ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,619,970, issued on May 5, was assigned to Block Inc. (Oakland, Calif.).
"Payment message interception" was invented by Brian Grassadonia (San Francisco), Tobi Kral (San Francisco), Eric Firestone (San Francisco), Kristopher David Stipech (West Hollywood, Calif.) and Michael Dustin Moring (San Francisco).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A payment service may receive a first payment request from a first user seeking funds from a second user. Having determined that the second user's account lacks sufficient funds, the payment service may send the second user an offer of funds to be repaid in installments. Once accepted, the amount is transferred...