Credit/financing process

• US 20030036996A1
• Filed: 07/29/2002
• Published: 02/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mortgage Grader Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mortgage Grader Incorporated
• Inventors: Lazerson, Jeffrey M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,366,694 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A method for a borrower to obtain and/or evaluate desired financial services is disclosed. Personal information from the borrower is obtained and recorded. The personal information includes reasons that the borrower wants to obtain the financing. Financing evaluation information based on pre-established and objective criteria used by at least one established financial institution that provides financing of the type sought by the borrower is obtained and recorded. A credit grading for the borrower is determined based on the personal information, and the financing evaluation information. The credit grading is determined by an independent entity that will not provide the financing to the borrower. The financing may be a loan, such as a mortgage loan or an auto loan or the financing may be the issuance of a credit card or a line of credit. The independent entity also compiles a comparison of closing costs associated with the financial transactions, and can optionally provide an estimate of those costs for one, and preferably for a variety of providers of the desired financing.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for facilitating borrowers to anonymously evaluate competing loan packages offered by a plurality of lenders, the system comprising:

a database that stores loan package data specifying loan packages offered by the lenders, the loan package data specifying, for each loan packages, at least a loan type, an interest rate, fees, and a required borrower credit grading;

a first user interface that allows the lenders to securely upload the loan package data for their respective loan packages to the database over a computer network;

a borrower grading module that prompts a borrower to enter personal loan evaluation information, and based hereon, calculates a credit grading for the borrower; and

a second user interface that allows the borrower to search the database to identify a set of loan packages associated with the credit grading, and compare the loan packages within the set to evaluate offerings offered by the lenders, without exposing personal information to any of the lenders.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second user interface comprises a set of web pages of a web site.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the borrower grading module is executed by a server of the web site as a web-based application.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the borrower grading module is a downloadable component that may be downloaded and executed by a borrower to generate a credit grading.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the loan package data specifies an interest rate and all fees for at least one guaranteed-cost loan package.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the second user interface provides a user option for a borrower to select and submit an application to apply for a loan package represented in the database.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the second user interface displays information about the loan packages in a spread sheet format.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the information about the loan comprises loan term, loan rate, loan conditions and loan closing costs.

9. A method for a borrower to obtain and/or evaluate a loan that has closing costs associated with the loan, comprising:

obtaining and recording financing evaluation information based on pre-established and objective criteria used by more than one established lender that provides financing;

determining a credit grading for the borrower based on the financing evaluation information for at least one of said lenders, the credit grading being performed by a third party that does not provide the loan;

obtaining information from the borrower sufficient to evaluate whether the borrower qualifies for a loan from at least one financial institution that provides said loans;

obtaining and recording cost information relevant to the closing costs for completing the loan, the information being obtained from a plurality of businesses that provide services or goods for which the costs are incurred, the cost information being compiled by a third party who does not provide the loan; and

providing at least an estimate of the closing costs to the borrower.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

providing the credit grading information to the borrower.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing the credit grading to one of the lenders using identifying indicia that conceals the borrower'"'"'s identity from the lender with notice to the lender of such concealment.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining a credit grading is performed by comparing borrower information to the objective criteria of a plurality of said lenders and is performed using a searchable computer database that contains the objective criteria and compares information from the borrower to the objective criteria.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining closing costs is performed by comparing cost information from of a plurality of providers of services associated with the closing costs using a searchable computer database that contains the cost information for such providers.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

obtaining and recording personal information from the borrower comprising reasons that the borrower wants to obtain the financing; and

wherein determining a credit grading for the borrower is based on the personal information and the financing evaluation information.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising guaranteeing to the borrower that the closing costs and loan rate will not change for a predetermined period of time.

16. A computerized system for evaluating a real estate loan that has closing costs associated with the loan, comprising:

obtaining information from the borrower sufficient to evaluate whether the borrower qualifies for the loan from at least one financial institution that provides said loans and storing said information in a first computer accessible database;

obtaining cost information relevant to the closing costs for completing the loan, the information being obtained from a plurality of businesses that provide services or goods for which the costs are incurred, the cost information being compiled by a third party who does not provide the loan, and storing said information in a second computer accessible database; and

searching the second database to provide at least an estimate of the closing costs to the borrower.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

obtaining financing evaluation information based on pre-established and objective criteria used by more than one established lender that provides financing and inputting that evaluation information into a third computer database;

determining a credit grading for the borrower based on the financing evaluation information for at least one of said lenders by comparing the borrower information from the first database with financing evaluation information in the third database to determine a credit grading, the credit grading being performed by a third party that does not provide the loan; and

providing the credit grading information to the borrower.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising providing the credit grading to one of the lenders using identifying indicia that conceals the borrower'"'"'s identity from the lender with notice to the lender that such concealment.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the closing costs are determined by comparing cost information from of a plurality of providers of services associated with the closing costs using a searchable computer database that contains the cost information for such providers.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the first and second databases reside on the same computer.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the first, second and third databases reside on the same computer.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the first, second and third databases are accessible by the same computer.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising guaranteeing to the borrower that closing costs and loan rate will not change by a predetermined amount, for a predetermined period of time.