sequence in a random manner. The process of selecting winners can therefore be based on a random number equal to the number of the option. Once an option has been selected for a prize, it is removed from the pool of eligible options for the following draws. Alternatively, you can set the winning number of a lottery outside the system (for example, basing the winning number on the winning number of a national or regional lottery). The externally determined "public" winning number is compared to a number previously assigned to the option (for example, the account number, the transaction number, a randomly generated or selected number, etc.). In this case, the number of winning options will vary based on the random match between the externally determined winning number and the options (for example, if the winning number is a five-digit number of a national lottery and the options that can match with the same are the last five digits of the account numbers of eligible customers, then the number of potential winners can vary from zero to all eligible accounts in the database). It is also possible to use combinations of selection techniques for prize winners when the winners of a first selection process enter a second selection process.

[0021] In accordance with the INVENTION, all information handled by the awarding system is subject to internal and external review to ensure compliance with applicable laws. The integrity of the data, the selection criteria and the statistical analyzes necessary for the fulfillment of preference are provided by the system (violations can be expensive since the penalty may be to award a prize to all participants). In accordance with the invention, all the information about the individual options and the numbers necessary for them to win are kept safe to prevent any potential bias in the process. If the number of the winning option is previously known (for example, the account number), then the selection of the winning number must be completely secure, unbiased and statistically random. The security of an option data and the selection process is critical. No user can have the ability to influence the process. In accordance with the invention, several levels of security are preferably provided, including one for entering all the data of the options, one for loading data from the processors of the financial institution to generate the options automatically, one for reporting the selection. , one for the administration of the system and one for the execution of the draw itself. The system preferably automatically runs simulations of the options in the database and produces statistical reports that can demonstrate the effective randomness of the process and the probability of winning. The preference system automatically produces letters, phone lists or other lists of information on ways to contact each other (for example, e-mail addresses) that can be used to notify winners that they have won a prize, what prize they have won and / or in which lottery they are participating. The preference system automatically produces a list of winners for independent audit verification and for potential publication. The system can maintain a database of qualified people (for example, those who have supplied a prepaid handling fee or a postage prepaid envelope and the address placed) who request the winners' lists, so that they can be automatically generated. lists of winners to send to these people.

[022] Other objects, features and advantages of the present INVENTION will become clear from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the attached graphs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE GRAPHICS

[0023] Figure 1 is a schematic flow diagram of a general example of the method of incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

[0024] Figure 2 is a schematic flow chart of an example of the method for determining the form and persons intended to receive offers of incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention in order to optimize the returns of the incentive program .

[0025] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an example of a system for implementing a system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

[0026] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the main functional and data components of an exemplary system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

[0027] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the organization of the basic data files' and the relationship between the data in a system and method of handling incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

[0028] Figure 6 is still a flow diagram illustrating a. example of the process for uploading customer data for use in a system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

[0029] Figures 7 and 8 are flow diagrams illustrating an example of the process used for the processing of reward points in a system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

[0030] Figures 9-11 are flow charts illustrating an example of the process used for the processing of award certificates in a system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

[0031] Figures 12 and 13 are flow diagrams illustrating an example of the process used to process the redemption of reward certificates in a system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

[0032] Figures 14 and 15 are flow diagrams illustrating an example of the process used for processing account statements in a system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0033] The present invention provides a system and method by which a financial institution or other entity can provide incentives to clients holding financial accounts to incentivize specific types of activities with the accounts that result in higher revenues for the financial institution. The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the financial accounts of the credit card type and to the activities of accounts of the credit card type. It should be understood, however, that the present invention is not limited to the accounts and activities related to credit cards but can be applied to any type of financial account that can be offered to the clients of a financial institution or other entity, as well as to any type of account activity that a client can perform with that account.

[0034] In accordance with the invention, an incentive program is provided to a client holding an account in advance in order to incentivize convenient activities with his account. A flow chart illustrating an example of method (10) for implementing a generic advance incentive in a financial account in accordance with the invention is illustrated in Figure 1 and will be described in greater detail with reference to said figure. An offer of advanced incentives is extended to the real and / or potential owners of financial accounts (for example, holders of credit card accounts) in (11). As discussed in more detail below, since a program of advanced incentives requires that an incentive be provided to a client before the desired activity occurs in the account, there is a higher upfront cost and, therefore, higher risk. for the entity- that executes the program. The following will describe in greater detail a method to reduce the risks involved by better identifying the specific aspects and eligible participants for the program who will be offered an advance incentive. The advance incentive offer presented in (11) identifies both an incentive (for example, a prize in products) as well as an activity in the account that the client must perform (for example, opening an account, maintaining a minimum balance in the account). perform a minimum number of transactions with your account, etc.). Offer 11 may be presented to selected clients in a variety of conventional ways, for example, by mail, telephone, email or other electronic communication means, etc.

[0035] A client can accept the conditions of the offer of advanced incentives (12) in a different way, for example by responding by mail or email, by telephone or by Internet, etc. By accepting the offer (12), the customer agrees to carry out certain activities with his account in exchange for the advance incentive. By accepting the offer (12), the client can also accept that, if he does not comply with the prescribed activities, his account (either the account with which he has committed to carry out specific activities or another client's account) will be charged by the monos with a portion of the value of the Advance incentive. Once the terms of the offer of the advance incentive have been accepted, the incentive (13) is provided to the client in advance, that is, before the activity to which the client holder of the account is committed is carried out. The incentive (13) can be provided directly to the account holder, for example by sending the product to the account holder, or it can be provided in the form of an award certificate that can be redeemed, for example in an associated company, in the case of prizes in the form of products and / or services. In the case where the client's account receives cumulative points for prizes (which can be exchanged for products or services) in exchange for carrying out selected activities with your account, the incentive can take the form of points advanced or loaned.

[0036] A system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention monitors the activity of the client's account (14) automatically to determine (15) automatically if the activity conditions in the account the account holder committed to perform have been fulfilled or not. If the client holding the account has not complied with the agreed activity conditions of the account, the client's account (or a related account of the client) may be automatically charged (16) with all or part of the value of the incentive provided. If the activity conditions of the account have been met, the client's account will not be charged (17). A system and method for implementing and managing advanced incentives in financial accounts of this type will be described in more detail below.

[0037] In a program of incentives advanced in financial accounts, an incentive with a value is delivered to the client holding the account before the client performs an activity agreed with his account. Even if a portion of the value of the incentive is charged to the client's account for failure to perform the agreed activity, a program of advanced incentives requires more advanced expenses and may present higher risks than the conventional incentive programs for financial accounts when the Incentives are granted to a client only after the client has performed the desired activity: with his account. To minimize these risks, it is important to identify the characteristics of the program and the people who will receive the offer of advanced incentives in order to maximize the number of those who accept the offer and actually perform the desired activity with their: account after receiving the incentive. In this way, the potential benefit for the financial institution or another entity that is executing a program of incentives advanced in financial accounts can be maximized.

[0038] Figure 2 shows an example of the method to identify the optimal characteristics of the offer of incentives advanced in financial accounts to be carried out as well as the people to whom to make the offer. This will be explained in more detail with reference to the flow chart (20) presented in the same figure. In the first place, the initial characteristics of an offer of incentives advanced in financial accounts (21) are selected, for example, based on the experience with such offers or similar offers. The variable characteristics of the offer of incentives that can be selected (21) can include how the offer will be presented (by mail, telephone, etc.), the type and value of the incentive offered, the amount that will be charged to the account of the client in case of non-compliance to carry out the agreed activities, etc. Then, a group of individual customers holding existing or potential accounts (22) is selected to receive the selected advanced incentive offer (21). Initially, a relatively small group of people can be selected (for example, 10,000 recipients of an offer by mail) with little reference to personal credit office data or other data that identify (23) these people. Then the offer of incentives or nothing is sent (24) to the selected group of people. The response to the offer and, in particular, the characteristics of those people who have accepted the offer and who have committed themselves to carry out the desired activities with their accounts, that is, to comply with the conditions of the advanced incentives, are analyzed. (25) to identify those defining characteristics (income, past activity in their accounts, etc.) that indicate good prospects for such advance incentive offers. A traditional statistical analysis or other type of analysis can be used. The results of the analysis (25) are used to optimize the form of the offer (21) and identify the characteristics of the people to whom the offer will be extended (11).

The process can be repeated several times to optimize the effectiveness of the advance incentive program.

[0039] An example of an advanced incentive management system in financial accounts (30) in accordance with the invention will be described in detail, first with reference to Figure 3 illustrating examples of components that can be used to implement said system and the operation of the same. A system for handling advanced incentives in financial accounts in accordance with the invention can be integrated in preference to the architecture and computer network currently used by the financial institution to perform the processing and management of accounts as well as other functions. Therefore, the present invention can be implemented using commercially available hardware that is currently used by financial institutions to implement functions of processing and managing accounts. When integrated into the architecture and computerized network existing in a financial institution, the present invention provides an integral solution to automatically transfer value from the financial institution to its clients, rewarding a specific desirable activity on the part of the account holder.

[0040] A system for handling advanced incentives in financial accounts in accordance with the invention can be implemented in a conventional computerized system that operates as an application server. (32) The application server (32) can be implemented using one or more conventional computerized systems with the processing power thereof selected based on the volume of accounts and incentives to be processed, the desired operating speed, costs and availability of the system and any other conventional criteria for selecting computerized systems to perform specific functions: The application server (32) is connected in a conventional manner, that is, by means of a local (for example, Ethernet) and / or remote (for example) connection. example, Internet) to one or more data processing systems (34) or vendors of the financial institution that implement an advanced incentive management system in financial accounts (30). From these data processing systems (34) and vendors, the advanced incentive management system (30) obtains the necessary data to implement the different processes described below. Such data include, for example, data related to financial accounts, including data related to financial account activities, as will be discussed in more detail below. It should be noted that an incentive management system advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention can be implemented in a computerized application server system (32) independent of the other computers of the data processing system of the financial institution (34), as illustrated in Figure 1 or as part of said data processing systems of the financial institution (34).

[0041] Account holder customers (36) may have access to the information on incentives in accounts of the incentive management system advanced in financial accounts (30) either through a telephone call (38) to a customer service center of the financial institution that is implementing the system or through a conventional personal computer (40) connected to the system through a conventional remote connection. For example, the client's personal computer (40) may be connected to the application server (32) in which the system for managing advanced incentives in financial accounts has been implemented through a conventional Internet connection (42). In the case of telephone communications, the application server (32) in which the incentive management system advanced in financial accounts has been implemented can connect to the customer calls made to the call center by means of a conventional intelligent telephone switch ( 44) and an integrated CTI (computerized telecommunications integration) switch (46) that will allow the customer to use tone phones to interact with their accounts. If personal customer service is required, the client can be transferred to a conventional telephone (48) by means of the telephone switch (44). The telephone (48) will be serviced by a customer service operator who also - has a computer at his work station (50) that is connected to the application server (32) so that the operator can obtain the information from there desired about the incentives for the client's account. The application server (32) will preferably be programmed to interface with the telephone switch (44) and the call center workstation (50) so that a screen or other link to the data is invoked automatically and immediately. Relevant customer account information that will appear on the workstation when a call is transferred to the telephone (48) to allow for fluid attention. Thus, in the case of an account holder who has entered his account number into the system by means of a tone telephone and then is transferred to a telephone with a customer service operator (48), the information on that customer's account. it will automatically appear on the operator's workstation (50) at the time of the transfer without having to provide any additional information for the operator to enter it. The operator work station (50) preferably also will be connected through a customer service system interface (52) to the main computer system of the financial institution (34) or other vendor systems so that the customer service operator have access to all the relevant information about a client's financial account, including information not necessarily related to the incentives for the account, so that the operator can provide a complete service to the client who is calling.

[0042] A system for handling advanced incentives in financial accounts (30) in accordance with the invention can also communicate with the account account customers (36) by conventional mail or other hard copy delivery systems. For example, the award certificates (54) issued by the preference system are delivered to account account customers through the mail or other hard copy delivery systems. A customer account holder may request that an award certificate be issued by calling or communicating in any other way with the customer service center in the manner described above. In response to this request, and if all the requirements for the issuance of a customer award have been satisfied, the advanced financial account management system (30) will be able to print and send by mail (using conventional printing equipment and sending) an award certificate (54) (which the customer may exchange, for example, in a selected company) to the account holder customer. The system may also generate account statements and deliver them to the account holder customer by email with a printed copy or electronically, as indicated in more detail below.

[0043] Next, the main functional and data components of an exemplary system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts according to the invention will be discussed with reference to the schematic diagram of Figure 4. In a process of charging customer data (60), a series of programs import data from customer accounts into an advanced incentive management system in financial accounts (30) in accordance with the invention from one or more financial institutions or other data processors. Each interface between the advanced incentive management system (30) and an external data processor can be isolated using a different program to load the data. The data that will be uploaded to the system can be loaded through transfers in Totes, online transaction transfers and / or real-time network transfer, for example through an ODBC connection, depending on the type of systems and data involved. The information loaded on the clients is used to define and establish the accounts of clients that will participate in a method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention. For example, customer data identifying those customer credit card accounts that are eligible to receive incentives can be uploaded (60) and stored in a database of credit card holders' files (62) for use. by the system. An example of the process of loading customer data with reference to Figure 6 will be discussed in more detail later.

[0044] In accordance with the invention, a customer account holder can earn points to receive an incentive or meet established criteria for said incentive by performing one or more types of activities with his account. A point processing function (70) of an incentive management system advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention monitors the activities in the client's account as stipulated by the system of the financial institution that manages the client's account.

The data on activities in the account used for the processing of points can be stored in a database of files about the activities in the accounts (72). The point processing function (70) Assigns points for rewards to customer accounts, as defined, for example, in the database of files on credit card holders (62), according to the activities reported in the accounts according to the rules stipulated in the system. The point processing function (70) can increase or reduce the balance of points in a client's account based on the activities in the account and the rules applied. For example, points will be added to a customer's account for each purchase made using the account and points will be subtracted from a client's account if it does not maintain a specific balance in that account. The points to a customer's account established by the point processing function (70) can be stored in a database in the form of a table of points in the accounts (74). Preferably, a user of the system will be able to access the database in the form of a point table (74) to handle and adjust as necessary the total points stored there. For this effect, an appropriate graphic interface with the database can be provided in the form of a point table (74). The point processing function will be described in more detail below with reference to Figures 7 and 8.

[0045] In accordance with the invention, a prize may be issued to a client holding an account who has performed an activity selected with his account or who has agreed to carry said activity in the future in the form of an award certificate (54) that the client can exchange for products or services in a company or selected companies. The certificate processing function (80) of a system for handling advanced incentives in financial accounts (30) in accordance with the invention allows the reward points for the account, as they have been registered in the database in the form of points table (74), are exchanged and award certificates are issued (54). In accordance with the INVENTION, award certificates can also be issued (54) based on a commitment on the part of the account holder client to perform a specific activity in the future. The certificate processing function (80) employs extreme security measures to guarantee the integrity of the system. Preferably, each award certificate (54) issued by the system has a printed serial number. Certificate papers with this printed number can be uploaded to a printer in a secure location. As the certificate processing function (80) prints certificates (54), a unique number is generated that is printed - on the award certificate (54). This combination of pre-printed control number and number generated by the system is used to guarantee safety. Printed award certificates (54) may be sent by mail or otherwise delivered to the account holder customer in the manner described above. A record is kept of each award certificate (54) available that will be issued and that has been issued by the certificate processing function (80) with one or more databases in the form of certificate tables (82). The certificate processing function (80) will be described in more detail below with reference to Figures 9 to 11.

[0046] A certificate exchange function (90) is used when an account holder exchanges an award certificate (54) for products or services. When a client uses an award certificate (54), the company in which the certificate is to be exchanged (54) is responsible for calling or electronically transmitting the certificate number to the advanced incentive management system for financial accounts (30) for verification before said certificate (54) can be used. The certificate exchange function (90) verifies that the identified certificate is registered in the database in the form of a certificate table (82). At that time, a verification certificate verification code that the company will place on the certificate to confirm the exchange of the certificate can be delivered to the company. The company then returns the certificate of the award exchanged to the advanced incentive management system for financial accounts (30) for processing. When the system receives the certificate redeemed (30), the certificate exchange function (90) verifies the authenticity of the certificate exchanged by examining the verification code written on the redeemed certificate. Only if the verification code written on the certificate matches the verification code of the certificate indicated in the database in the form of a certificate table (82) is the certificate considered valid. Then, the company can be billed according to a system of transactions generated by the system. An example of the certificate redemption function will be described in more detail with reference to Figures 12 and 13. The certificate handling processes (80) and (90) preferably also automatically manipulate exceptions such as lost certificates (not exchanged), blank certificates for bad feeding in the certificate printer, etc.

[0047] An account statement processing function (100) can be used to generate detailed account statements (102) periodically (eg, monthly) to show the detailed activity in the customer accounts, for example accounts of holders of credit cards identified in the database of credit card holders' files (62), with respect to incentives. Each account statement (102) preferably includes detailed transactions of all the activities of the account that affect the incentives during the period. For example, you can include in the account statement (102) all the activities that affect the points for rewards of the accounts and the number of points added or deleted from the account of the credit card holder. The information on points that will be included in the account statements (102) can be obtained from the database in the form of a table of points (74). Likewise, a detailed description of any exchange of points or certificates or incentives obtained or payments owed for advanced incentives provided to the client but not earned may be provided in the account statement (102). As discussed above, the account statements (102) can be sent by mail or delivered electronically to the account account customers. The account statement processing function (100) can be implemented in an integrated manner with the generation processes of account statements implemented by a financial institution so that the information on incentives generated by the account statement processing function (100) for inclusion in the account statements (102) it can be included as part of the regular account statements provided to customers. An example of an account statement processing function (100) will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 14 and 15.

[0048] A system and method of handling advanced incentives in financial accounts in accordance with the invention can provide incentives for account holders to perform specific desirable activities with their accounts in the form of options in a drawing of one plus prizes. A raffle processing function (120) is employed to implement and operate said incentive system by lot. The draw processing function (120) can be activated selectively by type of account, type of transaction, financial institution, date of processing or other factors. The lottery processes implemented by the draw processing function (120) can take the form of a series of different filters and random selections at a series of levels leading to a potential winner. The participation of the account holders in the incentives for taxies of draws of preference can be communicated to the clients by means of the lottery processing function (120) in the client's account statements (102). For example, customer account statements (102) may indicate accounts lottery options you have earned by performing certain activities with your account.

[0049] A system and method of handling incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention preferably provides reports (122), either automatically or periodically upon request, to a system operator (30) so that the Operator can monitor the status of incentives for account holders. For example, information such as the activity in the client's account (72), the points for rewards (74) resulting from the activities with the account and the exchange can be included in said reports (122). (90) of award certificates by account holders. The system operator (30) preferably can easily format said reports (122) to obtain the desired system information (30) with a useful format so that the operator can monitor the incentive programs implemented using the system (30). Using such reports 122, the operator will be able to monitor how successful an incentive program is in getting account account customers to carry out selected activities with their accounts; You can also monitor the costs of the program, the costs that should be invoiced to the associated companies, etc.

[0050] Figure 5 illustrates examples of data files that can be employed by a system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention and the relationship between the data in said files, all of which will be subject to a description in relation to that figure. Each example of data file to be described may be stored in databases within independent devices or within the same conventional memory devices. Software and database management techniques can be used to store and retrieve the described data for use by the incentive management system advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention.

[0051] As discussed above, a file database of credit card holders (62) can be used to store basic information about credit card accounts for accounts that are eligible for prizes in a system and management method. of advanced incentives in financial accounts in accordance with the invention. Examples of customer account data that can be included in the credit account holders file databases (62) include a unique identification number to identify the customer account within the system (the system can assign the number unique (30) when the account is added to the database (62), the number of the credit card or the account number, the name and address of the customer and / or other information to contact him, etc.

[0052] A database of activity files of credit card holders (72) contains information related to the activities carried out with their account by the account account customers that use the accounts identified in the cardholder database of credits (62). Examples of data that can be included in the activity database (72) include the credit or account card number, the type of card, commercial references to the companies in which purchases were made using the account, Amounts charged and the dates in which said charges were made, information that identifies the type of transaction (for example, purchase, withdrawal of cash, credits to be returned, etc.), etc.

[0053] As discussed above, based on the activities in the account identified in the activity database (72) and based on the established rules, it is possible to associate reward points with the customer accounts identified in the base of data of account holders (62) by means of a management system of advanced incentives in financial accounts (30) in accordance with the INVENTION. The awarded points can be stored in a point database (74), where the accumulated point activity is stored for later use by the system (30). Some examples of data on point accumulation activities that can be stored in the point database (74) include: a unique system identification number for the customer's account, information for the identification of the credit card holder , information for the identification of the promotion of points, information for the identification of the company (if applicable), the date in which the points are assigned to the total (or deducted from it), the value in points of the additions or subtractions of the total, the type of transaction or other activity resulting in the addition (or deduction) of points, etc. The identification information of the points promotion and identification of the company is used if the points have been earned due to an activity of the account related to a specific promotion or company. For example, buying them from a specific product or from a particular partner company using the account during a promotion period may generate the allocation of more points than purchases in general.

[0054] Information about point promotions that can be used to determine the points awarded for specific activities in the account and that is stored in the point database (74) can be stored in a database of point promotions files (124). The information included in the database of point promotion files (124) may include a Calico identification number of each point promotion (the number of which can be assigned by the system when a point promotion is established), a name of promotion, an identification of the company (for example, if the promotion of points is limited to purchases made to a specific company or group of companies), type of credit card for which the promotion is applicable, start and end date of the promotion period, a minimum charge amount (if the promotion requires it), the number of points awarded for the activities of the account within the promotion, etc.

[0055] The information on specific companies involved in the promotions of points identified in the database of point promotion files (124) can be stored in a database of business files (126). The information included in the business file database (126) may include: a unique identification number assigned by the system (30) to the company, company identification information including the name and address of the company, etc. . It should be noted that there is also a relationship between the company information stored in the database of business files (126) and the information on activities of accounts stored in the database of activities (72) to the extent that the information on Account activities stored in the activity database (72) can identify a specific company identified in the business file database (126) in which the specific account activity was performed (for example, the charge for the purchase of products or services) registered in the activity database (72).

[0056] The information on specific products offered by companies identified in the business file database (126) can be stored in a database of product files (128). The product information stored in the product file database (128) can be used by a system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the INVENTION when, for example, a promotion of points for a company or Private group of companies requires the purchase of a specific product or products using the client's account so that points or a greater number of points are awarded to the account under the promotion. Examples of product information that can be included in the product file database (128) include: a unique product identification number (which can be assigned by the system (30) or can be the universal product code) , the identification number of the company or companies that offer the product for sale, the identification number of the promotion of points under which points are awarded or a greater number of points to the purchases of the identified products, the value in points that will be awarded for the purchases of the products identified using an account of the customer identified, the minimum charge amount (if any) necessary to obtain the points for purchase of the identified products, the cost of the identified products, a description of the products, etc.

[0057] As discussed above, as part of a system and method of handling incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention, an award certificate (54) can be issued to an account holder identified in the database of credit card holders like an award for performing certain activities with your account or for committing to perform specified activities with your account in the future. The information that identifies the award certificates (54) issued or the clients and the activities associated therewith can be stored in a database of certificate activity files. Examples of information about certificate activities that can be stored with the certificate database (82) include: a unique identification number of the award certificate, the certificate number, the identification number of the credit card holder for whom the certificate was issued, the date on which the certificate was issued, the expiration date, the total value in points of the certificate (the number of points required) for the issuance of the certificate), the cash value of the award certificate, the identification of a company or specific companies in which the certificate was exchanged or exchanged, etc.

[0058] Next, a series of flowcharts will be presented which describe in more detail examples of methods for implementing the different functions of a system and method of managing incentives advanced in financial accounts in accordance with the invention. It should be noted that the invention is not limited to the implementation examples illustrated and described with respect to the flow diagrams presented herein. In particular, the different operating steps illustrated in the flowcharts may be implemented in a different order from the one illustrated and described and it is possible to add, eliminate or modify certain steps to achieve desired operational criteria such as speed and / or operating efficiency. Based on the detailed description in combination with the flowcharts and other figures provided here, a person with common knowledge of computerized programming of applications for financial account management will be able to implement an advanced incentive management system and method in financial accounts in accordance with the invention in a conventional computerized system as described above using conventional programming languages and techniques.

[0059] An example of the process for implementing the customer data upload function (60) is illustrated, which will be described with reference to the flow chart illustrated in Figure 6. As discussed above, the data from customers (130) are imported from the processors of financial institutions or from other data sources that contain information on the financial accounts of customers who will participate in an incentive program in advance in accordance with the invention. It is possible to load with the system information about the clients' accounts (130) in relation to any type of financial accounts (for example, credit cards, current accounts, savings, etc.). The information loaded on the clients is converted (132) into a suitable text format for use by an advanced incentive management system with financial accounts in accordance with the invention and is added to a database of accounts, for example the file database of credit card holders (62). If the data about clients loaded into the system is related to a new customer or account, and not with an update or addition regarding information about previously loaded accounts, a master data record (134) will be created for the new customer account.

[0060] An example of the process for implementing the point processing function (70) is illustrated, which will be described with reference to Figures 7 and 8. Starting with Figure 7, as discussed above, in accordance with the invention, it is possible to assign points to specific client accounts based on the client's activities using those accounts. As discussed above, customer identification information, for example information about your credit card account, is formatted, filtered and received for processing from the financial institution (200) that maintains the account and is stored on a base of data, for example the file database of credit card holders (62). Similarly, data related to customer activities (for example, transactions) using those accounts are formatted, filtered - and received for processing from the financial institution (200) and stored in a database of activity files (72). In step (202) the information on accounts of the credit card holders database (62) and the activity information of the activity database accounts (72) are processed to relate the activities of the credit card companies. accounts with their corresponding identification information of the accounts. The resulting related information on activities and accounts is stored, for example in a database in the form of an activity table (204). Then, it is determined (206) for each account if there has been any activity in it since the last time the system processed said account. If any new activity has occurred, the points (208) that must be assigned to the account (or deduct) for each activity are calculated. As discussed above, the points that must be awarded to the account (or deducted) can be based on a series of variables, including for example the type of transaction (for example: purchases vs. cash disposal), date of the transaction, currency, used account, company in which the purchase is made using the account, etc. The rules that define the number of points assigned to a specific transaction can be included, for example, in a table stored in a database in form of prizes master table (210).

[0061] Moving on to Figure 8, after awarding points to the account based on the new activity (if any), it will be possible to determine (212) if there is an outstanding balance of points lent to the account. In accordance with the invention, account holders can receive point loans to obtain prizes that they have not yet earned with the understanding that future activities in their accounts will generate the allocation of sufficient points to compensate the points loaned to their accounts. If there are borrowed points, the balance of points in (214) is recalculated taking into account the borrowed points. In (216), it is determined if any of the activities in the account qualify or not for an award of points for "special offers". For example, purchases in a specific partner company or a specific product using an account can generate the allocation of additional points to the account. If any special offer is applicable to any activity in the account, the additional special points (218) are calculated based on the applicable rules for the special offer that may be included, for example, in a database in the form of a table of offers of companies (220) and are added to the customer's account. After having calculated all the adjustments to the total points with the client's account, the total points for the client's account are updated "(222) (for example, the totals of daily, monthly and annual points) and are placed in the information about points of customer accounts stored in the database in the form of a table of points (74).

[0062] An example of the implementation process of the reward certificate processing function (80) is illustrated below, which will be described with reference to Figures 9 to 11. Starting with Figure 9, an account holder can request to be issued an award certificate in different ways. For example, an award certificate request can be received by telephone (300), for example, by using a tone telephone connected to the advanced incentive management system (30) by a telephone switch (44) as discussed above. Alternatively, the client can request the issuance of an award certificate by mail (304). In any case, the information about the request to issue a certificate is entered into the system, (302) or (306), received by telephone or mail, respectively, and processing of the certificate issuance request (308) is initiated. An initial determination (310) can be made about whether the client account on the basis of which the award certificate is requested is up to date. If the account is not up-to-date, for example, if the client has fallen behind in their payments, then the request to issue an award certificate (312) will be denied. If the issuance of an award certificate is denied, the source of the certificate application (314) is determined. If the source is a telephone call, you can immediately notify the customer by phone (316) that your account is not up to date and, therefore, your request has been denied. If the order to issue the certificate has been submitted by mail, the system can generate a letter of denial of the order (318) that is sent by mail (320) to the account holder. If the client's account is up-to-date, the points needed to issue the customer award certificate (322) are calculated using the information stored in a database in the form of an award redemption table (324).

[0063] Turning to Figure 10, after determining the number of points needed to issue an award certificate, the system determines (326) whether the client has enough points in the account to be issued a certificate. In accordance with the invention, if the client does not have enough points in his account, he can, nevertheless, receive in loan the necessary points to receive a prize certificate. In order to receive this loan of points, it may be necessary for the client to subscribe a commitment, for example in the form of a loan document, where the account holder agrees to accumulate sufficient points in the future to satisfy the loan or, If you do not earn enough points, pay for the value of the award certificate. The system can verify if there is a loan document (328) in force with the client and whether it has been fulfilled or not (330). If there is no current or completed loan document, the system automatically generates (332) said loan document (334), which is a commitment document for advanced incentives. Through this document, the client undertakes to enhance in the future specific activities with his account that allow him to earn enough points to cover the loan of points or, not to earn enough points, to pay for all or part of the value of the certificate of prize. The loan document can be sent by mail (336) to the customer account holder to be signed (338) and returned by the client before being able to lend the points. Alternatively, the loan document (334) can be physically delivered (340) to the account holder, for example by a vendor or other representative, who will be responsible for obtaining the client's signature (342). Then, the signed loan document (344) is entered into the system for processing. Point loans are recorded and stored in a database in the form of a loan table (346). If the client has enough points, with or without a loan, an award certificate can be issued. A certificate control function (348) queries the information in a database in the form of a certificate inventory table (350) to obtain information on the available award certificates.

[0064] Turning to Figure 11, it is determined (352) whether or not the customer has already been issued an award certificate of the type requested and only needs to be assigned to the customer. (for example, activating it) or if a new award certificate should be generated. If a previously issued certificate does not exist, the system may generate an award certificate (354) using the information on points available for the account obtained from the database in the form of an award redemption table (324). Once the award certificate is issued, a database is updated in the form of a certificate inventory table (350), in which a record of each award certificate issued is kept. Then you can issue (print) (358) the award certificate (54) and send it (362) to the account holder in the manner described above. All issued certificates are assigned (364) to a data record of the account holder in the database in the form of a certificate inventory table (350). At this point, the outstanding redemption condition is assigned (366) to the award certificate issued. All award certificates with pending redemption can be registered in a database in the form of a table of certificates pending redemption. All certificates pending redemption can be registered with a database in the form of a table of certificates pending exchange (368).

[0065] Next, an example of the process for implementing the certificate exchange function (90) is illustrated, which is described in detail with reference to the examples of flow diagrams of Figures 12 and 13. Starting with the Figure 12, an award certificate (54) is presented to the company (400). For example, the award certificate can be delivered physically to the company or, in the case of an online company, sent electronically. The company contacts (402) the management system of incentives advanced in financial accounts, for example by telephone, via Internet or other connection, to notify the system of the exchange request (404). Thus, the exchange request (404) is entered into the system and processed (406). The exchange request is validated (408) by reviewing the database in the form of a table of pending certificates of exchange (368) to confirm that the certificate that is being exchanged corresponds to a certificate pending exchange according to the records of this database (368) A customer account holder can not be allowed to redeem an award certificate if their account is not up to date. Therefore, the system can also validate (410) that the client's account is up to date by verifying the information on the client's account stored in the database of credit card holders' files (62).

[0066] Turning to Figure 13, if the award certificate that is being exchanged is valid and the client's account is up to date, the exchange of the award certificate (412) can be authorized. It can be notified (414) to the company (416), for example by telephone, Internet, etc., that the award certificate has been authorized so that the company (416) can, in turn, allow the customer redeem the award certificate for products or services. This way the company can be sure that the issuer of the certificate will pay for the products or services delivered to the client. Once an award certificate has been exchanged, the certificate (418) is closed and the database is updated in the form of a certificate exchange table table (368) to indicate this change in condition (from pending to redeemed). The information on the total points of the client in the database in the form of a points table (74) can also be updated (420) to indicate that the points required to issue the award certificate have been used.

[0067] An example of the process for implementing the account statement processing function (100) will be illustrated below, which will be described with reference to Figures 14 and 15. Beginning with Figure 14, it is reviewed and processed (500 ) the activity in terms of points in the client's account, for example additions and subtractions of the total points since the last account statement of the client was produced based on information about the client's account in the file database of holders of credit cards (62) and the information on points in the account in the database in the form of a table of points (74). The activity is reviewed and processed (502) in terms of award certificates, for example certificates issued and / or exchanged since the last account statement of the client was generated, based on the information on certificates issued in the database in form of certificate inventory table (350) and information on pending / redeemed certificates in the database in the form of an outstanding certificate exchange table (368). The activity is reviewed and processed (504) in terms of customer points account holder, for example the points provided to the customer in exchange for a future activity committed to the account since the last account statement was generated, based on the information on loans of points in the database in the form of a loan table (346). Based on the review of the activity in terms of points (500), the activity referring to the certificates (502) and the loan activity (504) for the account, the current balance is calculated in terms of points and loans and the net commitment position of the client (506).

[0068] Turning to Figure 15, the system can determine (508) whether a commission should be charged to the customer's account or not. For example, a commission may be charged to the client's account if it received points borrowed or obtained an advance incentive based on a commitment to perform activities agreed upon with the account and then did not comply with that commitment. If a commission of this type is owed, the penalty that must be charged to the account (or to another client's account) may be calculated (510) on the basis, for example, of the value of the advance incentive provided to the client. Then, the calculated commission can be directed to the client's account to be charged in a conventional manner, for example as a debit transaction (512) in the client's account that is derived to the financial institution that maintains the debited account for processing. The debit transaction can be stored in a database of transaction files (514). Then, the system can generate customer account statements based on the information reviewed and processed. Thus, account statements (102) can provide the client with the current status of the account with respect to variations in their points in the last reporting period., the certificates of awards in the last reporting period, the points loans (advanced incentives) in the reporting period, the current points and the points balances, including the net position in terms of points, and an indication of any commission or penalty charged for the client's breach of its commitment in relation to the incentives advanced. The account statements can be printed (102) and sent (518) to the account holder customer by mail or, with the customer's authorization, electronically over the Internet.

[0069] While examples of physical embodiments of the invention have been presented, describing them with reference to specific examples of applications thereof, it will be obvious to those familiar with the subject that it is possible to make a series of changes, modifications or alterations in the invention described herein, none of which will depart from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, all such changes, alterations or modifications should be considered within the scope of the invention.

Claims (20)

1. A computerized system to manage incentives to financial account holders in order to carry out certain activities with their accounts. This system includes: (a) a first database that identifies the accounts of the clients whose account holders have made commitments to carry out specific activities with those accounts in exchange for incentives that have been provided to them before the clients have performed the specified activities in relation with your accounts; (b) a database that identifies the activity in the clients' accounts; Y (c) a computerized processor linked to the first database and the activity database in the accounts and programmed to monitor the database of activities in the accounts in the case of the accounts identified in the first database with in order to determine if the clients have complied with their commitments to carry out specific activities with their accounts and generate a charge to the customers for an amount equivalent to at least a part of the value of the incentive provided in the case of those customer accounts identified in the first database with respect to which it has been determined that the clients have not complied with the commitment.

2. The system of Claim 1, wherein the accounts identified in the first database are credit card accounts.

3. The system of Claim 1, wherein the charges to the clients are made in the accounts of the clients identified in the first database.

4. The system of Claim 1, where the charges to the clients are made in the accounts of the clients that are not those identified in the first database.

5. A method to encourage the holders of financial accounts to carry out specific activities with their accounts. This method includes: (a) offer a client account holder an incentive in exchange for a commitment to perform specific activities in relation to the financial account; (b) provide the incentive to the client in response to his acceptance of the commitment and before the client performs the specified activities in relation to the financial account; (c) monitor the client's activity with their financial account to determine if the client has complied with the commitment to perform specific activities related to the account; (d) charge a commission to the client for at least part of the value of the incentive in case the client does not comply with the commitment to carry out specific activities related to the account.

6. The method of Claim 5, wherein the account is a credit card account.

7. The method of Claim 5, wherein the incentive includes a prize in products.

8. The method of Claim 5, wherein the incentive includes a certificate of prize redeemable for a prize in products.

9. The method of Claim 5, wherein the activities specified in relation to the account include at least one activity with the account selected from the group of activities with accounts that include: opening the financial account and maintaining a minimum balance in the financial account during at least a selected period of time.

10. The method of Claim 5, wherein charging a commission to the client includes charging a commission to the financial account.

11. The method of Claim 5, wherein charging a commission to the customer includes charging a commission to another customer's financial account.

12. A method to encourage the holders of financial accounts to carry out specific activities with their accounts. This method includes: (a) offer the client account holder an incentive in exchange for a commitment to perform specific activities in relation to the financial account with one. specific penalty in case the client fails to perform the specified activities in relation to the financial account; (b) provide the incentive to the client in response to his acceptance of the commitment and before the client performs the specified activities in relation to the financial account; (c) monitor the client's activity with their financial account to determine if the client has fulfilled the commitment to perform the specific activities related to the account; (d) sanction "the client with the specified penalty in case the client does not comply with the specific activities related to the financial account

13. The method of Claim 12 ', where the account is a credit card account.

14. The method of Claim 12, where the incentive includes a prize in products.

15. The method of Claim 12, wherein the incentive includes a certificate of prize redeemable for a prize in products.

16. The method of Claim 12, wherein the activities specified in relation to the account include at least one activity with the selected account of the group of activities with accounts that include: opening the financial account and maintaining a minimum balance in the financial account during at least a selected period of time.

17. The method of Claim 12, wherein the specified penalty includes a commission charged to the customer.

18. The method of Claim 12, which additionally comprises the awarding of redeemable points - for prizes to that customer who performs selected activities with his account, after he has performed the selected activities with his account, and where the specified penalty includes a reduction in the points for prizes awarded to the client.

19. The method of Claim 12 which additionally includes awarding points redeemable for prizes to that client who carries out selected activities with his account and where the incentive includes points for prizes.

20. The method of Claim 19, wherein the specific activities related to the financial account and the activities selected with the account include the same activities with financial accounts.