System and method for providing warning and protection for bill payments

• US 10,043,166 B1
• Filed: 02/05/2013
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Kazenas, Joseph Alfred, Voutour, Teddy Joseph Edmond
• Primary Examiner(s): Frenel, Vanel
• Application Number:
  US13/759,858
• Time in Patent Office: 2,009 Days
• Field of Search: 705 30, 705 35, 705 40, 705 42, 705 80, 235380, 380286, 380 30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing protection to an individual or party from penalties associated with late or missed payments of bills, invoices and other charges are described. The methods and systems can warn a user of possible penalties and take correction action to avoid incurring the penalty. In an example, a computerized method, and system for performing the method can include receiving data about a plurality of payments to be paid by at least one party, the data includes at least one penalty associated with at least one of the payments, ranking the payments based at least partially upon the penalty and determining an order for the payments to be paid.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

receiving, from a payor, a selection of one or more protective actions to prevent penalties resulting from a penalty-incurring event;

receiving one or more bills to be paid by the payor, the one or more bills received from one or more payees;

detecting, using a processor, an approaching penalty-incurring event for one of the one or more bills;

executing, using the processor, one of the one or more protective actions to prevent the approaching penalty-incurring event from occurring, the protective action responsive to detecting the approaching penalty-incurring event and in accordance with the payor'"'"'s selection of the one or more protective actions; and

generating, by the processor, a sequence of payments of the one or more bills, the sequence of the payments ordered by severity of the penalty,

wherein generating the sequence of the payments ordered by the severity of the penalty includes assigning a weight to categories of the penalties, wherein the categories of the penalties includes one or more of;

late fees, interest rate charges, lowering of credit score, and lowering of line of credit.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising collecting data from the one or more bills, wherein the data collected from the one or more bills includes penalty-incurring events and the penalties.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising matching each of the one or more bills with applicable penalties for penalty-incurring events from a database of the penalties.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising automatically collecting penalty data for at least the one of the one or more bills from a database based on a name of the one or more payees.

5. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein executing the one of the one or more protective actions includes one of sending a warning or paying the one of the one or more bills.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the approaching penalty-incurring event is one of a late, missed, or partial payment of the one or more bills, and wherein the penalties are at least one of a fee, a lowering of a line of credit, a lowering of a credit score, or a raising of an interest rate.

7. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, program the processor to execute a protective action, the computer-executable instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving, from a payor, a selection of one or more protective actions to prevent penalties resulting from a penalty-incurring event;

receiving one or more bills to be paid by the payor, the one or more bills received from one or more payees;

detecting an approaching penalty-incurring event for one of the one or more bills;

executing a protective action to prevent the approaching penalty-incurring event from occurring, the protective action responsive to detecting the approaching penalty-incurring event and in accordance with the payor'"'"'s selection of the one or more protective actions; and

generating a sequence of payments of the one or more bills, the sequence of the payments ordered by severity of the penalty,

wherein generating the sequence of the payments ordered by the severity of the penalty includes assigning a weight to categories of the penalties, wherein the categories of penalties includes one or more of;

late fees, interest rate charges, lowering of credit score, and lowering of line of credit.

8. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise instructions for:

detecting that a duplicate payment for the one of the one or more bills is about to be made; and

warning the payor.

9. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise instructions for matching each of the one or more bills with applicable penalties for penalty-incurring events from a database of the penalties.

10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise instructions for automatically collecting penalty data for at least the one of the one or more bills from a database based on a name of the one or more payees.

11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the computer-executable instructions that execute the protective action further comprise instructions for ranking the one or more bills based on the penalties, wherein ranking the one or more bills includes a payment order that minimizes the penalties.

12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the computer-executable instructions that execute one of the one or more protective actions includes computer-executable instructions to send a warning or pay the one of the one or more bills.

13. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the approaching penalty-incurring event is one of a late, missed, or partial payment of the one or more bills, and wherein the penalties are at least one of a fee, a lowering of a line of credit, a lowering of a credit score, or a raising of an interest rate.

14. A system comprising:

a means for receiving a selection of one or more protective actions to prevent penalties resulting from a penalty-incurring event;

a means for receiving one or more bills to be paid by a payor;

a means for detecting an approaching penalty-incurring event for one of the one or more bills;

a means for executing a protective action to prevent the approaching penalty-incurring event from occurring, the protective action responsive to detecting the approaching penalty-incurring event and in accordance with the payor'"'"'s selection of the one or more protective actions; and

a means for generating a sequence of payments of the one or more bills, the sequence of the payments ordered by severity of the penalty,

wherein the means for generating the sequence of the payments ordered by the severity of the penalty includes a means for assigning a weight to categories of the penalties, wherein the categories of the penalties includes one or more of;

late fees, interest rate charges, lowering of credit score, and lowering of line of credit.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a means for collecting data from the one or more bills, wherein the data collected from the one or more bills includes penalty-incurring events and the penalties.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising a means for matching each of the one or more bills with applicable penalties for penalty-incurring events from a database of the penalties.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising a means for automatically collecting penalty data for at least the one of the one or more bills from a database based on a name of one or more payees.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein executing one of the one or more protective actions includes one of sending a warning or paying a portion of the one of the one or more bills.