AUTOMATED LENDING SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATIC DIVERSIFICATION AND CONTRACT EXECUTION AND SPONSORSHIPS

• US 20090076971A1
• Filed: 09/19/2008
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Prosper Marketplace, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Prosper Marketplace, Inc.
• Inventors: Witchel, John, Larsen, Christian
• Application Number:
  US12/234,224
• Publication Number:
  US 20090076971A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• 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 40/03 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 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

In the disclosed computerized lending systems, terms of contracts are coordinated between a plurality of parties, each of which operate party client systems to interface to the electronic transaction processing system, including a database of transactions representing contracts, parties to the contracts and at least essential terms of the contracts. Signaling to each of the parties can be done without identifying each party to the other, including throughout execution of the contract. The logic to coordinate can be contract term negotiating logic and/or auction logic and the binding contract can be a loan contract, with the loans being obtained through an auction process directly between lender and borrower. A lender might have a standing order that can be filled with loans to multiple borrowers, to provide diversification. Contracts and loans can be represented by sponsors, wherein a sponsor might introduce a borrower to the system as well as be part of the process of default management for the borrowers that sponsor brings to the table. Reputations might be tracked and used in contract term negotiating, including reputations of borrowers and reputation of sponsors who sponsor borrowers. Reputation values of sponsors might relate to performance of loans of borrowers sponsored by those sponsors. Risk mitigation might occur by way of personal relationships between borrowers and sponsors.

Claims

1. An electronic transaction processing system for coordinating terms of contracts between a plurality of parties, each of which operate party client systems to interface to the electronic transaction processing system, including a database of transactions representing contracts, parties to the contracts and at least essential terms of the contracts, the system comprising:

logic for accepting party identification information of a first party from a first party client system and party identification information of a second party from a second party client system, the parties including at least borrowers and lenders;

logic for gathering and asserting creditworthiness of borrowers;

logic for determining essential terms of a transaction based on creditworthiness of borrowers;

logic for coordinating agreements between borrowers and lenders using an auction process;

logic to coordinate identification of at least the essential terms of a contract to be made between the first party and the second party;

logic for detecting assent of each party, via their respective party client systems, to at least the essential terms of the contract;

signaling to each of the first party and the second party the existence of a binding contract between the first party and the second party; and

logic for coordinating execution of executable terms of the binding contract.

2. The electronic transaction processing system of claim 1, wherein the logic for gathering and asserting creditworthiness of borrowers operates in dependence upon group associations, such that a borrower'"'"'s asserted creditworthiness depends on a rating of a sponsor of a group in which the borrower is a member.