Transfer Account Systems, Computer Program Products, And Associated Computer-Implemented Methods

• US 20090164370A1
• Filed: 12/18/2008
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pathward National Association
• Original Assignee: MetaBank (Meta Financial Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Sorbe, Trent, Larson, Troy
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• 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 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• 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 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A financial institution computer maintains a list of account identifiers for accounts enrolled in a prioritized payment program including pre-authorization of certain payment requests by select creditors. The computer estimates a value of prioritized payments and authorizes a sweep payment to the customer account from a stand-in account at a payroll processor, so that the estimated value is held back in the stand-in account. The financial institution computer then receives an incoming ACH file, including an automatic deposit destined for the customer account. The computer generates an outgoing ACH file with both an entry for an automatic deposit destined for the customer account and an entry for a pre-authorized prioritized payment to a select creditor, so that the automatic deposit is credited and relatively instantaneously any prioritized payment is debited from the customer account. The customer account can be, for example, a demand deposit account or a prepaid card account.

Claims

1. A system for providing prioritized payments from the proceeds of automatic deposits, the system comprising:

a computer associated with a first financial institution defining a financial institution computer, the financial institution computer having memory, associated with an electronic communications network, and positioned to receive, process, and send an Automated Clearing House (ACH) file; and

a computer program product associated with the financial institution computer, stored on a tangible computer memory media, operable on a computer, and used to provide prioritized payments, the computer program product comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the operations of;

maintaining one or more lists of account identifiers for accounts enrolled in a prioritized payment program by a computer associated with a first financial institution defining a financial institution computer, the prioritized payment program including pre-authorization of certain payment requests by one or more select creditors,

estimating a value of one or more prioritized payments associated with a customer account at a second financial institution by the financial institution computer, the prioritized payments being responsive to one or more unfilled pre-authorized payment requests by the one or more select creditors,

authorizing a payment to the customer account at the second financial institution from a stand-in account at a payroll processor by the financial institution computer, the payment responsive to the estimated value of the one or more prioritized payments, so that the estimated value of the one or more prioritized payments is held back in the stand-in account at the payroll processor to thereby define an estimated sweep payment,

receiving an incoming ACH file by the financial institution computer, the ACH file including one or more account identifiers associated with a deposit being a payment that is electronically deposited into an account at a depository institution defining an automatic deposit, the automatic deposit destined for the customer account at the second financial institution,

comparing by the financial institution computer the one or more of the account identifiers in the incoming ACH file with the maintained one or more lists of the account identifiers for accounts enrolled in the prioritized payment program, and

appending to an ACH file one or more prioritized payments from the customer account at the second financial institution to one or more select creditors by the financial institution computer to thereby define an outgoing ACH file, the outgoing ACH file being responsive to the incoming ACH file, the one or more prioritized payments being responsive to one or more unfilled pre-authorized payment requests by the one or more select creditors, so that the automatic deposit is credited to the customer account at the second financial institution and relatively instantaneously any prioritized payment to the one or more select creditors is debited from the customer account at the second financial institution.

2. A system of claim 1, wherein the second financial institution is a prepaid card processor, and wherein the customer account at the second financial institution is a prepaid card account so that a customer has relatively no time to access the prepaid card without the debit from the creditor having already occurred and a net amount is all that is available on the prepaid card.

3. A system of claim 1, wherein the customer account at the second financial institution is one or more of the following:

a demand deposit account, a checking account, a savings account, a money market account, and a brokerage account.

4. A system of claim 1, wherein a payment request by the one or more select creditors is initiated in response to a query from the financial institution computer after notification that the incoming ACH file includes one or more accounts enrolled in the prioritized payment program.

20. A computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the first financial institution is a federally-chartered bank subject to federal banking laws and regulations and not subject to state banking laws and regulations.

5. A computer program product associated with a financial institution computer, stored on a tangible computer memory media, operable on a computer, and used to provide prioritized payments, the computer program product comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the financial institution computer, cause the computer to perform the operations of:

maintaining one or more lists of account identifiers for accounts enrolled in a prioritized payment program by a computer associated with a first financial institution defining a financial institution computer, the prioritized payment program including pre-authorization of certain payment requests by one or more select creditors;

estimating a value of one or more prioritized payments associated with a customer account at a second financial institution by the financial institution computer, the prioritized payments being responsive to one or more unfilled pre-authorized payment requests by the one or more select creditors;

authorizing a payment to the customer account at the second financial institution from a stand-in account at a payroll processor by the financial institution computer, the payment responsive to the estimated value of the one or more prioritized payments, so that the estimated value of the one or more prioritized payments is held back in the stand-in account at the payroll processor to thereby define an estimated sweep payment;

receiving an incoming Automated Clearing House (ACH) file by the financial institution computer, the ACH file including one or more account identifiers associated with a deposit being a payment that is electronically deposited into an account at a depository institution defining an automatic deposit, the automatic deposit destined for the customer account at the second financial institution;

comparing by the financial institution computer the one or more of the account identifiers in the incoming ACH file with the maintained one or more lists of the account identifiers for accounts enrolled in the prioritized payment program; and

appending to an ACH file one or more prioritized payments from the customer account at the second financial institution to one or more select creditors by the financial institution computer to thereby define an outgoing ACH file, the outgoing ACH file being responsive to the incoming ACH file, the one or more prioritized payments being responsive to one or more unfilled pre-authorized payment requests by the one or more select creditors, so that the automatic deposit is credited to the customer account at the second financial institution and relatively instantaneously any prioritized payment to the one or more select creditors is debited from the customer account at the second financial institution.

6. A computer program product of claim 5, wherein the customer account at the second financial institution is one or more of the following:

a demand deposit account, a checking account, a savings account, a money market account, a brokerage account, and an account associated with a prepaid card; and

wherein the outgoing ACH file is directed to a second computer associated with the second financial institution so that a customer has relatively no time to access the customer account without the debit from the creditor having already occurred and a net amount is all that is available in the customer account.

7. A computer program product of claim 5, wherein a payment request by the one or more select creditors is initiated in response to a query from the financial institution computer after notification that the incoming ACH file includes one or more accounts enrolled in the prioritized payment program.

8. A computer program product of claim 5, wherein the automatic deposit includes one or more of the following:

an employer-initiated direct deposit of payroll, a government-initiated electronic transfer of benefits payment, and a bank-initiated payment to a merchant for credit card sales.

9. A computer program product of claim 5, wherein the prioritized payment program further includes customer-initiated payments, including one or more of the following:

a gift card purchase, a remittance to family located outside a country where a customer account holder is located, and a bill payment to a third-party.

10. A computer program product of claim 5, further comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the operations of:

generating fees for the first financial institution for the one or more prioritized payments from the customer account at the second financial institution to one or more select creditors.

11. A computer program product of claim 5, wherein enrollment of an account in the prioritized payment program on the financial institution computer is required as a condition of a transaction with a select creditor.

12. A computer program product of claim 5, wherein the first financial institution is a federally-chartered bank subject to federal banking laws and regulations and not subject to state banking laws and regulations.

13. A computer-implemented method of providing prioritized payments from the proceeds of an automatic deposit, the computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining one or more lists of account identifiers for accounts enrolled in a prioritized payment program by a computer associated with a first financial institution defining a financial institution computer, the prioritized payment program including pre-authorization of certain payment requests by one or more select creditors;

estimating a value of one or more prioritized payments associated with a customer account at a second financial institution by the financial institution computer, the prioritized payments being responsive to one or more unfilled pro-authorized payment requests by the one or more select creditors;

authorizing a payment to the customer account at the second financial institution from a stand-in account at a payroll processor by the financial institution computer, the payment responsive to the estimated value of the one or more prioritized payments, so that the estimated value of the one or more prioritized payments is held back in the stand-in account at the payroll processor to thereby define an estimated sweep payment;

receiving an incoming Automated Clearing House (ACH) file by the financial institution computer through an ACH electronic data communication network, the ACH file including one or more account identifiers associated with a deposit being a payment that is electronically deposited into an account at a depository institution defining an automatic deposit, the automatic deposit destined for the customer account at the second financial institution;

comparing by the financial institution computer the one or more of the account identifiers in the incoming ACH file with the maintained one or more lists of the account identifiers for accounts enrolled in the prioritized payment program; and

appending to an outgoing ACH file one or more prioritized payments from the customer account at the second financial institution to one or more select creditors by the financial institution computer, the outgoing ACH file being responsive to the incoming ACH file, the prioritized payments being responsive to one or more unfilled pre-authorized payment requests by the one or more select creditors, so that the automatic deposit is credited to the customer account at the second financial institution and relatively instantaneously any prioritized payment to the one or more select creditors is debited from the customer account at the second financial institution.

14. A computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the customer account at the second financial institution is one or more of the following:

a demand deposit account, a checking account, a savings account, a money market account, a brokerage account, and an account associated with a prepaid card; and

wherein the outgoing ACH file is directed to a second computer associated with the second financial institution so that a customer has relatively no time to access the customer account without the debit from the creditor having already occurred and a net amount is all that is available in the customer account.

15. A computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein a payment request by the one or more select creditors is initiated in response to a query from the financial institution computer after notification that the incoming ACH file includes one or more accounts enrolled in the prioritized payment program.

16. A computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the automatic deposit includes one or more of the following:

an employer-initiated direct deposit of payroll, a government-initiated electronic transfer of benefits payment, and a bank-initiated payment to a merchant for credit card sales.

17. A computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the prioritized payment program further includes customer-initiated payments, including one or more of the following:

a gift card purchase, a remittance to family located outside a country where a customer account holder is located, and a bill payment to a third-party.

18. A computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising generating fees for the first financial institution by the financial institution computer for the one or more prioritized payments from the customer account at the second financial institution to one or more select creditors.

19. A computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising requiring enrollment of an account in the prioritized payment program on the financial institution computer as a condition of a transaction with a select creditor.