SYSTEM FOR TRANSFERING AN INBOUND COMMUNICATION TO ONE OF A PLURALITY OF CREDIT-COUNSELING AGENCIES

• US 20070299770A1
• Filed: 07/19/2007
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Peregrin Licensing LLC (Quest Patent Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Peter K. Trzyna
• Inventors: Delinsky, William, Walker, David, Morency, Michael, Fish, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 7,860,785 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A system for referring a telephone communication to one of a plurality of financial assistance providers based on lender criteria, the method including the steps of: storing telephone numbers for a plurality of financial assistance providers in memory accessible by a digital electrical computer; obtaining lender criteria for selecting one of the financial assistance providers; storing said criteria for access by said computer; identifying a debtor; selecting one of the financial assistance providers by accessing the criteria, applying the criteria, and accessing one of the stored telephone numbers; and connecting the debtor by telephone to the one of the stored telephone numbers. The system can be used with an intermediary that detects referring information sufficient to identify a referrer identity, to select which one of several financial assistance providers to refer the inbound communication by using a computer to look up and to apply referral criteria responsive to the referrer identity, and to form and track the call referral.

Claims

1. A method of transferring an inbound communication to one of a plurality of credit-counseling agencies, the method including the steps of:

receiving an inbound communication from a debtor of a creditor in a manner sufficient to identify a referrer identity corresponding to the creditor;

selecting which one of a plurality of credit-counseling agencies to refer the inbound communication by using a computer to look up and to apply creditor'"'"'s referral criteria responsive to the referrer identity; and

connecting the inbound communication to the one of the plurality of the credit-counseling agencies in accordance with the creditor'"'"'s referral criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving is carried out with said inbound communication including a telephone connection to the debtor of the creditor having the creditor identity.

4. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the steps of:

using Automatic Number Identification to detect a telephone number; and

associating the telephone number with debtor information.

5. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the steps of:

using Dialed Number Identification Service to detect a telephone number; and

associating the telephone number with creditor information.

6. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the steps of:

receiving debtor-identifying information by telephony; and

communicating the information from said telephony to the creditor for tracking debtor payment performance with said debtor-identifying information.

7. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the step of connecting is carried out with the creditor being a bank.

8. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the step of:

providing some of said credit-counseling agencies with call activity reporting by means of a secure web site.

9. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the step of:

providing the creditor with call activity reporting.

10. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the step of:

providing a web site demonstration of said method.

11. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the step of selecting includes:

applying as said criteria a call routing triggered by a quantity of prior calls respectively placed to the credit-counseling agencies.

12. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the step of selecting includes:

applying as said criteria a call routing triggered by a detection of a debtor who has previously been referred to one of the credit-counseling agencies.

13. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the step of selecting includes:

applying as said criteria a call routing triggered by time of day.

14. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the step of selecting includes:

applying as said criteria a call routing triggered by location of the debtor.

15. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the step of selecting includes:

applying as said criteria a call routing triggered by time of day, location of the debtor, and a quantity of prior calls respectively placed to the credit-counseling agencies.

16. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the step of selecting includes:

applying as said criteria a default call routing triggered by a failure to make a first connection to one of the credit-counseling agencies.

17. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the steps of:

storing call referral information including number of calls and call duration data for each of said credit-counseling agencies; and

generating a report of said call referral information.

18. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the steps of:

storing call referral information including caller hang up data; and

generating a report of said call referral information.

19. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the steps of:

storing call referral information including attempted but uncompleted call connecting; and

generating a report of said call referral information.

20. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the step of:

generating a call referral report by time period for each of said credit-counseling agencies.

21. The method of claim 20, further including the step of:

including in the report an analysis of call referral activity by time of day.

22. The method of claim 20, further including the step of:

including in the report an analysis of call referral activity by day of week.

23. The method of claim 20, further including the step of:

including in the report an analysis of call referral activity by state of debtor.

24. The method of claim 20, further including the step of:

including in the report an analysis of uncompleted calls.

25. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the step of:

generating a call referral report including a comparison of said credit-counseling agencies.

26. The method of claim 25, further including the step of:

wherein the step of generating includes generating the call referral report including the comparison of said credit-counseling agencies by a respective one of the creditors.

27. The method of any one of claims 2 and 3, further including the step of:

using Interactive Voice Response to associate the telephone number of the debtor with the creditor information.

28. The method of any one of claims 1-3, further including:

generating a report comprising the criteria and an indication of communications carried out according to the criteria.

33. The method of any one of claims 2, 3, 32, further including the step of:

engaging accounting software to track compensation for the connecting.

3. A method of referring a telephone communication to one of a plurality of credit-counseling agencies based on creditor criteria, the method including the steps of:

storing telephone numbers of a plurality of credit-counseling agencies in memory accessible by a digital electrical computer;

obtaining creditor criteria for selecting one of the credit-counseling agencies;

storing said creditor criteria for access by said computer;

identifying creditor of a debtor;

selecting one of the credit-counseling agencies by accessing the criteria, applying the creditor criteria, and accessing one of the stored telephone numbers; and

connecting the debtor by telephone to the one of the stored telephone numbers.

29. A computer system programmed to implement a method for referring a telephone communication to one of a plurality of credit-counseling agencies based on creditor criteria, the computer system including:

a digital computer having a processor, the processor connected to store and receive signals at a memory device, to receive input signals corresponding to input information from an input device, to convert output signals into output information at an output device, the processor programmed to control the digital computer to receive the input signals and to process the input signals to produce the output signals in storing telephone numbers for a plurality of credit-counseling agencies in memory accessible by said digital computer, storing creditor criteria for selecting one of the credit-counseling agencies, identifying a debtor of the creditor in response to a telephone communication, and selecting one of the credit-counseling agencies by accessing the creditor criteria, applying the creditor criteria, and accessing one of the stored telephone numbers to connect the debtor to the one of the stored telephone numbers.

30. The computer system of claim 29, further including a telephone controlled by said digital computer to connect the debtor by telephone to the one of the stored telephone numbers.

31. A method of making a computer system to refer a telephone communication to one of a plurality of credit-counseling agencies based on creditor criteria, the method including the steps of:

providing a digital computer having a processor, the processor connected to store and receive signals at a memory device, to receive input signals corresponding to input information from an input device, to convert output signals into output information at an output device; and

programming the processor to control the digital computer to receive the input signals and to process the input signals to produce the output signals in storing telephone numbers for a plurality of credit-counseling agencies in memory accessible by said digital computer, storing creditor criteria for selecting one of the credit-counseling agencies, identifying a debtor of the creditor in response to a telephone communication, and selecting one of the credit-counseling agencies by accessing the creditor criteria, applying the creditor criteria, and accessing one of the stored telephone numbers to connect the debtor to the one of the stored telephone numbers.

32. A computerized method of providing call referral activity reporting at an Internet address, the method including the steps of:

generating call referral data by receiving an inbound telephone communication from a debtor of a creditor in a manner sufficient to identify a referrer identity corresponding to the creditor, selecting which one of a plurality of credit-counseling agencies to refer the inbound communication by using a computer to look up and to apply creditor referral criteria responsive to the creditor identity, and connecting the inbound communication to the one of the plurality of the credit-counseling agencies in accordance with the creditor referral criteria; and

posting call referral data to the Internet web address.