Allocating funds for payment of transactional account statements

• US 20050075975A1
• Filed: 10/02/2003
• Published: 04/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: In2m Corp.
• Original Assignee: In2m Corp.
• Inventors: Higbee, Dennis L., Neddo, David W., Smith, Steven B., Rosner, Warren M.
• Application Number:
  US10/677,608
• Publication Number:
  US 20050075975A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• 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 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing electronic management of transactional accounts. A computer device is used to provide financial resource allocation and accountability among various groups of accounts, including source accounts and transactional accounts. When a user employs a transactional account to make a purchase, the amount of the purchase is electronically set aside, frozen or otherwise held from a source account and preserved until a payment is required for the transactional account at the close of a billing period. Accordingly, when a payment for the transactional account is required, funds are available for full payment of all purchases made during the billing cycle, thereby affording financial discipline to the user.

Claims

1. In a system that includes a computer device, a method for allocating funds for payment of a transactional account statement, the method comprising the steps for:

using a transactional account to make a first purchase;

electronically reserving a first amount of funds available from a first source account for use in making a transactional account payment, wherein the first amount allocated corresponds to the first purchase;

receiving a request to pay the transactional account payment; and

using the first amount allocated to pay the transactional account payment.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps for:

using the transactional account to make a second purchase;

electronically reserving a second amount of funds available from a second source account for use in making the transactional account payment, wherein the second amount allocated corresponds to the second purchase; and

using the first and second amounts allocated to pay the transactional account payment.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the second source account is the first source account.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transactional account is one of:

(i) a credit account; and

(ii) an equity account.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first source account is one of:

(i) a savings account;

(ii) a checking account; and

(iii) an investment account.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step for using a transactional account to make a first purchase comprises the step for using the computer device to provide transactional information corresponding to the transactional account to a vendor to make the first purchase.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step for using a transactional account to make a first purchase comprises entering an amount of the first purchase into the computer device to track purchases make by the transactional account.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step for electronically reserving a first amount of funds comprises the steps for:

identifying the first source account; and

determining whether the first source account includes sufficient available funds to cover the first amount of funds.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step for electronically reserving a first amount of funds comprises at least one of the steps for:

designating the first amount of funds for use in making the transactional account payment; and

placing a the first amount of funds into a holding account until payment of the transactional account is made.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the request is an electronic request received by the computer device.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the request is an entry made by a user after receipt of the transactional account statement.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step for using the first amount allocated to pay the transactional account payment includes the step for making an electronic transfer of funds from the first source account to the transaction account.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step for electronically reserving a first amount of funds further comprises the steps for:

using a server to capture the purchase from a financial institution;

downloading the purchase from the server to the computer device; and

assigning purchase to the first source account.

14. A system for selectively allocating funds for payment of a transactional account statement, the system comprising:

a transactional account configured for use in making purchases;

a source account that includes available funds; and

a computer device that is configured to reserve a purchase price from available funds of the source account each time the transactional account is used to make a purchase, and wherein the computer device is configured to use the sum total of the reservations made on the available funds during a billing period for payment of the transactional account for the billing period.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the transactional account is base on one of:

(i) credit; and

(ii) equity.

16. A computer program product for implementing within a computer system a method for allocating funds for payment of a transactional account, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium for providing computer program code means utilized to implement the method, wherein the computer program code means is comprised of executable code for implementing the step for;

electronically reserving a first amount of funds available from a first source account for use in making a transactional account payment, wherein the first amount allocated corresponds to a purchase made using a transactional account.

17. The computer program product as recited in claim 16, further comprising executable code for implementing the steps for:

providing first transactional information corresponding to the transactional account to make a first purchase;

receiving a request to pay the transactional account payment; and

using the first amount allocated to pay the transactional account payment.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising executable code for implementing the steps for:

providing second transactional information corresponding to the transactional account to make a second purchase;

electronically reserving a second amount of funds available from a second source account for use in making the transactional account payment, wherein the second amount allocated corresponds to the second purchase; and

using the first and second amounts allocated to pay the transactional account payment.

19. The computer program product as recited in claim 16, wherein the step for electronically reserving a first amount of funds comprises the steps for:

identifying a source account; and

determining whether the source account includes sufficient available funds to cover the first amount of funds.

20. The computer program product as recited in claim 16, wherein the step for electronically reserving a first amount of funds comprises at least one of the steps for:

designating the first amount of funds for use in making a transactional account payment; and

placing a the first amount of funds into a holding account until payment of the transactional account is made.