System and method for data management and financial budgeting

• US 10,460,376 B1
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wells Fargo Bank NA (Wells Fargo & Company)
• Original Assignee: Wells Fargo Bank NA (Wells Fargo & Company)
• Inventors: Krakowiecki, Matthew, Kolling, Pearl, Mackouse, Jack, Rhein, Kevin, Hoople, Elizabeth, Yee, Kathy, McMahon, Brian Paul, Ehrlich, Brett David
• Primary Examiner(s): Ludwig, Peter
• Application Number:
  US12/324,637
• Time in Patent Office: 3,989 Days
• Field of Search: 705 30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A data management system includes a storage device configured to store financial data for a plurality of financial transactions, the financial data for the plurality of financial transactions being associated with a plurality of different accounts of a user, each of the plurality of financial transactions being associated with one of a plurality of transaction categories. The system further includes a server coupled to the storage device and configured to retrieve the financial data for the plurality of financial transactions from the data storage device; receive a request from the user to generate a budget for the user, the budget including budget cash flow amounts for the plurality of transaction categories, determine an average cash flow amount for each of the plurality of transaction categories, the average cash flow amount for each of the transaction categories being based on the financial data for financial transactions associated with the transaction category, generate a budget report including the budget cash flow amount for each of the plurality of transaction categories, the budget cash flow amount for each transaction category being determined based on the average cash flow amount for the transaction category, and provide the budget report to the user.

Claims

1. A data management system comprising:

a storage device provided by a financial institution and comprising a financial management database configured to store financial data for a plurality of financial transactions, the financial data for the plurality of financial transactions being associated with a plurality of different accounts held by a user at the financial institution, each of the plurality of financial transactions being associated with one of a plurality of transaction categories; and

a financial management server provided by the financial institution and coupled to the storage device and configured to provide users with access to an on-line banking area of a website of the financial institution, the financial management server further configured to;

retrieve user information from the financial management database including data access preferences and communication preferences for the user;

receive a request from the user to display aggregate information for the user;

determine that the plurality of different accounts for the user are eligible for real-time processing by the financial management server based on the user information retrieved from the financial management database;

process the plurality of financial transactions in connection with the plurality of different accounts for the user;

select a plurality of selectable links to be displayed to the user, the plurality of links being custom-selected for the user by the financial management server based on a type of financial account for one of the plurality of accounts held by the user at the financial institution, the type of financial account being a payment account, including at least one of a checking account, a credit card account, and a check card account, the plurality of selectable links enabling the user to request generation of a budget; and

provide, via a display device of the user, a display of the plurality of selectable links;

receive, via the display device, a request from the user to generate a budget for the user, the budget including budget cash flow amounts for the plurality of transaction categories;

determine an average cash flow amount for each of the plurality of transaction categories, the average cash flow amount for each of the transaction categories being based on the financial data for financial transactions associated with the transaction category and stored in the storage device provided by the financial institution;

generate the budget report including the budget cash flow amount for each of the plurality of transaction categories, the budget cash flow amount for each transaction category being determined based on the average cash flow amount for the transaction category;

provide, via the display device, the budget report to the user via the on-line banking area of the website of the financial institution; and

receive, via the display device, a user input modifying one of the budget cash flow amounts and update the budget report based on the user input;

wherein the budget report is generated with the average cash flow amounts for the transaction categories and provided to the user, on the display device of the user, automatically in response to receiving the request from the user to generate the budget, such that no further budget criteria inputs are received from the user after receiving the request and prior to providing the user with the budget report; and

wherein the budget report identifies each of the plurality of transaction categories, and adjacent each of the transaction categories, further includes;

a bar chart of a historical cash flow amount;

a bar chart of a budget cash flow amount; and

a bar chart of a comparison of the budget cash flow amount relative to a current cash flow amount for the transaction category.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the average cash flow amount for each of the plurality of transaction categories is determined over a predetermined period of time.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the predetermined period of time is configurable by the user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to

receive a second input from the user identifying at least one financial transaction to be excluded in determining the average cash flow amount for at least one of the plurality of transaction categories;

and

determine the average cash flow amount for the at least one of the plurality of transaction categories based on excluding the identified financial transaction.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to generate a graphical display of cash flow amounts for the user, the graphical display being provided as part of the budget report.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to provide an alert to the user based on user cash flow amounts and budget cash flow amounts, wherein the alert is provided based on user-configurable parameters including a delivery method for the alert and a delivery time for the alert, and wherein the delivery time for the alert is based on one of a time period and a threshold cash flow amount.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to provide the budget report to a handheld computing device via a wireless communication link.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to provide a first alert to the user when current spending for at least one transaction category of the user reaches a predetermined percentage of the budget cash flow amount for the transaction category, and provide a second alert to the user when the current spending exceeds the budget cash flow amount for the transaction category.

8. A method performed by one or more processors of a financial management computer system provided by a financial institution, the method comprising:

managing financial accounts of a user by a computer server of the financial management computer system, including processing a plurality of financial transactions for the financial accounts, the financial accounts comprising at least a savings account and a checking account held by the user at the financial institution;

providing, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, user access to an on-line banking area of a website of the financial institution;

storing, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, financial data for the plurality of financial transactions in a storage device provided by the financial institution, the storage device including a financial management database, each of the plurality of financial transactions being associated with one of a plurality of transaction categories;

retrieving user information from the financial management database including data access preferences and communication preferences for the user;

receiving a request from the user to display aggregate information for the user;

determining that the plurality of different accounts for the user are eligible for real-time processing by the financial management server based on the user information retrieved from the financial management database;

selecting, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, a plurality of selectable links to be displayed to the user, the plurality of links being custom-selected for the user by the server based on a type of financial account for one of the plurality of accounts held by the user at the financial institution, the type of financial account being a payment account, including at least one of a checking account, a credit card account, and a check card account, the plurality of selectable links enabling the user to request generation of a budget report;

providing, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, a display of the plurality of selectable links to a display device of the user;

receiving, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, a request from a user via the display device to generate a budget for the user, the budget including budget cash flow amounts for the plurality of transaction categories;

determining, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, an average cash flow amount for each of the plurality of transaction categories, the average cash flow amount for each of the transaction categories being based on the financial data for financial transactions associated with the transaction category;

generating, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, the budget report including the budget cash flow amount for each of the plurality of transaction categories, the budget cash flow amount for each transaction category being automatically populated with the average cash flow amount for the transaction category;

providing, by the computer server of the financial management computer system and via the display device, the budget report to the user via the on-line banking area of the website of the financial institution;

receiving, by the computer server of the financial management computer system and via the display device, an input from the user identifying which of the plurality of accounts are to be included in the budget report and updating the budget report to reflect the identified accounts; and

receiving, by the computer server of the financial management computer system and via the display device, an additional user input modifying one of the budget cash flow amounts and updating the budget report based on the user input;

wherein the budget report is generated with the average cash flow amounts for the transaction categories and provided to the user, on the display device of the user, automatically in response to receiving the request from the user to generate the budget, such that no further budget criteria inputs are received from the user after receiving the request and prior to providing the user with the budget report; and

wherein the budget report identifies each of the plurality of transaction categories, and adjacent each of the transaction categories, further includes;

a bar chart of a historical cash flow amount;

a bar chart of a budget cash flow amount; and

a bar chart of a comparison of the budget cash flow amount relative to a current cash flow amount for the transaction category.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

retrieving the financial data for the plurality of financial transactions from the storage device.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining the average cash flow amount for each of the plurality of transaction categories over a predetermined period of time.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a user input identifying the predetermined period of time.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a second input from the user identifying at least one financial transaction to be excluded in determining the average cash flow amount for at least one of the plurality of transaction categories; and

determining the average cash flow amount for the at least one of the plurality of transaction categories based on excluding the identified financial transaction.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing an alert to the user based on user cash flow amounts and budget cash flow amounts, wherein the alert is provided based on user-configurable parameters including a delivery method for the alert and a delivery time for the alert, and wherein the delivery time for the alert is based on one of a time period and a threshold cash flow amount.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing the budget report to a handheld computing device via a wireless communication link.

15. A method of providing data to a mobile device, the method being performed by one or more processors of a financial management computer system provided by a financial institution and comprising:

managing, by a computer server of the financial management computer system, financial accounts of a user, including processing a plurality of financial transactions for the financial accounts;

providing, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, user access to an on-line banking area of a website of the financial institution via a mobile computing device;

storing, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, cash flow data in a storage device accessible via the mobile computing device and provided by the financial institution, the cash flow data being associated with the plurality of financial transactions and including at least credit card transactions and checking account transactions, and the cash flow data further being associated with the plurality of financial accounts held by the user at the financial institution, including at least a credit card account and a checking account;

retrieving user information from the storage device including data access preferences and communication preferences for the user;

receiving a request from the user to display aggregate information for the user;

determining that the plurality of different accounts for the user are eligible for real-time processing by the computer server based on the user information retrieved from the storage device;

retrieving, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, the cash flow data from the storage device;

categorizing, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, the plurality of financial transactions into a plurality of transaction categories, the plurality of financial transactions being categorized based on at least one of a vendor category and a payment method;

selecting, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, a plurality of selectable links to be displayed to the user, the plurality of links being custom-selected for the user by the server based on a type of financial account for one of the plurality of accounts held by the user at the financial institution, the type of financial account being a payment account, including at least one of a checking account, a credit card account, and a check card account, the plurality of selectable links enabling the user to request generation of a budget report; and

providing, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, a display of the plurality of selectable links to the mobile computing device;

receiving, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, a first input from the mobile computing device of the user identifying at least one transaction of the plurality of transaction categories that is to be excluded from the calculation of budget cash flow amounts;

for each transaction category, determining, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, the budget cash flow amount based on an average cash flow amount for the transaction category, wherein the average cash flow amount is based on the cash flow data for the financial transactions categorized within the transaction category over a time period and stored in the storage device provided by the financial institution, wherein the time period is configurable by the user, and wherein the average cash flow amount is based on excluding the transaction identified by the user;

receiving, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, a second input from the mobile computing device of the user modifying at least one of the budget cash flow amounts;

updating, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, the budget cash flow amounts to reflect the second input;

providing, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, the budget report to the mobile computing device, the budget report including a graphical indication of an actual cash flow amount relative to the budget cash flow amount for at least a portion of the plurality of transaction categories, the budget report further including an amount by which the actual cash flow amount is over or under the budget cash flow amount for the portion of the plurality of transaction categories, the budget report being provided to the mobile computing device in accordance with user-configurable delivery parameters; and

receiving, by the computer server of the financial management computer system, a third input from the mobile computing device of the user identifying which of the plurality of accounts are to be included in the budget report and updating the budget report to reflect the identified accounts;

wherein the budget report is generated with the average cash flow amounts for the transaction categories and provided to the user, on the mobile computing device, automatically in response to receiving a request from the user to generate the budget, such that no further budget criteria inputs are received from the user after receiving the request and prior to providing the user with the budget report; and

wherein the budget report identifies each of the plurality of transaction categories, and adjacent each of the transaction categories, further includes;

a bar chart of a historical cash flow amount;

a bar chart of a budget cash flow amount; and

a bar chart of a comparison of the budget cash flow amount relative to a current cash flow amount for the transaction category.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the user-configurable delivery parameters include a delivery method for the alert and a delivery time for the alert, and wherein the delivery time for the alert is based on one of a time period and a threshold cash flow amount.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a request via the mobile device for the budget report; and

providing the budget report to the mobile device in response to the request.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a fourth input via the mobile device to sort the transaction categories in order by one of an alphabetical order and an order determined by the difference of the actual cash flow amount and the budget cash flow amount for each category; and

displaying the budget report with the transaction categories ordered in accordance with the fourth input.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

updating the cash flow data stored in the storage device at least on a daily basis based on new cash flow data associated with the plurality of financial accounts.