Method and Apparatus for Managing Transactions

• US 20080086403A1
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Published: 04/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CashEdge Incorporated (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CashEdge Incorporated (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Dilip, Venkatachari, Dheer, Sanjeev, Sunderji, Amir, Singh, Param
• Granted Patent: US 8,229,850 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• 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 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 Electronic credentials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system receives account access information from a user. The account is then accessed using the received access information. Data is harvested from a web page associated with the account or received from another financial data source. The user'"'"'s ability to access the account is authenticated based on the obtained information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving account access information from a user;

accessing the account using the received access information;

harvesting data from a web page associated with the account; and

authenticating the user'"'"'s ability to access the account based on the obtained information.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising determining a risk associated with the user.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising verifying a user identity based on information provided by the user.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising verifying a user identity based on information provided by a credit reporting service.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising handling financial transactions initiated by the user and associated with the account.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising handling financial transactions initiated by the user and associated with the account if the user'"'"'s ability to access the account is authenticated.

7. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein authenticating the user'"'"'s ability to access the account includes comprises verifying the user'"'"'s social security number.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein authenticating the user'"'"'s ability to access the account includes verifying the user'"'"'s driver'"'"'s license number.

9. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising initiating a trial deposit into the account to further authenticate the user'"'"'s ability to access the account.

10. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the account is a financial account.

11. A method as recited in claim 10 further comprising requesting a cancelled check associated with the financial account to further authenticate the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account.

12. One or more computer-readable memories containing a computer program that is executable by a processor to perform the method recited in claim 1.

13. A method comprising:

receiving financial account access information from a user;

obtaining information regarding the financial account from a financial data source; and

authenticating the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account based on the obtained information.

14. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising determining a risk associated with the user.

15. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising verifying a user identity based on information provided by the user.

16. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising verifying a user identity based on information provided by a third-party source comprising a credit reporting service.

17. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising handling financial transactions initiated by the user and associated with the financial account.

18. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising handling financial transactions initiated by the user and associated with the financial account if the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account is authenticated.

19. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein authenticating the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account comprises verifying the user'"'"'s social security number.

20. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein authenticating the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account includes verifying the user'"'"'s driver'"'"'s license number.

21. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising initiating a trial transfer to further authenticate the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account.

22. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising requesting a cancelled check associated with the financial account to further authenticate the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account.

23. One or more computer-readable memories containing a computer program that is executable by a processor to perform the method recited in claim 13.

24. A method of authenticating a user'"'"'s ability to access a financial account, the method comprising:

making a first transfer associated with the financial account;

requesting the user to identify the amount of the first transfer;

confirming the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account if the user correctly identifies the amount of the first transfer; and

denying the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account if the user does not correctly identify the amount of the first transfer.

25. A method as recited in claim 24 wherein the first transfer is a credit transfer.

26. A method as recited in claim 24 wherein the first transfer is a debit transfer.

27. A method as recited in claim 24 further comprising making a second transfer associated with the financial account and requesting the user to identify the amount of the second transfer.

28. A method as recited in claim 27 further comprising confirming the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account if the user correctly identifies the amount of the first transfer and the amount of the second transfer.

29. A method as recited in claim 27 further comprising harvesting data from a web page associated with the financial account and authenticating the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account based on data harvested from the web page associated with the financial account.

30. A method as recited in claim 27 further comprising retrieving data from a financial data server associated with the financial account and authenticating the user'"'"'s ability to access the financial account based on data retrieved from the financial data server associated with the financial account.

31. A user authentication method for allowing the user access to a user account at one of a plurality of financial institutions, the method comprising:

a third-party financial management system collecting user information;

the third-party financial management system collecting user financial account information, wherein the third-party financial management system is coupled among the user and the plurality of financial institutions via at least one network;

the third-party financial management system collecting information about the plurality of financial institutions;

defining a set of authentication rules to authenticate the user;

the third-party financial management system receiving a request from the user to access a user account, wherein the request includes authentication information from the user;

the third-party financial management system applying the authentication rules to determine whether to authenticate the user;

when the user is successfully authenticated, retrieving risk information related to the user, wherein risk information comprises historical data related to user transactions;

when the user is successfully authenticated, the third-party financial management system determining whether to allow access to the user account, wherein access includes the third-party financial management system executing a requested transaction on behalf of the user.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein risk information further comprises:

average balances of user accounts;

movement of funds between user accounts; and

success rates of transactions requested involving user accounts.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein risk information further comprises:

previous transaction history;

previous session history, including duration of account access;

account set-up history;

time elapsed since last transaction;

time elapsed since account added;

affiliations of an account with other users;

comparison of a geographic location of the request and geographic locations of previous requests, including determining distance between geographic locations, times of transactions executed from particular geographic locations, and types of connections used at particular geographic locations.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein determining whether to allow access to the user account comprises allowing conditional access to the user account, comprising imposing conditions including:

changing a dollar amount limit on a transaction;

changing a settlement period for a transaction; and

requiring additional authentication procedures.

35. The method of claim 31, further comprising updating the risk information based on requested user transactions and updated user information.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein the third-party financial management system collects user financial account information from the plurality of financial institutions.

37. The method of claim 31, wherein the user information is collected in one or more manners selected from a group comprising, collecting directly from the user, collecting from an agency that holds user information, collecting from one of the plurality of financial institutions, and screen-scraping the user information via one of the at least one networks.

38. A financial management system, comprising:

a communication interface through which the financial management system communicates via at least one network with a plurality of financial institutions and with a user device;

a transaction execution module configurable to execute user-requested transactions with the plurality of financial institutions on behalf of the user; and

an authentication and risk analysis module configured to collect risk information comprising historical data related to user-requested transactions, and further configured to authenticate the user when the user requests a transaction.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the authentication and risk analysis module is further configured to define a set of authentication rules to authenticate the user, and wherein authenticating the user comprises applying the authentication rules to determine whether to authenticate the user.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein application of the authentication rules results in one or more of initiation of an additional authentication process and issuance of a one-time useable password.

41. The system of claim 39, wherein risk information further comprises:

average balances of user accounts;

movement of funds between user accounts; and

success rates of transactions requested involving user accounts.

43. The system of claim 39, wherein determining whether to authenticate the user comprises conditionally authenticating the user, comprising imposing conditions on the transaction, including:

changing a dollar amount limit on the transaction;

changing a settlement period for the transaction;

requiring additional authentication procedures; and

rerouting the transaction through another channel.

44. The system of claim 38, further comprising updating the risk information based on requested user transactions and updated user information.

45. The system of claim 38, wherein the authentication and risk analysis module collects user financial account information from the plurality of financial institutions.

46. The system of claim 38, wherein the authentication and risk analysis module collects the user information in one or more manners selected from a group comprising, collecting directly from the user, collecting from an agency that holds user information, collecting from one of the plurality of financial institutions, and screen-scraping the user information via one of the at least one networks.

47. The system of claim 38, wherein executing the user-requested transaction comprises:

in a first part of the transaction, the financial management system executing a transaction with a first financial institution;

the financial management system holding the funds from the transaction in an intermediate account owned by the financial management system at a third financial institution; and

in a second part of the transaction, the financial management system executing a transaction with a second financial institution to deposit the funds in an account at the second financial institution.

48. The system of claim 38, wherein the authentication and risk analysis module comprises:

an authentication and risk analysis engine; and

a user account information collection module coupled to the authentication and risk analysis engine, wherein the authentication and risk analysis engine is configurable to apply authentication rules and to determine a level of risk associate with a user-requested transaction.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein determining the level of risk includes computing a probability of risk.

50. The system of claim 38, wherein the authentication and risk analysis module further comprises a user an authentication analysis logic module coupled to the authentication and risk analysis engine, wherein the user authentication analysis module is configurable to develop authentication rules.

51. The system of claim 38, wherein the authentication and risk analysis module further comprises a risk analysis logic module coupled to the authentication and risk analysis engine, wherein the risk analysis module is configurable to analyze risk information.

52. The system of claim 38, wherein the authentication and risk analysis module further comprises a financial institution and market data collection module coupled to the authentication and risk analysis engine.

42. The system of 41, wherein the risk information further comprises:

previous transaction history;

previous session history, including duration of account access;

account set-up history;

time elapsed since last transaction;

time elapsed since account added;

affiliations of an account with other users;

comparison of a geographic location of the request and geographic locations of previous requests, including determining distance between geographic locations, times of transactions executed from particular geographic locations, and types of connections used at particular geographic locations.

53. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed, cause a user-authentication method to be performed, the method comprising:

a third-party financial management system collecting user information;

the third-party financial management system collecting user financial account information, wherein the third-party financial management system is coupled among the user and the plurality of financial institutions via at least one network;

the third-party financial management system collecting information about the plurality of financial institutions;

defining a set of authentication rules to authenticate the user;

the third-party financial management system receiving a request from the user to access a user account, wherein the request includes authentication information from the user;

the third-party financial management system applying the authentication rules to determine whether to authenticate the user;

when the user is successfully authenticated, retrieving risk information related to the user, wherein risk information comprises historical data related to user transactions;

when the user is successfully authenticated, the third-party financial management system determining whether to allow access to the user account, wherein access includes the third-party financial management system executing a requested transaction on behalf of the user.

54. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein risk information further comprises:

average balances of user accounts;

movement of funds between user accounts; and

success rates of transactions requested involving user accounts.

55. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein determining whether to allow access to the user account comprises allowing conditional access to the user account, comprising imposing conditions including:

changing a dollar amount limit on a transaction;

changing a settlement period for a transaction;

requiring additional authentication procedures; and

rerouting the transaction through another channel.

56. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the method further comprises updating the risk information based on requested user transactions and updated user information.

57. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the third-party financial management system collects user financial account information from the plurality of financial institutions.

58. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the user information is collected in one or more manners selected from a group comprising, collecting directly from the user, collecting from an agency that holds user information, collecting from one of the plurality of financial institutions, and screen-scraping the user information via one of the at least one networks.