Abstract: A system and method for using a multi-level marketing plan to market financial instruments such as a credit card, a loan or credit line, and for determining participant awards in the plan in a unique manner are provided. The activity data of the financial instruments issued to a primary participant and its downstream participants are received from a customer transaction database. The activities data received typically cover one billing cycle and may include such items as purchases, cash advances. Based on the received activities data, a primary award attributable to activities of the primary participant is determined and downstream award attributable to activities of the downstream participants of the primary participant is determined. The two awards are added and the total award is provided to the primary participant. In another aspect, participant awards are provided by person-to-person (P2P) payment method.