Systems and methods for interactive financial categorization and budgeting

• US 10,402,896 B1
• Filed: 01/09/2015
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wells Fargo Bank NA (Wells Fargo & Company)
• Original Assignee: Wells Fargo Bank NA (Wells Fargo & Company)
• Inventors: Lopez, Gilberto, Witt, Leslie Rae
• Primary Examiner(s): Subramanian, Narayanswamy
• Application Number:
  US14/593,744
• Time in Patent Office: 1,698 Days
• Field of Search: 705 30- 40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of managing personal financial accounts includes retrieving account information associated with a financial account of a user. The account information includes a plurality of transactions and no more than three budget categories. The method also includes providing a user interface to display graphical representations of at least a portion of the plurality of transactions and at least a portion of the budget categories. In addition, the method includes receiving a first input from the user categorizing one of the transactions into one or more of the plurality of budget categories. Further, the method includes updating the user interface to reflect the categorization of the transaction.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of managing personal financial accounts, comprising:

retrieving, by a computing system, account information associated with a financial account of a user, the account information comprising a plurality of transactions, each transaction being categorizable into at least one of three budget categories;

providing, by the computing system, a user interface to display graphical representations of at least a portion of the plurality of transactions and at least one of the three budget categories, the graphical representations of at least a portion of the plurality of transactions including a first transaction graphic representing a first transaction of the plurality of transactions, the graphical representations of the three budget categories including a first budget category graphic representing a first budget category and a second budget category graphic representing a second budget category, the first budget category graphic and the second budget category graphic being separated by a barrier;

receiving, by the computing system, an input from the user to categorize the first transaction into one or more of the three budget categories graphically represented on the user interface, wherein the input comprises a drag-and-drop of the first transaction graphic over the barrier onto at least part of the first budget category graphic and part of the second budget category graphic;

updating the first transaction graphic to split the transaction graphic into a first portion corresponding to the first budget category graphic and a second portion corresponding to the second budget category graphic;

determining a first percentage of the first transaction graphic that overlaps the first budget category graphic and a second percentage of the first transaction graphic that overlaps the second budget category graphic when the first transaction graphic is dropped during the input based on a proportion of the first portion and the second portion;

categorizing a first portion of a total amount of the first transaction into the first budget category, the first portion of the total amount corresponding to the first percentage;

categorizing a second portion of the total amount of the first transaction into the second budget category, the second portion of the total amount corresponding to the second percentage; and

updating, by the computing system, the user interface to reflect the categorization of the transaction.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising automatically categorizing, by the computing system, a transaction into one or more of the plurality of budget categories based on prior usage history of the user, the prior usage history comprising at least one of categorization history of the user and transaction history of the user.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising pre-categorizing, by the computing system, a transaction into one or more of the plurality of budget categories based on at least one of a merchant associated with the transaction, an amount of the transaction, and prior usage history of the user, the prior usage history comprising at least one of categorization history of the user and transaction history of the user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing, to the user via the user interface by the computing system, recommended spending adjustments based on the user'"'"'s transaction history.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the computing system, rewards to the user based on the user'"'"'s transaction history.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation of each transaction is proportionally sized based on an amount of the transaction relative to amounts of the other transactions.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation of each budget category is proportionally sized based on a sum of amounts of the transactions categorized in the respective budget category relative to respective sums of amounts of the transactions categorized in the other respective budget categories.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein updating, by the computing system, the user interface to reflect the categorization of the transaction comprises:

updating the first budget category graphic to increase the size of the first budget category graphic in proportion to, at least, the portion of the transaction attributable to the first budget category; and

updating the second budget category graphic to increase the size of the second budget category graphic in proportion to, at least, the portion of the transaction attributable to the second budget category.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is provided as a treemap.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the treemap is provided as a plurality of nested rectangles, wherein first rectangles are graphical representations of the budget categories, and second rectangles nested within each of the first rectangles are graphical representations of the transactions associated with each respective budget category.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,

wherein the input causes the transaction graphic to slide along the barrier, and wherein the first portion and second portion are sized based on a location of the transaction graphic relative to the barrier.

12. A system for managing personal financial accounts, including:

a processor and program logic stored in memory and executed by the processor, the program logic including;

account management logic configured to retrieve account information associated with a financial account of a user, the account information comprising a plurality of transactions, each transaction being categorizable into at least one of three budget categories; and

personal financial management logic coupled to the account management logic and configured to;

provide a user interface to display graphical representations of at least a portion of the plurality of transactions and at least one of the three budget categories;

receive an input from the user categorizing one of the transactions graphically represented on the user interface into one or more of the three budget categories, wherein the input comprises a drag-and-drop of a transaction graphic corresponding to the transaction over a barrier, the barrier separating a first budget category graphic and a second budget category graphic, and into a portion of the first budget category graphic and a portion of the second budget category graphic, the first budget category graphic corresponding to a first budget category and the second budget category graphic corresponding to a second budget category of the three budget categories represented on the user interface;

update the transaction graphic to split the transaction graphic into a first portion corresponding to the first budget category graphic and a second portion corresponding to the second budget category graphic;

determine a percentage of the transaction graphic overlapping the first budget category graphic and the second budget category graphic when the transaction graphic is dropped during the input based on a proportion of the first portion and the second portion;

determine, based on the percentage of the transaction graphic overlapping the first budget category graphic and the second budget category graphic, a portion of the transaction to attribute to the first budget category and the second budget category; and

update the user interface to reflect the categorization of the transaction.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the personal financial management logic is further configured to automatically categorize a transaction into one or more of the budget categories based on prior usage history of the user, the prior usage history comprising at least one of categorization history of the user and transaction history of the user.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the personal financial management logic is further configured to pre-categorize a transaction into one or more of the plurality of budget categories based on at least one of a merchant associated with the transaction, an amount of the transaction, and prior usage history of the user, the prior usage history comprising at least one of categorization history of the user and transaction history of the user.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the personal financial management logic is further configured to provide, to the user via the user interface, recommended spending adjustments based on the user'"'"'s transaction history.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the personal financial management logic is further configured to provide rewards to the user based on the user'"'"'s transaction history.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the graphical representation of each transaction is proportionally sized based on an amount of the transaction relative to amounts of the other transactions.

18. The system of claim of claim 17, wherein the graphical representation of each budget category is proportionally sized based on a sum of amounts of the transactions categorized in the respective budget category relative to respective sums of amounts of the transactions categorized in the other respective budget categories.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the user interface is provided as a treemap.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the treemap is provided as a plurality of nested rectangles, wherein first rectangles are graphical representations of the budget categories, and second rectangles nested within each of the first rectangles are graphical representations of the transactions associated with each respective budget category.

21. A system for managing personal financial accounts, including:

a smartphone comprising a display device; and

a processor and program logic stored in memory and executed by the processor, the program logic including;

account management logic configured to retrieve account information associated with a financial account of a user, the account information comprising a plurality of transactions, each of which are categorizable into at least one of three budget categories; and

personal financial management logic coupled to the account management logic and configured to;

provide, to the smartphone via the display device, a user interface to display graphical representations of at least a portion of the plurality of transactions and at least one of the three budget categories;

receive, via the smartphone, an input from the user categorizing one of the transactions graphically represented on the user interface into one or more of the three budget categories graphically represented on the user interface, wherein the input comprises a drag-and-drop of a transaction graphic corresponding to the transaction over a barrier, the barrier separating a first budget category graphic and a second budget category graphic, and into a portion of the first budget category graphic and a portion of the second budget category graphic, the first budget category graphic corresponding to a first budget category and the second budget category graphic corresponding to a second budget category of the three budget categories represented on the user interface, wherein the input comprises a drag-and-drop of the transaction graphic over the barrier onto at least part of the first budget category graphic and part of the second budget category graphic;

update the transaction graphic to split the transaction graphic into a first portion corresponding to the first budget category graphic and a second portion corresponding to the second budget category graphic;

determine a percentage of the transaction graphic overlapping the first budget category graphic and the second budget category graphic when the transaction graphic is dropped during the input based on a proportion of the first portion and the second portion;

determine, based on the percentage of the transaction graphic overlapping the first budget category graphic and the second budget category graphic, a portion of the transaction to attribute to the first budget category and the second budget category; and

update, via the display device of the smartphone, the user interface to reflect the categorization of the transaction.