PAY YOURSELF FIRST WITH COMMUNITY KNOWLEDGE

• US 20100198724A1
• Filed: 04/08/2010
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Consumer and Merchant Awareness Foundation
• Inventors: Thomas, Tracey R.
• Application Number:
  US12/756,346
• Publication Number:
  US 20100198724A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• 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 determines a community recommendation based upon community knowledge. The users consider the community recommendation when the users determine the largest amounts possible to pay to themselves, 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, the community recommendation, 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, 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;

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;

determining, by the computer, a community recommendation based upon community knowledge and at least one of the user debt information, the plurality of debt payments, the user income information, the user savings goal information, and the plurality of penalties; and

determining, by the computer, the payment hierarchy based upon the savings amount, the plurality of penalties and the community recommendation, wherein the payment hierarchy minimizes the plurality of penalties.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the community knowledge comprises, for a plurality of users, an aggregation of data, feedback and results.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the community knowledge comprises, for a plurality of users, at least one of savings strategies, transaction histories, demographics, merchant information, debtor information, debt history, debtors, timeframes, payment terms, payment histories, penalty histories, penalty amounts, penalty rules, debt obligations, savings goals, savings accomplishments, survey results and user recommendations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the community knowledge comprises at least one of a database of user experiences, a knowledge base and an expert system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the community recommendation comprises use of at least one of deductive logic, inferential analysis, forecasting and artificial intelligence.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the community knowledge based upon at least one of the user, the savings amount, the plurality of penalties, the payment hierarchy, the community recommendation, the user income information, and the user savings goal information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating, based upon a demographic and the payment hierarchy, a rule associated with the community knowledge.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the savings amount comprises determining the savings amount based upon the community recommendation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a plurality of community recommendations to the user.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining the plurality of community recommendations based upon the community knowledge.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the presenting to the user comprises at least one of presenting a pop-up interface and presenting a side-bar information on a user interface.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the community recommendation is based at least partially upon receiving, in response to the presenting the plurality of community recommendations, user input.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a user savings goal based at least in part upon the community recommendation.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the community recommendation comprises at least one of a recommendation associated with the payment amount and a recommendation associated with the payment timing.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the community recommendation comprises a recommendation based upon at least one of a savings strategy, a debtor, a type of debt, a type of user, a type of penalty and a plurality of penalty types.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the community knowledge comprises transaction information received from at least one of an issuer, a payment processor, a merchant, a bill payment system, a third-party data provider and a service provider associated with a debt obligation.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a user interface configured to prompt the user to enter at least one of user savings goal information, user debt information and user income information.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring the savings amount to the user savings account.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to the determining the savings amount, determining a plurality of community recommendations based upon the community knowledge and the savings amount, wherein the plurality of community recommendations and the savings amount are presented to the user by a user interface.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising determining a second savings amount based upon user input selecting at least one community recommendation in the plurality of community recommendations.

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;

determine 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;

analyze, in response to the transfer of the savings amount, 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;

determine a community recommendation based upon community knowledge and at least one of the user debt information, the plurality of debt payments, the user income information, the user savings goal information, and the plurality of penalties; and

determine the payment hierarchy based upon the savings amount, the plurality of penalties and the community recommendation, 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, 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;

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;

determining, by the computer, a community recommendation based upon community knowledge and at least one of the user debt information, the plurality of debt payments, the user income information, the user savings goal information, and the plurality of penalties; and

determining, by the computer, the payment hierarchy based upon the savings amount, the plurality of penalties and the community recommendation, wherein the payment hierarchy minimizes the plurality of penalties.