PAY YOURSELF FIRST WITH USER GUIDANCE

• US 20100174645A1
• Filed: 03/01/2010
• Published: 07/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Consumer and Merchant Awareness Foundation
• Inventors: Thomas, Tracey R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,407,137 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 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• 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

Abstract

The system encourages users to not only pay themselves first, but to pay themselves first in the largest amounts possible, even if they are not able to fully pay outstanding debts. The system obtains information related to the user'"'"'s income, income sources, user'"'"'s debts (e.g., bills) and user'"'"'s goals. The system provides recommendations related to the prioritization of paying certain bills and the amount to pay for each bill based upon, for example, savings goals, minimizing penalties/fees associated with user'"'"'s debts, minimum amounts due, due dates and available income. The system and/or the user may then determine a payment hierarchy which includes transferring funds to the user'"'"'s savings account prior to paying all or a portion of certain bills, wherein the transfer of funds may include different funds transfer systems and methods.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer for determining a savings amount and a payment hierarchy, user financial information comprising user savings goal information, user debt information and user income information;

determining, by the computer and in response to the receiving, the savings amount based upon the user savings goal information and the user income information, wherein the savings amount is transferred to a user savings account, wherein the savings amount is at least a portion of user income;

validating, by the computer, the transfer of the user savings amount;

analyzing, by the computer and in response to the transfer of the savings amount, the user debt information to determine a plurality of pending debt payments;

determining, by the computer, a plurality of penalties by analyzing, for each of the plurality of pending debt payments, a penalty associated with at least one of a payment amount or a payment timing; and

determining, by the computer, the payment hierarchy based upon the savings amount, the plurality of penalties and at least one of the payment information, the user savings goal information or the user income information, wherein the payment hierarchy minimizes the plurality of penalties.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the user goal information further comprises triggering the transferring of the savings amount.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the validating is based upon a mode, wherein the mode includes rules for validating.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the mode may include a plurality of modes, wherein the rules are different for each of the plurality of modes.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the savings amount based upon at least one of user input or a predetermined rule.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user input comprises the payment amount and the payment timing, and wherein the predetermined rule is used to convert at least one of the payment amount or the payment timing to the penalty.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined rule is associated with the user savings account.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined rule at least one of minimizes a cost associated with the transferring or maximizes an efficiency associated with the transferring.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined rule is based upon user purchase data, wherein the purchase data includes at least one of:

a dollar amount, a percentage of purchase amount, or a number of transactions.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving a user approval in response to the determining the savings amount.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the transferring occurs in response to the receiving the user approval.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the transferring occurs in response to the receiving the user approval and at a time determined by at least one of:

a predetermined time period, before payment of certain bills, after payment of certain bills, or after a random time period.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a verification, wherein the verification comprises at least one of a verification from a user associated with the user savings account, or an electronic verification that the transferring to the user savings account is successful.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to a receiving a verification, transferring, based at least in part upon the payment hierarchy, at least a portion of the user income to a payee associated with a first debt, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of debt payments comprise the first debt.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a verification comprising at least one of an email or a summary of transactions associated with the user savings account.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a verification, wherein a third party reviews the verification.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving a verification, wherein a third party reviews the verification, and receiving an approval based upon the third party reviewing.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a verification, wherein a third party reviews the verification, and wherein the third party comprises at least one of a trusted friend and a third party that is at least one of rated, recommended or selected by a foundation.

19. The method of claim 5, wherein the user input is received from a user interface configured to prompt user input based upon a user input mode.

20. The method of claim 5, wherein the user input is received from a user interface configured to provide a message to a user to at least one of remind the user to enable a transfer to the user savings account or inform the user that a transfer to the user savings account increases the likelihood that the user will meet the user savings goal information.

21. A system comprising:

a network interface communicating with a memory;

the memory communicating with a processor; and

the processor, when executing a computer program, is configured to;

receive user financial information, wherein the user financial information comprises user savings goal information, user debt information and user income information;

in response to receiving the financial information, determine a savings amount based upon the user savings goal information and the user income information, wherein the savings amount is transferred to a user savings account, wherein the savings amount is at least a portion of user income;

validate, by the computer, the transfer of the user savings amount;

in response to the transfer of the savings amount, analyze the user debt information to determine a plurality of pending debt payments;

determine a plurality of penalties by analyzing, for each of the plurality of pending debt payments, a penalty associated with at least one of a payment amount or a payment timing; and

determine a payment hierarchy based upon the savings amount, the plurality of penalties and at least one of the payment information, the user savings goal information or the user income information, wherein the payment hierarchy minimizes the plurality of penalties.

22. A tangible computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer for determining a savings amount and a payment hierarchy, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the computer, user financial information comprising user savings goal information, user debt information and user income information;

determining, by the computer and in response to the receiving, the savings amount based upon the user savings goal information and the user income information, wherein the savings amount is transferred to a user savings account, wherein the savings amount is at least a portion of user income;

validating, by the computer, the transfer of the user savings amount;

analyzing, by the computer and in response to the transfer of the savings amount, the user debt information to determine a plurality of pending debt payments;

determining, by the computer, a plurality of penalties by analyzing, for each of the plurality of pending debt payments, a penalty associated with at least one of a payment amount or a payment timing; and

determining, by the computer, the payment hierarchy based upon the savings amount, the plurality of penalties and at least one of the payment information, the user savings goal information or the user income information, wherein the payment hierarchy minimizes the plurality of penalties.