Client-server architecture for managing customer vehicle leasing

• US 20060218085A1
• Filed: 03/25/2005
• Published: 09/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Crawford Group Incorporated (Jack Taylor Family Voting Trust U A D 4 14 99)
• Original Assignee: The Crawford Group Incorporated (Jack Taylor Family Voting Trust U A D 4 14 99)
• Inventors: McDaris, Mark E., Schuchardt, Jeff D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,685,063 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A system for managing a credit profile for a customer having a fleet of leased vehicles, the system comprising: (a) a client computer; (b) a server in communication with the client computer; and (c) a database in communication with the server, the database being configured to store a plurality of customer credit profiles, each customer credit profile comprising a credit limit for a customer and a leased vehicle limit for a customer, the credit limit corresponding to a maximum amount of monetary credit that has been authorized for extension to the customer, the leased vehicle limit corresponding to a maximum number of leased vehicles that are authorized for the customer'"'"'s leased vehicle fleet; and wherein the server is configured to (1) provide a plurality of GUIs for display on the client computer, wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to submit a request for a change to a customer'"'"'s credit profile in response to user input, at least one of the GUIs is configured to display at least a portion of the customer'"'"'s credit profile in response to user input, and at least one of the GUIs is configured to receive input from the user corresponding to an action to take on the submitted request, and (2) update the customer'"'"'s credit profile in accordance with the action input. Also disclosed herein is a method for managing a credit profile for a customer having a fleet of leased vehicles.

Claims

1. A system configured for managing a plurality of credit profiles for a plurality of customers by a user, each of said customers having a fleet of leased vehicles, the system comprising:

a client computer for the user'"'"'s use;

a server in communication with the client computer; and

a database in communication with the server and thus the user through the client computer, the database being configured to store a plurality of customer credit profiles; and

wherein the server is configured to (1) provide a plurality of GUIs for display on the client computer, at least one of the GUIs being configured to receive data from the user corresponding to a request for a change to one of said customer'"'"'s credit profiles in response to user input, at least one of the GUIs being configured to display at least a portion of one of said customer'"'"'s credit profiles in response to user input, and at least one of the GUIs being configured to receive input from the user corresponding to an action to take on the submitted request, and (2) update the customer'"'"'s credit profile in accordance with the received action input.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein each credit profile comprises a credit limit and a vehicle limit, and wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display a selected customer credit profile'"'"'s current credit limit, the selected customer credit profile'"'"'s current vehicle limit, a field for user entry of a requested credit limit for the selected customer credit profile, and a field for user entry of a requested vehicle limit for the selected customer credit profile.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises a per vehicle credit limit that represents a maximum amount of credit authorized for any given vehicle in the customer'"'"'s fleet, and wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display the customer credit profile'"'"'s current per vehicle credit limit and a field for user entry of a requested per vehicle credit limit for the customer credit profile.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises a per vehicle aftermarket equipment (AME) credit limit that represents a maximum amount of credit authorized for AME for any given vehicle in the customer'"'"'s fleet, and wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display the customer credit profile'"'"'s current AME credit limit and a field for user entry of a requested AME credit limit for the customer credit profile.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises a maximum maintenance management amount, and wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display the customer credit profile'"'"'s current maximum maintenance management amount and a field for user entry of a requested maximum maintenance management amount for the customer credit profile.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises a maximum risk management amount, and wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display the customer credit profile'"'"'s current maximum risk management amount and a field for user entry of a requested maximum risk management amount for the customer credit profile.

7. The system of claim 3 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises a plurality of lease term depreciation percentages applicable to a plurality of lease months, and wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display the customer credit profile'"'"'s current lease term depreciation percentages and a plurality of fields for user entry of a plurality of requested lease term depreciation percentages for the customer credit profile.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises a credit rating that represents a level of scrutiny that will applied to credit checks applied to a leased vehicle order by the customer, and wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display the customer credit profile'"'"'s credit rating, and a field for user entry of a requested credit rating for the customer credit profile.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured with a plurality of fields for user entry of lease data by vehicle class for leased vehicles in a customer'"'"'s planned vehicle fleet.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display a calculated risk amount corresponding to a planned leased vehicle fleet for the customer.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display a calculated risk amount corresponding to current leased vehicles in the customer'"'"'s leased vehicle fleet and a calculated risk amount corresponding to leased vehicles that are planned for delivery to the customer'"'"'s leased vehicle fleet.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display a calculated risk amount corresponding to current leased vehicles in the customer'"'"'s leased vehicle fleet and a calculated risk amount corresponding to leased vehicles that are planned for delivery to the customer'"'"'s leased vehicle fleet, and wherein that at least one GUI is further configured to allow the user to modify at least one of the displayed risk amounts.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to allow the user to initiate a credit review for a customer'"'"'s credit profile and specify a type of credit review that is to be undertaken.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the credit review type comprises a credit review for at least one selected from the group consisting of a requested increase in credit limit and a requested increase in vehicle limit.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises a credit rating that represents a level of scrutiny that will applied to credit checks applied to a leased vehicle order by the customer, and wherein the credit review type comprises a credit review for a requested change in credit rating.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to allow the user to schedule a future credit review for the customer'"'"'s credit profile.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein at least a plurality of credit profiles are applicable to a plurality of master customers, each master customer comprising at least one subcustomer, each subcustomer also having its own leased vehicle fleet, wherein the database is not configured to store credit profiles that are unique to subcustomers.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises financial information for the customer and an identifier associated with that financial information that represents a level of scrutiny applied to that financial information by an external auditor, and wherein at least one of the GUIs is configured to display the credit profile'"'"'s financial information and the identifier associated therewith.

19. A method for user management of a plurality of customer credit profiles, at least one of said customers having a fleet of leased vehicles, the method comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can submit a request to review a proposed change to a customer'"'"'s stored credit profile;

providing at least one GUI through which a user can view data stored in a customer'"'"'s credit profile in response to a submitted credit review request;

providing at least one GUI through which a user can provide input corresponding to an approval or rejection of the credit profile change request; and

updating the customer'"'"'s stored credit profile in accordance with the user'"'"'s approval or rejection input.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the credit profile comprises a credit limit, and wherein the credit profile change request comprises a change in the credit profile'"'"'s credit limit.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the credit profile comprises a vehicle limit, and wherein the credit profile change request comprises a change in the credit profile'"'"'s vehicle limit.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the credit profile comprises a credit limit and a vehicle limit, the method further comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can selectively choose to request a change in either or both of the customer'"'"'s credit limit and the customer'"'"'s vehicle limit.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can view the customer credit profile'"'"'s current credit limit and current vehicle limit.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of a per vehicle credit limit that represents a maximum amount of credit authorized for any given vehicle in the customer'"'"'s fleet, a per vehicle aftermarket equipment (AME) credit limit that represents a maximum amount of credit authorized for AME for any given vehicle in the customer'"'"'s fleet, a maximum maintenance management amount, and a maximum risk management amount, the method further comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can request a change to the at least one member selected from the group.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises a plurality of lease term depreciation percentages applicable to a plurality of lease months, the method further comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can request a change to at least one of the credit profile'"'"'s lease term depreciation percentages.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises a credit rating that represents a level of scrutiny that will applied to a credit check applied to a leased vehicle order by the customer, the method further comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can request a change to the credit profile'"'"'s credit rating.

27. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can enter lease data broken down by vehicle class for leased vehicles in a customer'"'"'s planned vehicle fleet, the entered lease data for display to a user when that user is evaluating the credit profile change request.

28. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can specify a type of credit review to be performed on a customer'"'"'s credit profile.

29. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can view a calculated risk amount corresponding to current leased vehicles in the customer'"'"'s leased vehicle fleet and a calculated risk amount corresponding to leased vehicles that are planned for delivery to the customer'"'"'s leased vehicle fleet, and wherein that at least one GUI is further configured to allow the user to modify at least one of the displayed risk amounts.

30. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user provide input corresponding to scheduling a future credit review for the customer'"'"'s credit profile; and

scheduling a future credit review for the customer'"'"'s credit profile in response to scheduling input received from the user,.

31. The method of claim 19 further comprising storing a master customer credit profile that serves as the credit profile for a master customer and each subcustomer of the master customer.

32. The method of claim 19 wherein the customer credit profile further comprises financial information for the customer and an identifier associated with that financial information that represents a level of scrutiny applied to that financial information by an external auditor, the method further comprising:

providing at least GUI that is configured to display the credit profile'"'"'s financial information and the identifier associated therewith.

33. A method for user management of credit for a plurality of fleet customers, each fleet customer having a fleet of leased vehicles, the method comprising:

providing at least one GUI through which a user can submit a request to review a proposed change to a customer'"'"'s stored credit information, the stored credit information comprising financial data about the customer and an identifier associated with the financial data that corresponds to a level of scrutiny applied to the financial data;

providing at least one GUI through which a user can view the customer credit information'"'"'s financial data and the identifier associated therewith;

providing at least one GUI through which a user can provide input corresponding to an approval or rejection of the credit information change request; and

updating the customer'"'"'s stored credit information in accordance with the user'"'"'s approval or rejection input.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the identifier corresponds to a level of scrutiny applied to the financial data by an external party.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein a plurality of different identifiers are available for association with each customer'"'"'s financial information, the plurality of identifiers comprising an identifier that indicates the financial data has been reviewed but not fully audited by an external auditor and at least one identifier that indicates the financial data has not been reviewed by an external auditor.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the plurality of identifiers further comprise an identifier that indicates the financial data is a tax return.

37. The method of claim 33 wherein each of a plurality of users has an assigned approval limit, the method further comprising:

assigning a credit information review for a credit information change request to a user at least partially on the basis of the user'"'"'s assigned approval limit.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the assigned approval limit comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a per customer maximum vehicle limit and a per customer maximum credit limit.