METHOD AND SYSTEM OF COMBINED BILLING OF MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS ON A SINGLE STATEMENT

• US 20020026394A1
• Filed: 10/29/1998
• Published: 02/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Universal Card Services Corp. (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Universal Card Services Corp. (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Inventors: CHHIKARA, JITENDRA, SAVAGE, PATRICK, PLATZ, FREDERICK W Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,236,950 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• 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 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/128 Check-book balancing, updating or printing arrangements

Abstract

A computerized method and system for combined billing for at least one customer on a plurality of customer accounts includes computer applications which automatically assemble and aggregate account charges, such as usage charges, fees, finance charges, discounts, rebates and rewards, for the customer on the plurality of accounts. The system also automatically formats a combined bill for the customer from the aggregated account charges and renders the combined bill to the customer. The account charges are automatically calculated by a computer application from account data for the customer'"'"'s accounts, which is transmitted to the computer application from one or more storage devices, for example from vendors of energy, such as electricity and gas service, retail, such as credit cards, and communications, such as telephone and Internet service.

Claims

1. A method of combined billing for at least one customer on a plurality of customer accounts, comprising:

aggregating account charges for at least one customer on a plurality of customer accounts;

automatically formatting a combined bill for the customer from the aggregated account charges; and

automatically rendering the combined bill to the customer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically calculating an account charge for at least one of the customer accounts.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the account charge is calculated from account data for the customer account.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the account charge is calculated by a computer application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the computer application comprises a financial institution application.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the financial institution comprises a bank.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising transmitting the account data to the computer application from a data storage device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the data storage device comprises a vendor database.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of customer accounts comprises at least one selected from the group of a recurring bill account, a retail account, a communications account, and a financial account.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the recurring bill account comprises at least one selected from the group of an electric account, a gas account, a cable account, a home security account, and a water account.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the retail account comprises at least a credit card account.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the communications account comprises at least one selected from the group of a long distance account, a local account, a wireless account, and an Internet access account.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the financial account comprises at least one selected from the group of an insurance account, an investments account, an auto account, a bank statement account, an installment account, and a mortgage account.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the cable services include pay television services.

15. The method of claim 2, further comprising automatically formatting the account charge.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting the formatted account charge to a bill aggregator.

17. The method of claim 3, wherein the account data comprises usage data.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising automatically calculating a usage charge from the usage data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the usage charge is calculated according to a predefined usage pricing schedule.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising automatically calculating a tax associated with the usage charge.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the tax is calculated according to a predefined usage charge tax schedule.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising automatically calculating the account charge from the usage charge and the associated tax.

23. The method of claim 7, further comprising automatically validating the account data.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein validating comprises automatically comparing the account data with predefined account data parameters.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein validating further comprises automatically rejecting account data that falls outside the predefined account data parameters.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating further comprises automatically validating the account charges.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein validating further comprises automatically comparing the account charges with predefined account parameters.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein validating further comprises automatically rejecting account charges that fall outside the predefined account parameters.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating comprises automatically assembling the account charges.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein at least one of the account charges relates to a credit card account, and wherein assembling comprises automatically calculating at least one selected from the group of a fee and a finance charge associated with the credit card account charge.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein assembling further comprises automatically calculating a credit card account payment due amount from the credit card account charge and at least one selected from the group of the fee and the finance charge.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein assembling further comprises automatically calculating a discount associated with the assembled account charges.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the discount is calculated according to a predefined discount schedule.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein assembling further comprises automatically calculating a rebate amount associated with the assembled account charges.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein assembling further comprises automatically calculating a reward amount associated with the assembled account charges.

36. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically validating the aggregated account charges.

37. The method of claim 1, wherein the formatted bill comprises an electronic mail message.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering comprises automatically storing the formatted bill for the customer in a storage location.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the storage location comprises a server.

40. The method of claim 38, further comprising transmitting the formatted bill from the storage location to a terminal.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising displaying the formatted bill at the terminal by the customer.

42. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting an inquiry for the customer regarding at least one of the customer accounts.

43. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a request for the customer for an information change regarding at least one of the customer accounts.

44. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting an order for the customer for at least one of the customer accounts.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising processing an order for the customer for the customer account.

46. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a request for the customer for cancellation of at least one of the customer accounts.

47. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a request for the customer for an adjustment of the combined bill regarding at least one of the customer accounts.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the customer account comprises a recurring bill account.

49. The method of claim 1, further comprising the customer paying the bill.

50. A system for combined billing for at least one customer on a plurality of customer accounts, comprising:

means for aggregating account charges for a least one customer on a plurality of customer accounts;

means coupled to the aggregating means for automatically formatting a combined bill for the customer from the aggregated account charges; and

means associated with the formatting means for rendering the combined bill to the customer.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the aggregating means comprises a server.

52. The system of claim 50, wherein the formatting means comprises a server.

53. The system of claim 50, wherein the rendering means comprises a server.