VIRTUAL GIFT CARD

• Main Authors: BLACKHURST JASON P, BOHANAN YVETTE MARIE
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 17.01.2013
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FORADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORYOR FORECASTING PURPOSES; PHYSICS; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE,COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTINGPURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

A virtual gift credit system that automatically attaches gift credit to a payment account or vehicle of the gift recipient upon issuance of the gift credit is herein described. By attaching the gift credit amount to the recipient's payment account, subsequent purchases made using the payment account, and of the type associated with the gift credit, are automatically settled by applying the gift credit amount to the purchase amount. Further, the invention does not require gift recipients to share confidential account information with gift providers in order for the gift providers to bestow gift credit upon the gift recipients. Through the use of aliases, which serve to tie an identifier, such as a gift recipient's telephone number, email address or the like to a gift recipient's payment account, the invention does not require that the gift provider know any information about the financial accounts of the intended gift recipient.