JP2002215896A - Method and system for credit card processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and system for credit card processing with payment by installments available to credit card members at all member shops without the installments at a shop. SOLUTION: A special-purpose credit card, which can be freely set the number of payments, is sent to a member in advance (101). The member performs procedures for initial setting of the payment number (102), and then the number is written into member data (103). When the member uses this special-purpose card at a member shop (104A, 104B), sales data is transmitted from a terminal at the member shop to a credit card system (105A, 105B) and then appended to the sales data of the initially set payment number (106A, 106B). The member may perform procedures changing the number of payments before billing (110, 111). Subsequently, billing processing is performed based on the payment number recorded in the sales data (112, 113).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a credit card processing method and a credit card processing method for payment settlement such as shopping with a credit card. In particular, the present invention relates to a credit card processing method and a system for settling payment for a purchase or the like by a credit card by installment payment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, consumers have paid in installments at stores.
In order to purchase products for sale or receive services provided (these activities are hereinafter referred to as “sales etc.” and “purchase etc.”, respectively), the following methods are used. Had been taken.

In the first method, each time a consumer makes a purchase or the like, an installment sales contract is concluded with a store, and various conditions such as the number of divisions and the amount of payment are determined in the contract. This is a method for consumers to make installments. In some cases, contracts are concluded between financiers and consumers regarding installment sales.

[0004] A second method is based on an agreement between a credit card company and a credit card member store (store), which preliminarily determines that a credit card member (consumer) can select installment payment of a credit card usage amount. In advance, the member presents the credit card at the stage of purchase, etc., and proposes that the payment be made in installments and the number of divisions, and electronic data equivalent to the sales slip or the slip sent from the member store to the credit card company Is a method for including the number of times of division. In this case, the credit card company, based on the sales slip or electronic data,
Pay the amount corresponding to the sales amount to the member store, calculate the amount of the installment payment by taking into account the conditions such as the predetermined interest rate, etc., and calculate the calculated amount each time from the member's bank account etc. Perform withdrawal processing.

A third method is that a credit card company issues a card exclusively for revolving payment (a method in which a member repays a certain amount of a credit usage balance every month) to a credit card member in advance, and the member By presenting the revolving-payment-only card at the stage of purchase or the like, a credit card member store processes sales using this card. In this case, the merchant sends a sales slip or electronic data equivalent to the slip to the credit card company, and the credit card company receives the data from the card number etc. assigned to the card and this is the sales of revolving payment I understand. Therefore, the credit card company records this sales amount as the revolving balance of the member, deducts a predetermined revolving payment amount from the member's bank account, etc. for each billing, and repays the interest and balance. Perform the process of assigning to.

[0006]

In the individual installment contract method described as the first method, it is necessary to prepare a contract or calculate the payment amount by splitting each time a consumer makes a purchase or the like at a store. There is a problem that both the store side and the consumer side require time and effort. In addition, there is a problem that it is difficult to use because of such a troublesome work.

In the method using a credit card as the second method, it is not necessary to prepare a contract or calculate a payment amount every time a purchase or the like is performed. And the number of divisions must be given verbally, which makes the procedure cumbersome. Also,
Credit card member stores also take time to ask their members about the number of divisions, which lowers business efficiency. In addition, some franchisees have contractually stipulated that they do not handle credit card use by installment in order to avoid such a decrease in business efficiency or according to the nature of the products etc. to be sold. . Therefore, for members,
In addition to not being able to enjoy shopping by installment payment at such a member store, it is troublesome because it is necessary to check whether a certain member store handles installment payment.

The method using the card dedicated to revolving payment described as the third method eliminates the inconvenience as described above, but has a drawback that the payment method is limited to revolving payment. It is desirable to diversify the means of payment by enabling the same simple method as in the revolving method of paying a predetermined amount each time (monthly), but also in installment payment in which payment is completed a predetermined number of times. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is not necessary for a credit card member to make an installment payment at a store, and a credit card processing of an installment payment method which can be used at any member store. It is an object to provide a method and a credit card system.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a method for generating sales data based on the use of a credit card when a credit card member uses the credit card at a member store. In a credit card processing method of performing payment processing to the member store based on data and performing billing processing to the member based on the sales data, the member uses a credit card dedicated to installment payment issued in advance at the member store. In such a case, the installment payment sales recording process of generating sales data based on the use as the installment payment is treated, and one-time payment to the member is performed based on the sales data generated in the installment payment sales recording process.
And a billing process for calculating a billing amount each time. Here, the “installment payment” refers to a method in which a member pays a credit card purchase at a fixed rate at least for each purchase statement unit and pays the interest together with an interest calculated at a predetermined interest rate. In addition, the “installment payment” referred to here includes the total amount of purchases accumulated and a predetermined amount (eg, “3
Revolving payment for payment of "10,000 yen") shall not be included.

In the credit card processing method according to the present invention, in the installment sales accounting process, whether or not the installment treatment is predetermined for each member store or included in sales data transmitted from the member store. Regardless of the payment number designation data, sales data based on the use of the installment credit card is treated as installment payment.

Further, the credit card processing method of the present invention is characterized in that, in the step of accounting for the installment sales, the sales data is generated as handling installments for a predetermined number of payments.

[0013] In the credit card processing method of the present invention, the predetermined number of payments of the sales data generated in the step of accounting for the installment sales may be set in advance based on a procedure from the member. It is characterized by having a process.

[0014] The credit card processing method of the present invention may further include the step of determining the number of payments included in the generated sales data.
The method may further include, before the billing process, a payment frequency changing process for changing the number of payments based on a procedure from the member side.

In the credit card processing method according to the present invention, in the installment sales accounting step, it is determined whether or not the credit card is an installment-only credit card based on the card number of the credit card. It is characterized by.

Further, the present invention provides a method in which a credit card member uses a credit card at a member store.
In a credit card processing system that generates sales data based on the use, performs a payment process to the member store based on the sales data, and performs a billing process to the member based on the sales data, In the case where a credit card dedicated to installment payments issued in advance is used, regardless of whether or not the installment treatment is predetermined for each member store, the sales based on the use are treated as the installment payments of the predetermined number of payments. First to perform the process of generating data
A credit card processing system comprising: a subsystem; and a second subsystem that calculates a billing amount for each member based on the sales data generated by the first subsystem. And

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sequence diagram showing a processing procedure of the installment payment of the number-of-payments setting type according to the embodiment. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIG.

First, as shown by reference numeral 101, a credit card (a credit card exclusively for installment payment) is sent from the credit card company to the member for exclusive setting of the number of payments. This card contains the card number, member name,
The characters of the expiration date (for example, “05 / '03” when the expiration date is May 2003) are displayed. Further, on this card, information including at least a card number is recorded on a magnetic stripe or an IC chip in a machine-readable format. The credit card company can recognize from the card number that the card is a card exclusively for setting the number of payments. The member can make payments such as purchases at the member stores of credit card companies (including affiliates) with this dedicated card any number of times during the expiration date.

The member may be issued a credit card for setting the number of payments in addition to a conventional ordinary credit card, or may be replaced with a credit card for setting the number of payments. A setting-specific credit card may be issued.

Next, as indicated by 102, the member can access the credit card system from the member terminal and make initial settings for the number of payments. The set number of payments is registered in the member data of the credit card system as shown at 103. Here, the member terminal is
For example, it is a computer terminal, a mobile phone terminal, a normal fixed telephone terminal, or the like. When using a computer terminal,
For example, a credit card system is accessed via a data communication network such as the Internet. When a mobile phone terminal is used, the credit card system is accessed by data communication via the Internet using, for example, an Internet connection service provided by a mobile phone carrier. Alternatively, when a mobile telephone terminal or a fixed telephone terminal is used, an automatic voice response system (IVR, Interacti) provided in a credit card system by voice band communication via a telephone network.
ve Voice Response System)
To access.

Instead of the member directly accessing the credit card system using the terminal to perform the initial setting, the member notifies the credit card company of the number of payments in writing or the like, and inputs this to the credit card company. It may be. If the member does not perform the initial setting shown in 102, the credit card company sets the number to a predetermined number. Also, after the member has once set the initial setting of the number of payments as shown at 102, the member can set it again.

Next, as shown at 104A and 104B, the member makes purchases or the like at the member stores A and B using the dedicated card. Then, the member store causes the member store terminal to read the card number information and the like recorded on the dedicated card and input the sales amount. The data including the card number and the sales amount is 105
A and 105B, transmitted from the merchant terminal to the credit card system, and further transmitted to 106A and 1B.
As shown in FIG. 06B, it is recorded as sales data. As described above, the credit card system recognizes that this sales should be handled in installments based on the card number, and refers to the number of payments set in the member data as indicated by 107, The number of payments is recorded as part of the sales data.

As described above, by using the card exclusively for setting the number of payments, the member store does not need to ask the member about the number of payments, and the credit sales processing is performed in the same manner as in the case of ordinary one-time payment. It can be carried out. In addition, regardless of whether or not there is a contract for installment payment, all member stores can perform such installment processing using a dedicated card. This also allows the member to enjoy shopping and the like by installment payment without worrying about whether or not the member store is a member store where installment payment is possible. Instead of electronically transmitting the card number and sales amount data from the merchant terminal to the credit card system, a paper slip containing similar information is sent from the merchant to the credit card company, The input to the system may be performed on the side.

Next, by referring to the sales data as shown at 108 on a predetermined date, the sales accumulated up to that time are closed, and 109A and 10A.
As shown in FIG. 9B, a process of paying the amount based on the sales price to the member store is performed. The method of setting this date is optional. For example, the date is settled in the period from the 1st to the 15th of each month, and the amount is paid to the member store on the 25th of the same month. We will pay the amount to member stores on the 10th of the following month. Further, the amount paid to the member store is an amount obtained by subtracting a predetermined member store fee from the sales amount.

On the other hand, as shown at 110, the member can change the number of payments by accessing the credit card system from the member terminal by a predetermined date. For example, even if the number of installment payments set in the step 103 is "10", this change reduces the number of payments to, for example, "5" or conversely increases the number of payments to, for example, "20". be able to. Further, the change of the number of payments is made in detail units, that is, 105
It can be performed in units of individual sales data in A and 105B, and can be performed collectively for the period. Then, as shown at 111, such a change is reflected in the sales data. The date of the change may be set in any manner. For example, the date may be changed from the 16th of the month to the 15th of the following month so that the date can be changed by the billing closing date.

Next, as shown at 112, a billing process to the member is performed based on the sales data, and as shown at 113, a process of debiting the billing amount from the member's settlement account on a predetermined day is performed. The amount charged to the member is calculated based on the sales amount. In the case of the installment payment, a calculation for dividing the amount according to the number of payments is performed, and the interest calculated using a predetermined interest rate is added to the billed amount.
In the case of closing on the 15th of each month as described above, for example, computer processing for billing is performed in the latter half of the month,
On the 10th of the following month, payment from the settlement account will be made.

Next, a computer system for realizing the above-described credit card processing method will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the credit card system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, a credit card system 1 includes an accounting subsystem 2,
Merchant subsystem 3, Member subsystem 4,
And an input terminal 17. Merchant subsystem 3
Are connected via a network 30 to member store terminals 39 installed at each member store. In addition, a Web server 11 and an automatic voice response system (IVR) 12 are arranged at the front end for members. The data includes at least member data 21 holding member attribute information and sales data 22 holding information on individual sales.

Initial setting of the number of payments shown in FIG. 1 (102)
The procedure for changing the number of payments and the number of payments (110) can be performed by various members' terminals or in writing. Then, as a result of this procedure, the member data 21 is updated. When the above procedure is performed by the document 31, the document 31 is sent from the member to the credit card company, and the credit card company inputs the number of payments from the input terminal.

When the above procedure is performed by the computer terminal 32, the computer 32 is connected to the Web server 11 via a network such as the Internet, so that input is performed from an input screen displayed on the computer terminal 32.

When the above procedure is performed by the telephone terminal 34 (conventional telephone terminal for voice band communication), the telephone terminal 34 calls the automatic voice response system 12 by dialing a predetermined number, and According to the guidance message sent from the voice response system 12, numerical data is input by a push button operation or a human voice. When a human voice is used here, the automatic voice response system converts the voice into numerical data using voice recognition technology.

When this is performed by the portable telephone terminal 33, a method similar to any of the above is used by connecting to either the Web server 11 or the automatic voice response system 12. Note that, when connecting to the Web server 11 from the mobile phone terminal 33, for example, an Internet connection service provided by a mobile phone provider is used.

Transmission of the sales data shown in FIG.
A, 105B) from the member store terminal 39 to the network 3
0 is performed to the affiliated store subsystem.
Then, the data is stored in the sales data 22.

Further, the payment processing (109A, 109B) to the member store and the processing of debit from the settlement account of the member shown in FIG. 1 are performed by passing data to the bank system. For this purpose, the accounting subsystem 2 transmits data to the bank system via the communication line 50 or outputs a magnetic tape 61 to be read by the bank system.

Next, main data of the credit card system will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the member data in the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the member data is configured as tabular data, and includes at least a card number 81, a division setting number 82, and a bank number 8 of a settlement account.
3, each item has a branch number 84, a type 85, and an account number 86. In this member data, the card number 81 is the primary key. The number of times of division setting 82 is set by the procedure of initial setting of the number of payments (102 in FIG. 1), and is referred to when new sales data is generated by a credit card dedicated to freely setting the number of payments (107 in FIG. 1). Is done. In addition, the debit from the bank is performed using each item (83 to 86) relating to the settlement account.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of sales data in the present embodiment. The sales data is configured as tabular data, and at least the card number 91,
Each item has a sales date 92, a member store number 93, a sales amount 94, an installment payment 95, and the number of divisions 96. Installment 9
5 has a value of either “Yes” or “No”. However, when the credit card for exclusive setting of the number of payments is used, a predetermined installment treatment is set for each member store. Regardless of the presence or absence and the number-of-payments instruction data included in the sales data transmitted from the affiliated store, "Ye
"s" is set and the payment is made in installments. At this time, the division number 96 is set based on the member data division setting number (82 in FIG. 3) when the record (row) of the sales data is generated. The number of divisions 96 is updated by the procedure of changing the number of payments (110 in FIG. 1).

The above-described credit card system is realized using a computer. Then, the above-mentioned initial setting of the number of payments, generation and accumulation of sales data by using the credit card of the member, payment to the member store, change of the number of payments,
The process of each process such as billing a member is stored in a computer-readable recording medium in the form of a program, and the above-described process is performed by reading and executing the program by a computer. Here, the computer-readable recording medium includes a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, and a DVD.
-ROM, magnetic hard disk, semiconductor memory, etc.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and a design or the like may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. included. In particular, the system configuration shown in FIG. 2 and the data configuration shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are merely examples of the many possible forms for implementing the present invention.
For example, changing the configuration of subsystems in the system, changing the data structure to something other than the table format, changing the interface with members for procedures by members, changing the means of settlement between franchisees or members, etc. This is included in the above “range that does not depart from the gist of the invention”.

Further, in the description of FIG. 1, the procedure has been described on the premise of a monthly cycle, but the processing may be performed not only in the monthly cycle but in other cycles. In addition, real-time processing without a cycle may be introduced.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, an installment-only credit card is issued to a member in advance, and when the member uses the installment-only credit card at a member store, In order to generate sales data based on the usage as the treatment of the installment payment for the predetermined number of payments, and to calculate the billing amount for each member based on this sales data, the member pays the installment payment at the store of the member store. There is no need to request the member store to do so or to specify the number of payments, which improves the convenience for members.

According to the present invention, the sales data based on the use of the installment credit card can be treated as installment payment regardless of whether or not the installment treatment is predetermined for each member store. Therefore, the member does not need to worry about whether or not the purchase can be made by the installment payment at the specific member store, or to ask the member store about it. In addition, since members can easily use installment payments without difficulty, this will lead to increased sales for merchants,
For credit card companies, this will increase sales and interest income. In addition, it is possible for credit card companies to expand the use of installment payments to industries (for example, gas stations and supermarkets) where it has been difficult to incorporate them as installment payment markets in the conventional method.

According to the present invention, the number of payments when the credit card dedicated to installment payment is used is provided with a payment number setting step in which the member sets in advance. Can be paid in installments.

According to the present invention, even after the data is once stored as sales data, the member has a payment number changing step of changing the number of payments before the billing process. Accordingly, the number of payments for the month-end use can be changed collectively, or the number of payments can be changed in detail for each line of sales data, and payment can be made according to the user's payment plan Becomes Thereby, the convenience for the member is further improved.

Further, according to the present invention, it is determined whether or not the credit card is a credit card dedicated to installment payment based on the card number of the credit card.
It is possible to perform the installment payment processing without requiring any operation such as pressing the key of the terminal at the member store. This also eliminates the need to put a burden on the affiliated store for burdensome business processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sequence diagram showing a processing procedure of an installment payment of a freely settable number of payments according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a credit card system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of member data in the credit card system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of sales data in the credit card system according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Credit card system 2 Account system subsystem 3 Member store subsystem 4 Member system 11 Web server 12 Automatic voice response system 17 Input terminal 21 Member data 22 Sales data 30 Network 32 Computer terminal 33 Mobile telephone terminal 34 Telephone terminal 39 Merchant terminal 50 Communication line 61 Magnetic tape

Claims (7)

[Claims] When a credit card member uses a credit card at a member store, sales data based on the use is generated, payment processing to the member store is performed based on the sales data, and In the credit card processing method of performing a billing process to the member based on, if the member uses a pre-issued credit card dedicated to installment payment at the member store, the sales data based on the use is treated as installment payment. A credit, comprising: an installment sales recording process to be generated; and a billing process for calculating a charge amount for each member to the member based on the sales data generated in the installment sales recording process. Card processing method. 2. In the installment sales accounting process, regardless of whether or not a predetermined installment treatment is performed for each member store or the number-of-payments designation data included in sales data transmitted from the member store, 2. The credit card processing method according to claim 1, wherein the sales data based on the use of the installment credit card is treated as installment payment. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of accounting for the installment sales, the sales data is generated as handling installments for a predetermined number of payments.
Credit card processing method described in. 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of setting the number of payments of the sales data generated in the step of accounting for the installment payment in advance based on a procedure from the member. Item 3. The credit card processing method according to Item 3. 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, before the billing process, changing the number of payments included in the generated sales data based on a procedure from the member. The credit card processing method according to 3 or 4. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the installment sales accounting step, it is determined whether or not the credit card is a credit card exclusively for installment payment based on a card number of the credit card. The credit card processing method described in any of the above. 7. When a credit card member uses a credit card at a member store, sales data based on the use is generated, payment processing to the member store is performed based on the sales data, and In a credit card processing system for performing a billing process to the member based on the member store, if the member uses a credit card dedicated to installment payment issued in advance at the member store, the installment treatment predetermined for each member store Irrespective of the presence or absence of the first payment, a first subsystem that performs a process of generating sales data based on the use as a treatment of the installment payment of a predetermined number of payments, based on the sales data generated by the first subsystem, And a second subsystem for calculating a billing amount for each member. Stem.