EXPIRING BALANCE FOR SPENDING OR PASSING ALONG TO A FRIEND

摘要

An expiring balance may be provided to a user account that the user can spend or pass along to a friend. The user may be given a limited time in which to spend the expiring balance after which the balance will not be available to the user. When the user decides to pass the balance along to a friend, an expiration time associated with the expiring balance may be reset. The expiring balance may be redeemed at participating locations and, if a location is not participating, the user may be able to notify an entity providing the expiring balance of the non-participation.

主权项

1. A system, comprising:
one or more processors configured to:
add an expiring balance to an account associated with a user;determine when the balance has expired and subtract the expiring balance from the account when the balance has expired;determine when the user is requesting to process a payment using the expiring balance and process the payment and subtract the expiring balance from the account when the user requests to process a payment using the expiring balance;determine when the user is sending a notification including merchant information for a merchant that will not accept the expiring balance as a payment and store the merchant information when the user sends the notification; anddetermine when the user is requesting to pass the expiring balance on to a friend; and a memory coupled to the one or more processors and configured to store the account associated with the user and the merchant information.