[BACKGROUND ART] These days, the payment for credit sales in credit card currently used as a payment means instead of cash is done in a way shown in Fig. 1. That is, a credit card user is provided with goods or services by a credit card affiliated store (hereinafter, referred to as"affiliated store") (S1), and shows his or her credit card issued by a credit card company to pay for the bill (S2). The affiliated store requests the credit card company to authorize the transaction by using a terminal for the credit transaction (hereinafter, referred to as"terminal") (S3).

Recently,. the affiliated store terminal sends information in order to request the authorization for the transaction to a credit information processing center such

as VAN already having an agreement, and the credit information processing center sends the sent information to the credit card company again to request the authorization for the transaction.

The credit card company judges whether or not the transaction is authorized in accordance with the sent information, and if positive, authorizes the transaction and sends the transaction authorization information such as an authorization number to the credit information processing center (S4).

At this time, the credit card company may send the transaction authorization information via the credit information processing center. The terminal of the affiliated store issues the sales slip for the transaction as receiving the transaction authorization information.

Hereafter, in the same way above, the affiliated store has a right (hereinafter, referred to as"credit sales receivables") to request the credit card company to make a payment of the transaction amount based on the sales slip issued to the consumer, and the credit card company makes the payment of the transaction amount resulting from the credit sales receivables to the affiliated store on the appointed due date (S5). Meanwhile, the credit card company charges the consumer the amount of the transaction based on the sales slip of the credit transaction on a predetermined due date (S6).

In the general credit card, in order to issue a credit card to a user, the credit card company determines the credit limit of the user based on the result of

evaluating the credit rating of the user. The user can use the issued credit card within the credit limit determined by the credit card company, and may not set or change the credit limit by him or herself. Accordingly, there is a problem that, for example, even though the user of the credit card possesses receivables that are highly realizable, the receivables cannot be used to increase the credit limit directly except that it may affect the evaluation of the credit card company positively.

The credit card company brings a system for adjusting the credit limit into effect, wherein it reevaluates the credit rating of the credit card user regularly or irregularly so as to increase or decrease the credit limit if the credit rating of the user is changed. However, in this case as well, the receivables of the user are merely materials for the evaluation of the credit rating, and thus the receivables cannot be used to increase the credit limit directly.

[DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION] In order to solve the problems above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a payment management system and method of a credit card secured by receivables, wherein a credit limit can be determined as guaranteed by receivables of a user.

In addition, it is another object of the present invention to provide a payment management system and method of a credit card secured by

receivables, wherein a payment can be conducted by a revolving payment method as guaranteed by receivables of a user.

In addition, it is another object of the present invention to provide a payment management system and method of a credit card secured by receivables, wherein an amount of the spent money of a credit card can be paid as guaranteed by-receivables of a user, and then the amount of money can be paid by a revolving payment method.

In order to achieve the objects above, a payment management system of a credit card secured by receivables possessed by a credit card user, used as security or a means to guarantee payment, includes a communication function managing unit for performing authorization for a connection to and/or from an external system, sending and/or receiving data to and/or from said external system by performing a communication function and processing said sent and/or received data in accordance with a routine in order to use said data as recognizable information and a receivables information managing unit for collecting, storing and managing receivables information, which is information about receivables used as security or a means to guarantee payment for money used by said credit card user with said credit card, in support of said communication function by said communication function managing unit, wherein said system evaluates said receivables possessed by said credit card user based on said receivables information managed by said. receivables information

managing unit, and determines a credit limit of said credit card to be issued to said credit card user in accordance with a result of said evaluation.

(BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS] Fig. 1 shows a conventional payment method for a credit card transaction schematically.

Fig. 2 shows a payment method of a credit card secured by receivables schematically according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 shows a payment method of a credit card secured by receivables schematically according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows a payment method of a credit card secured by receivables schematically according to further another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a payment management system of a credit card secured by receivables according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart that shows main operations of a payment management method of a credit card secured by receivables according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart that shows main operations of a

payment management method of a credit card secured by receivables according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to attached drawings.

In accordance to the present invention, a user who intends to use a credit card of a credit card company provides his or her receivables to the credit card company as a guarantee so that he or she can be issued with a credit. card having a credit limit of an amount of money within the amount of the receivables.

That is, the credit card company does not determine the credit limit in accordance with the result of evaluating the user's credit, but evaluates the provided receivables as a guarantee to set the credit limit to be the evaluated amount. Moreover, the credit card company may set the credit limit of a greater amount than the result of evaluating the user's credit or the result of evaluating the amount of the provided receivables as a guarantee. Also in this case, the credit limit determined by the amount of the provided receivables as a guarantee can be functioning as a guarantee to the credit card company regardless of the user's credit circumstances. This method will be described later as a first embodiment with reference to Fig. 2.

Alternatively, a user establishes a credit-debt relation with a payment

management company who is a third person or provides his or her receivables as a guarantee, so that he or she may be issued a credit card having the credit limit of an amount of money within the amount of the established credit-debt or the amount of the provided receivables as a guarantee. At this occasion, the third person provided with the user's receivables as a guarantee concludes a payment guarantee agreement with the credit card company in regard to the credit limit. In this case, the user uses the credit card within the credit limit, and then repays the spent money. It is preferable that the used money is paid by the so-called revolving payment method. This method will be described later as a second embodiment with reference to Fig. 3.

Alternatively, a user establishes a credit-debt relation with a payment management company who is a third person or provides his or her receivables as a guarantee, so that he or she may be issued a credit card having the credit limit of an amount of money within the amount of the established credit-debt or the amount of the provided receivables as a guarantee. At this occasion, the third person provided the user's receivables as a guarantee concludes an agreement of payment by proxy with the credit card company in regard to the credit limit. In this case, the third person pays the spent money resulting from the use of the credit card by the user on a predetermined due date in place of the user, and the user repays the third person on a predetermined due date. At this occasion, it is preferable that the user repays the money paid by proxy in the

revolving payment method. This method will be described later as a third embodiment with reference to Fig. 4.

The various methods for using the credit card secured by receivables are to be regarded in an illustrative manner rather than a restrictive one, and all of such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to Fig. 2 to Fig. 4.

Fig. 2 shows a payment method of a credit card secured by receivables schematically according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

According to the present invention, it is supposed that a user who intends to use a credit card of a credit card company possesses receivables of an amount of money. The receivables as used in the present invention are not limited to a certain kind of receivables, if they can be only specified in terms of the details of the receivables such as the debtor, the amount of the receivables, the payment due date. For example, there are receivables given as a guarantee after a building lease agreement or cash receivables resulting from a general loan for consumption. The credit card user establishes a credit-debt relation with a debtor by, for example, giving a guarantee for the lease (S1. 1), and uses the real estate leased (S1. 2).

Next, the credit card user provides his or her receivables to the credit

card company as a guarantee (S2.1), and is issued with a credit card having a credit limit of an amount of money within the amount of the receivables (hereinafter, "credit card secured by receivables"or simply"credit card") (S2.2).

The credit card company evaluates whether the receivables can be specified in order to issue a credit card secured by receivables and/or whether the debtor can perform the obligation on a due date, and determines whether or not to issue a credit card and/or how much the credit limit of the credit card is set based on the result of the evaluation.

Then, the credit card user is provided with goods and/or services from an affiliated store of the credit card (hereinafter, "affiliated store") (S3.1), and shows the credit card secured by receivables issued by the credit card company for paying for the goods and/or services (S3.2). The affiliated store requests the credit card company to authorize the transaction by using a terminal for credit transactions (hereinafter,"terminal") (S3.3). The credit card company judges whether or not to authorize the transaction by examining the information that has been sent in accordance with a criterion, and if positive then authorizes the transaction and returns the information about the transaction authorization such an authorization number to the terminal of the affiliated store (S3.4).

At this time, the credit card company may perform the authorization procedures via a credit information processing center. The terminal of the affiliated store issues the sales slip for the transaction as it receives the

information about the transaction authorization. Then, the credit card company pays for the transaction resulting from the receivables to the affiliated store on an arranged due date (S4). In addition, the credit card company charges the consumer the amount of paid money based on the sales slip of the credit transaction on a due date, and the credit card user repay the charged money (S5). At this time, it is preferable that the charged money is repaid by the so- called revolving payment method wherein it is paid on an installment basis over a term. According to the revolving payment method, the credit limit is revived as much as an amount of repaid money.

As shown in Fig. 2, the processes of the information about, e. g., specifying receivables necessarily accompanying the method above are accomplished by the payment management system 100 of a credit card secured by receivables of the present invention (hereinafter, "payment management system"). The configurations and operations of the payment management system 100 will be described later with reference to Fig. 5 to 7.

Next, a payment method of another exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 shows a payment method of a credit card secured by receivables schematically according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. According to the present embodiment, it is different in that the payment management company, which has an agreement with the credit card company, manages the

payment management system 100. Hereinafter, the differences between the embodiments will be described mainly.

The credit card user allows the payment management company, a third person, to establish a credit-debt relation, which was supposed to be established by itself, with the debtor (S1. 1 and S1. 2), and concludes a receivables agreement of the same content with the payment management company (S2.1 and S2.2). Thus, the payment management company acquires the receivables in regard to the debtor directly. Accordingly, the payment management company can acquire assets independently of the credit card user, and can be secured even though the credit card user is unable to repay the used money for the credit card. However, also in the present embodiment, the credit card user may provide his or her receivables to the payment management company as a guarantee optionally.

Next, the payment management company concludes a payment guarantee agreement of an amount of money within the amount of the established receivables of the credit card company or the amount of the provided receivables as a guarantee (S3), and issues a credit card of which the credit limit is equivalent to an amount guaranted to pay.

Then, the credit card user uses the credit card within the credit limit (S4.1 and S4.2), so the authorization request procedures begin, and at this time it is preferable that the payment management company is functioning as the

general credit information processing center (S4.3 to S4.6). Thus, the payment management company, which guarantees the payment for the use of the credit card, can acquire the information about the amount of the used money for the credit card easily, and moreover can judge whether or not to control the use of the credit card in accordance with the change of the credit rating of the user.

However, also in the present embodiment, the general credit information processing center may perform the authorization procedures between the affiliated store and the credit card company regardless of the payment management company. At this occasion, the payment management system 100 of the payment management company can acquire the information by receiving the authorization information from the credit information processing center.

Then, the credit card company pays the money for the transaction resulting from the credit sales receivables to the affiliated store on an arranged due date (S5), and besides charges the consumer the amount of paid money based on the sales slip of the credit transaction on a due date, so that the credit card user repays the charged amount (S6). At this time, the charged money is preferably repaid by revolving payment method as well.

Also in the present embodiment, as shown in Fig. 3, the processes of <BR> <BR> the information about, e. g. , specifying receivables necessarily accompanying the method above are accomplished by the payment management system 100 of a credit card secured by receivables of the present invention. These will be

described later.

Next, a payment method of further another exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 4. Fig. 4 shows a payment method of a credit card secured by receivables schematically according to further another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

According to the present embodiment, the payment management company, which has an agreement with the credit card company, manages the payment management system 100 as well, but, it is different in that the payment management company pays the money used by the credit card user by proxy, and the credit card user repays the paid money to the payment management company. Hereinafter, the differences between the embodiments will be described mainly.

Also in the present embodiment, the credit card user allows the payment management company, a third person, to establish a credit-debt relation, which was supposed to be established by itself, with the debtor (S1. 1 and S1. 2), and concludes a receivables agreement of the same content with the payment management company (S2.1 and S2.2). Further, also in the present embodiment, the credit card user may provide his or her receivables to the payment management company as a guarantee optionally.

Next, the payment management company concludes an agreement of payment by proxy of an amount of money within the amount of the established

receivables of the credit card company or the amount of the provided receivables as a guarantee with credit card company (S3), and issues a credit card of which the credit limit is equivalent to an amount agreed to pay by proxy.

Then, the credit card user uses the credit card within the credit limit (S4.1 and S4.2), so the authorization request procedures begin, and also at this time it is preferable that the payment management company is functioning as the general credit information processing center (S4.3 to S4.6), or otherwise the general credit information processing center may be also intervened in the present embodiment.

Then, the credit card company pays the money for the transaction resulting from the credit sales receivables to the affiliated store on an arranged due date (S5). In the present embodiment, however, it is the payment management company that the credit card company charges the amount of paid money based on the sales slip of the credit transaction on a due date.

Accordingly, the payment management company pays the charged amount by proxy in accordance with the agreement (S6.1), and the credit card user redeems the money for that transaction paid by the payment management company and some fees (S6.2). Thus, the credit card user can be accommodated with more money. At this time, also in the present embodiment, the charged money is preferably repaid by revolving payment method as well.

Also in the present embodiment, as shown in Fig. 3, the processes of

the information about, e. g. , specifying receivables necessarily accompanying the method above are accomplished by the payment management system 100 of a credit card secured by receivables of the present invention. These will be described later.

Next, the configuration of a payment management, system 100 according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention in order to accomplish the payment method described above with reference to Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a payment management system 100 of a credit card secured by receivables according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 5, the payment management system 100 of the present embodiment includes a communication function managing unit 102 for performing communication functions with external systems, a receivables information managing unit 104 for collecting, storing and managing the information about the receivables as the security or guarantee for the used money of the credit card of the credit card user, a credit transaction information managing unit 106 for collecting, storing and managing the information about the transaction resulting from the credit card used by the credit card user and a payment information managing unit 108 for collecting, storing and managing the information about the payment for the money used through the credit card.

Hereinafter, the configurations and the operations of the units 102,104, 106 and 108 will be described in detail below.

[The communication function managing unit] The communication function managing unit 102 performs the functions required by the payment management system 100 of the present invention in order to send and/or receive the information while communicating with the affiliated store, the credit card company, the terminal of the credit card user or the credit information processing center (hereinafter, simply referred to as "external system"). In other words, if the payment management system 100 communicates with the external systems through the on-line and/or off-line communication network, the communication function managing unit 102 provides various communication protocols and communication resources required for the on-line and/or off-line communication.

On the basis of the support of these communication functions, the communication function managing un. it 102, for example, receives the credit transaction authorization information from the credit information processing center, receives the payment details from the affiliated store and/or sends the payment details to the credit card user. If communicating with the external systems while sending and/or receiving information, the communication function managing unit 102 performs the connection authorization for the connection to and/or from the external systems, and if successively connected with the external systems then sends and/or receives data in accordance with a

predetermined communication protocol and processes the data according to a predetermined routine. In addition, in order to utilize the received data as the distinguishable information, it may perform internal processes on the sent and/or received data such as converting the data format or checking the errors.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the communication function managing unit 102 may be configured to include an authorization processing module 1022 for issuing and storing the authorization information such as an user identification number and/or a password for performing the connection to and/or from the external systems and for judging whether or not to connect based on the authorization information inputted when needed, and a sent and/or received data processing module 1024 for sending and/or receiving data with the external system, in which the connection is approved normally, in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol and/or for processing the data sent and/or received to be recognizable.

[The receivables information managing unit] The receivables information managing unit 104 collects and manages all of the information about the receivables of the credit card user. The receivables of the credit card user are used as a means of the security or guarantee for the money used with the credit card as described above.

Accordingly, the receivables information managing unit 104 preferably collects

and manages the information capable of specifying the receivables of the credit card user (hereinafter, simply"receivables information"). As this information, it may include the identification information about the debtor, the amount of the receivables, the payment due date, whether or not the right of pledge can be established, the guarantee specification of the payment management company and/or the like, and moreover may include the identification information about the creditor in an embodiment.

This receivables information may be inputted by the credit card user, the credit card company and/or the payment management company directly. For example, a user who wants to be issued with a credit card secured by receivables according to the present invention may connect to the payment management system 100 by his or her terminal and input the receivables information into the payment management system 100. The documents for certifying the inputted receivables information may be submitted in writing hereafter. Alternatively, a user who wants to be issued with a credit card may visit the credit card company and submit the whole certification documents, while the credit card company may input it into its system (not shown). The receivables information inputted into an external system is sent to the communication function managing unit 102 of the payment management system 100 and is transferred to and processed by the receivables information managing unit 104.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the receivables information managing unit 104 may be configured to include a creditor information managing module 1042 for collecting and managing the <BR> <BR> information about the creditor (i. e. , the credit card user or the payment management company) such as the name of the creditor, the address, the social security number (the registration number), the contact and/or the like, a debtor information managing module 1044 for collecting and managing the information about the debtor such as the name of the debtor, the address, the social security number (the registration number), the contact and/or the like, a receivables details information managing module 1046 for collecting and managing the information about the details of the receivables such as the amount of the receivables, the payment due date, whether or not the right of pledge is available and/or the like and a guarantee information managing module 1048 for collecting and managing the information about the payment guarantee details such as whether or not the payment management company has guaranteed the payment for the money used by the credit card user to the credit card company or whether or not to conclude an agreement of payment by proxy. The guarantee information managing module 1048 is shown with the dotted line in Fig. 5 because it may not be included in the receivables information managing unit 104 in an embodiment.

[The credit transaction information managing unit] The credit transaction information managing unit 106 collects and manages the information about the credit transaction of. the credit card user <BR> such as the information about the details of the use of the credit card, e. g. , the name of the affiliated store at which the credit card user has used the credit card, the transaction amount, the date of transaction, and/or the like, whether the use of the credit card is authorized or not, and, if so, the information about the authorization such as the authorization number.

By collecting and managing the credit transaction information, it is possible to know how much amount of money guaranteed by the payment management system 100 is being used or how much amount of money has to be paid by proxy on the following due date, and thus the risk management can be performed effectively.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the credit transaction information managing unit 106 may be configured to include a use details managing module 1062 for collecting and managing the information about the details of the use of the credit card and an authorization information managing module 1064 for collecting and managing the information about the authorization information.

[The payment information managing unit]

The payment information managing unit 108 collects and manages the information about the payment for the amount of money which the credit card <BR> <BR> user has to pay to the credit card company (hereinafter, "payment information").

The payment information may include, for example, the information about the details of the payment for the used money charged to the credit card user or the payment management company. Particularly, if the money is paid by the revolving payment method, it is preferable that the payment information includes the information about the amount of paid money at the present term, the amount of paid money at the next term, the credit limit revived by the paid money and/or the like.

As another example of the payment information, it may include the information about the details of the payment of the payment management company by proxy, the amount of money charged to the credit card user, the amount of money redeemed by the credit card user to the payment management company and/or the like, in case of an agreement by which the credit card user provides his or her receivables to the payment management company as a guarantee and then the payment management company pays the used money by proxy. Also in this case, if the revolving payment method is applied, it preferably includes the information about it.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the payment information managing unit 108 may be configured to include a

repayment details managing module 1082 for collecting and managing the information about the details of the payment for the used money caused by using the credit card, a payment-by-proxy information managing module 1084 for collecting and managing the information about the details of the payment of the payment management company on behalf of the credit card user and/or the information about the redemption of the credit card user to the payment management company. The payment-by-proxy information managing module 1084 is shown with the dotted line in Fig. 5, because it may be included optionally in an embodiment.

It is preferable that the payment management system 100 of the present invention is accomplished by a general purpose computer system with programming. However, the payment management system 100 of the present invention may also be accomplished through a dedicated hardware for it.

In any case, each of the units 102,104, 106 and 108 included in the payment management system 100 of the present invention configured as above may perform the data communication through buses provided therebetween (not shown), and may perform the widely known functions required to accomplish the present invention by using software such as an operating system or a communication protocol widely known (not shown) or hardware such as a CPU or a memory. The widely known configurations and functions described above are obvious to those skilled in the art related to the present invention, and thus

the description of those will be omitted.

Further, the payment management system 100 of the present invention may be accomplished through a server, independent hardware, implementing a part or all of one or any combination of the units 102,104, 106 and 108. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various other permutations of the hardware implementation may also be employed and the same shall be properly regarded as within the scope of the present invention.

Next, exemplary embodiments of a payment management method of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 6 and Fig.

7. These embodiments may be examples of the operations performed by the payment management system 100 described above in relation to Fig. 5.

With reference to Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, first, Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart that shows main operations of a payment management method of a credit card secured by receivables (hereinafter, simply referred to as"payment management method") according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention. First, when the payment management system 100 of the present invention begins its operations in the step 600, it activates various programs or resources for performing the general functions as a system so that it can prepare to accomplish the unique operations of the present invention. These ignition and preparation operations may be performed only when the power of the payment management system 100 of the present invention is turned on

again from turn-off or when the system is reactivated after deactivated for checking the system, so that the efficiency of the overall system can be increased.

Next, the payment management system 100 receives the receivables information about the receivables of the credit card user from the credit card company (step 602). Alternatively, the payment management system 100 may receive the information by allowing the credit card user who connects to it by <BR> <BR> using his or her terminal (e. g. , a personal computer, a mobile phone or a personal mobile terminal) to input the receivables information him or herself. The received receivables information is arranged regularly or irregularly.

Next, the payment management system 100 receives the information about the payment for the money used by the credit card user from the credit card company (step 604). In the same way, the payment management system 100 may receive the information by allowing the credit card user who connects to it by using his or her terminal to input the information about the payment him or herself. The received information about the payment is arranged regularly or irregularly as well.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the reception of the receivables information (step 602) and the reception of the payment information (step 604) may be performed in the ignition and preparation step described above, or they may be performed regularly or irregularly while the payment

management system 100 is activated. In addition, although these processes (steps 602 and 604) is not necessarily performed before the steps described below, it is preferable that these processes are performed in advance if at least the payment management system 100 begins to operate for the first time or after losing the stored information caused by an accident.

Then, the payment management system 100 may receive a request to authorize from the terminal of an affiliated store if the credit card user wants to pay by credit card at the affiliated store (step 606).

The payment management system 100 may judge whether the payment can be authorized or not based on the received authorization request, the receivables information and the payment information (step 608). If the payment is unable to be authorized as the result of the judgment in the step 608, it is preferable to notify the affiliated store that the payment is unable to be authorized (step 610) Meanwhile, it the payment can be authorized as the result of the judgment in the step 608, it requests the credit card company to authorize (step 612), and the general procedures for authorization are performed (step 614).

Then, the payment management system 100 is controlled to return to the following processes (step 616). The following processes may be various corresponding to the individual embodiment and the returning point of the control. For example, the process may be moved to a step of receiving the

receivables information or may be moved to a step of arranging the payment information.

These operations are not necessarily performed in a time sequence according to the described order. For example, the steps 602 and 608 may be performed in parallel, and it is rather general that a few steps are performed in parallel.

Next, another exemplary embodiment of the payment management method of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart that shows main operations of the payment management method of a credit card secured by receivables according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Also in the present embodiment, the activation procedure is completed by performing the ignition and preparation operations described above with reference to Fig. 6 (step 700).

Further, also in the present embodiment, the steps of receiving the receivables information or arranging it (steps 702 and 704) are performed regularly or irregularly.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the payment management company arranges the information about the payment by proxy for the money used the credit card user (step 706). If the payment management system 100 does not have the information about the payment by proxy, it may receive the information by connecting to an external system storing the information. In

addition, it may allow the credit card user to input the information.

Also in the present embodiment, the steps 702,704 and 706 may be performed in the ignition and preparation step described above, or they may be performed regularly or irregularly while the payment management system 100 is activated. In addition, although these processes (steps 702,704 and 706) is not necessarily performed before the steps described below, it is preferable that these processes are performed in advance if at least the payment management system 100 begins to operate for the first time or after losing the stored information caused by an accident.

Then, the payment management system 100 may receive a request to authorize from the terminal of an affiliated store if the credit card user wants to pay by credit card at the affiliated store (step 708).

The payment management system 100 may judge whether the payment can be authorized or not based on the received authorization request, the receivables information and the payment information (step 710). If the payment is unable to be authorized as the result of the judgment in the step 710, it is preferable to notify the affiliated store that the payment is unable to be authorized (step 712) Meanwhile, it the payment can be authorized as the result of the judgment in the step 712, it requests the credit card company to authorize (step 714), and the general procedures for authorization are performed (step 716).

Then, the payment management system 100 judges whether the time to pay the money used by the credit card user on the user's behalf to the credit card company has come (step 718). If the time to pay by proxy has not come yet as the result of the judgment in the step 718, the payment management system is controlled to return. The return of the control will be descried later.

Meanwhile, it the time to pay by proxy has come, the amount of the payment by proxy is calculated and the procedures for the payment are performed (step 720).

Then, the system calculates the amount of money to charge the credit card user for the payment by proxy, and performs the procedures for charging (step 722).

Then, the payment management system 100 is controlled to return to the process to be preformed hereafter (step 724). Also in the present embodiment, the following processes may be various corresponding to the individual embodiment and the returning point of the control.

These operations are not necessarily performed in a time sequence according to the described order. For example, the steps 702 and 710 may be performed in parallel, and it is rather general that a few steps are performed in parallel.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, it will be appreciated that various

modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below.

[INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY] According to present invention, it is possible to determine the credit limit of a credit card of a user while receivables possessed by the user are used as a guarantee.

In addition, according to present invention, the money used by a user with his or her credit card can be paid by the revolving payment method while receivables possessed by the user are used as a guarantee.

In addition, according to present invention, the money used by a user with his or her credit card can be paid by proxy in the revolving payment method while receivables possessed by the user are used as a guarantee.