System and method for financial management and analysis
First Claim
1. A method for analyzing a user'"'"'s finances and providing a plan for debt reduction, the method comprising the steps of:
- acquiring aggregated financial data for a user from a financial data clearinghouse;
classifying financial transactions received with the aggregated financial data into a plurality of budget categories without user input;
applying the financial transactions to the budget categories, wherein the budget categories further include a budget amount and budget balance;
modifying the budget balances without user input based on increases or decreases caused by the financial transactions;
displaying the budget categories, budget amounts, modified budget balances and the financial transactions to aid the user in debt reduction.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method is provided for analyzing a user'"'"'s finances and providing a plan for debt reduction. The method includes acquiring aggregated financial data for a user from a financial data clearinghouse. Another step is classifying financial transactions received with the aggregated financial data into a plurality of budget categories without user input. A further step is applying the financial transactions to the budget categories. The budget categories further include a budget amount and budget balance. An additional step is modifying the budget balances without user input based on increases or decreases caused by the financial transactions. A further step is displaying the budget categories, budget amounts, modified budget balances and the financial transactions to aid the user in debt reduction.
241 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for analyzing a user'"'"'s finances and providing a plan for debt reduction, the method comprising the steps of:
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acquiring aggregated financial data for a user from a financial data clearinghouse;
classifying financial transactions received with the aggregated financial data into a plurality of budget categories without user input;
applying the financial transactions to the budget categories, wherein the budget categories further include a budget amount and budget balance;
modifying the budget balances without user input based on increases or decreases caused by the financial transactions;
displaying the budget categories, budget amounts, modified budget balances and the financial transactions to aid the user in debt reduction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for guiding a user to reduce their debt, the method comprising the steps of:
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acquiring an aggregation of financial data for a user from a financial data clearinghouse;
classifying financial transactions received with the aggregated financial data into a plurality of budget categories without user input;
applying the financial transactions to the budget categories, wherein the budget categories further include a budget amount;
providing the user with a listing of expense reducing items that can reduce the user'"'"'s debt;
comparing budget categories and the budget amounts to expense reducing items accepted by the user to define a budget margin for budget categories; and
applying the budget margin to pay down the user'"'"'s debts. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A method or determining a financial debt that should be paid down first to reduce aggregate financial debt, comprising the steps of:
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storing debt information for a plurality of financial debts, wherein the debt information for each financial debt includes a principal amount, an interest rate, a periodic payment, and a debt payment length;
selecting a debt which has a lowest remaining balance, a highest periodic payment, and a highest interest rate;
communicating to a user that the selected debt should be paid off first to allow the plurality of debts to be paid off in a reduced amount of time. - View Dependent Claims (12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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13. A method for determining a financial debt that should be paid down first to reduce a person'"'"'s overall financial debt, comprising the steps of:
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storing debt information for a plurality of debts, wherein the debt information for each financial debt includes a principal amount, an interest rate, a periodic payment, and a debt payment length;
comparing the periodic payment of each debt to the principal amount;
creating a numerical ranking for each of the debts based on the comparison of the periodic payment to the principal amount; and
identifying the debt to pay off first based on the highest numerical ranking of the debt to allow the plurality of debts to be paid off in a reduced amount of time.
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Specification