Abstract: A loyalty program system and method includes of membership card that is distributed to customers. The membership card is associated with multiple merchants whose accounts are centrally managed but segregated from one another. In this manner a customer only needs to carry a single card while participating in promotions that are controlled and managed by separate merchants. A merchant can reward customers based on the nature of the transactions with the merchants, for example based on value, frequency and so forth. In addition, it is possible to add merchants to the loyalty program even if they already have their own pre-existing customer membership base that carries pre-existing membership cards. In that case, the automated loyalty program is configured to recognize and honor the pre-existing cards by establishing in the system account files for the added merchants, and configuring the system to recognize and honor identification information provided in the pre-existing membership cards.