SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING ACH TRANSACTION NOTIFICATION AND FACILITATING ACH TRANSACTION DISPUTES

• US 20090177562A1
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alkami Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: David Peace, Deborah Peace
• Inventors: Peace, Deborah, Peace, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,974,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• 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 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• 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 system and method for identifying incoming ACH transactions involving subscriber accounts at a financial institution, comparing the ACH transaction details with preset notification criteria, suspending any ACH transaction that satisfy the preset criteria so that the transaction does not post to the account, notifying the subscriber of the incoming ACH transaction, providing the subscriber with the option to either authorize or dispute the ACH transaction, and facilitating the dispute process according to applicable banking rules by requesting further information from the subscriber and forwarding the dispute information to the ACH operator.

Claims

1. A method of protecting account holders against fraudulent transactions, comprising the steps of:

receiving an election of notification criteria from an account holder through a data input device, wherein the notification criteria relates to characteristics of financial transactions that involve an account in a financial institution;

receiving transaction data through the data input device wherein the transaction data is associated with an underlying financial transaction involving the account;

comparing the transaction data with the notification criteria elected by the account holder;

suspending the underlying transaction associated with the transaction data if the notification criteria is satisfied, wherein suspension prevents the underlying transaction from affecting the account;

notifying the account holder of the underlying transaction associated with the transaction data; and

querying the account holder as to whether the underlying transaction is disputed, wherein further information as required by any applicable rules is requested from the account holder if a dispute of the underlying transaction is indicated by the account holder.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing a listing of characteristics relating to transactions to the account holder; and

receiving an election of listed characteristics from the account holder.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the elected notification criteria in a database.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the underlying transaction is an ACH transaction.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the transaction data comprises the amount of money involved in the underlying transaction, the parties involved in the underlying transaction and an SEC code associated with the transaction.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the notification criteria further comprises the means by which the account holder is to be notified.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step of notifying the account holder of the underlying transaction associated with the transaction data further comprises notifying the account holder of the underlying transaction associated with the transaction data in accordance with the notification criteria.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of querying the account holder as to whether the underlying transaction is authorized, wherein the underlying transaction is unsuspended if authorization is received from the account holder.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

querying the account holder as to whether transactions of substantially similar characteristics are to be automatically authorized in the future;

receiving a response by the account holder, wherein the response includes an election of characteristics; and

changing the notification criteria based on the election of characteristics in the response.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of permitting the underlying transaction to affect the account if a dispute of the underlying transaction is not indicated by the account holder within a preset period of time after notifying the account holder of the underlying transaction.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether an underlying transaction involves an account holder having elected notification criteria; and

permitting the transaction to proceed if the transaction involves an account holder without elected notification criteria.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of notifying the account holder of the underlying transaction associated with the transaction data comprises sending an e-mail to the account holder.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps

receiving the further information requested from the account holder;

formatting the further information received pursuant to any applicable rules; and

transmitting the formatted information to the sender of the transaction data.

14. A system of protecting account holders against fraudulent transactions, comprising:

a data input device configured for;

i) receiving an election of notification criteria from an account holder, wherein the notification criteria relates to characteristics of financial transactions that involve an account in a financial institution;

ii) receiving transaction data through the data input device wherein the transaction data is associated with an underlying transaction involving the account;

a data processing device configured for;

i) comparing the transaction data with the notification criteria elected by the account holder

ii) suspending the underlying transaction associated with the transaction data if the notification criteria is satisfied, wherein suspension prevents the transaction from affecting the account;

a data output device configured for;

i) notifying the account holder of the underlying transaction associated with the transaction data; and

ii) querying the account holder as to whether the underlying transaction is disputed, wherein further information as required by any applicable rules is requested from the account holder if a dispute of the underlying transaction is indicated by the account holder.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the data input device is further configured for receiving the further information requested from the account holder.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a database for storing the elected notification criteria and further information received from the account holder.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the data processing device is further configured for formatting the further information received pursuant to any applicable rules and the data output device is further configured for transmitting the formatted information to the sender of the transaction data.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the underlying transaction is an ACH transaction.

19. A method of providing transaction processors with an ACH transaction alerting system, comprising the steps of:

receiving elections of notification criteria relating to a financial account managed by a financial institution and held by an account holder;

receiving transaction data from a sender wherein the transaction data is associated with an underlying transaction involving the financial account;

comparing the transaction data with the notification criteria relating to the financial account;

suspending the underlying transaction associated with the transaction data if the notification criteria is satisfied, wherein suspension of the underlying transaction prevents the transaction from posting to the financial account;

notifying the account holder of the underlying transaction associated with the transaction data;

querying the account holder as to whether the underlying transaction is disputed, wherein if the transaction is disputed, then further information is requested from the account holder regarding the reason for disputing the transaction;

permitting the underlying transaction to post to the financial account if the further information requested is not received within a preset period of time; and

transmitting the reason for disputing the transaction to the sender of the transaction data.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising the step of querying the account holder as to whether the underlying transaction is authorized, wherein the underlying transaction is unsuspended if authorization is received from the account holder.

21. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein adapted to be executed to implement a method for protecting account holders against fraudulent transactions, wherein the computer readable program code is configured for:

providing an interface for an account holder to submit notification criteria, wherein the notification criteria relates to characteristics of financial transactions that involve an account in a financial institution and the account holder'"'"'s notification preferences;

analyzing incoming transaction data, wherein the transaction data is associated with an underlying financial transaction involving the account;

comparing the transaction data with the notification criteria;

notifying the account holder of the underlying transaction according to the notification preferences if the underlying transaction satisfies the notification criteria;

providing an interface configured for querying the account holder as to whether the underlying transaction is disputed and receiving a response thereto;

providing an interface for querying the account holder to obtain dispute information required by any applicable rules if a dispute of the underlying transaction is received by the account holder and receiving a response thereto;

releasing the transaction data to the financial institution if the underlying transaction is not disputed by the account holder; and

releasing the dispute information to the financial institution to facilitate the dispute process.