| 摘要 |
The invention is a customer funds transfer system (1) and method for use in a public communications network (2), interconnecting a host system computer (5), a series of merchant computers or terminals (3), merchant financial institutions (10) associated with each merchant computer (3) and, in some instances, a customer financial institution computer (10). In the system a customer has a savingscard which, when they present it to a merchant, the merchant in the merchant terminal or merchant computer (3) transfers some funds to the host system computer (5) for crediting to an account for the customer. The system allows relatively small sums of money to be saved, either by way of discount from a merchant, change from a cash transaction, or the deliberate payment, by a customer through the merchant, of a sum of money. Then the merchant transfers that sum to the host system computer (5) where it is credited to a customer account maintained by the host system computer (5). At a certain stage, the money is either transferred directly to the customer or to the customer financial institution (10).
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