Bundling Insurance Policies and Investment Accounts

• US 20150019264A1
• Filed: 07/12/2013
• Published: 01/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Roll, Leif A., Brogla, Vernon G., Hintz, Scott, Luo, Zupei, Hendren, Alan R.
• Application Number:
  US13/941,402
• Publication Number:
  US 20150019264A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Methods and systems for bundling an insurance policy and an account of an investment vehicle include determining if the policy and/or the account is eligible for inclusion in a bundled product, generating an indication of the bundled product, and causing the indication to be transmitted to a user interface and/or computing device. The eligibility determination is based on a state or status of the policy and/or a state or status of the account, and optionally is based on characteristics and/or conditions associated with the policy and/or the account. A bundling benefit may be enacted. The bundling benefit may include, for example, a discount or waiver on a fee, charge or load of the investment account, and/or a discount or waiver of a premium of the insurance policy. The insurance policy may correspond to any type of insurance, and the investment account may correspond to any type of investment vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of bundling insurance policies and investment accounts, comprising:

storing, on a program memory of one or more computing devices, a set of executable instructions; and

executing, by a processor of the one or more computing devices, the set of executable instructions, the execution of the set of executable instructions causing the one or more computing devices to perform;

determining an eligibility of a first product for bundling with a second product to form a bundled set of products for a particular person,

the first product being one of an insurance policy corresponding to the particular person or an investment account corresponding to the particular person,

the second product being the other one of the insurance policy or the investment account corresponding to the particular person,

the particular person being at least one of an insured party, an annuitant, a policy owner, a beneficiary, or a guarantor of the insurance policy, and

the particular person being at least one of an investor or an account owner of the investment account;

generating, based on the eligibility of the first product for bundling, an indication corresponding to the bundled set of products; and

causing the indication corresponding to the bundled set of products to be transmitted to at least one of a user interface or another computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the eligibility of the first product for bundling is a first eligibility, and the execution of the executable instructions causes the one or more computing devices to further perform:

determining an eligibility of the second product for bundling with the first product to form the bundled set of products, the eligibility of the second product being a second eligibility, and

generating the indication corresponding to the bundled set of products is based on the first eligibility and based on the second eligibility.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the indication of the bundled set of products comprises at least one of:

generating an indication that the first product is eligible to be included in the bundled set of products;

generating an indication that the second product is eligible to be included in the bundled set of products;

generating an indication of a bundling benefit corresponding to the bundled set of products;

or

generating an indication that the first product and the second product are both included in the bundled set of products.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the indication of the bundling benefit comprises generating an indication of:

a discount on a premium of the insurance policy;

a discount on at least one of a fee, a load, a sales charge, or a service charge of the investment account;

or

an increase in at least one of a rate of return or a dividend of the investment account.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the eligibility of the first product for bundling comprises receiving, from at least one of a user interface or another computing device, an indication corresponding to a change in a state of the first product.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving the indication corresponding to the change in the state of the first product comprises receiving a trigger, the trigger causing the change in the state of the first product.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the eligibility of the first product for bundling comprises determining the eligibility of the first product for bundling based on at least one of a state of the first product, a characteristic of the first product, or a condition of the first product.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein one of:

(i) determining the eligibility of the first product for bundling comprises determining the eligibility of the insurance policy for bundling, and wherein;

a set of states of the insurance policy includes in-force and not in-force, and

the characteristic or the condition of the insurance policy includes at least one of;

a coverage amount of the insurance policy, a deductible amount of the insurance policy, a cash value of the insurance policy, or a term of the insurance policy;

or

(ii) determining the eligibility of the first product for bundling comprises determining the eligibility of the investment account for bundling, and wherein;

a set of states of the investment account includes open and not open, and

the characteristic or the condition of the investment account includes at least one of;

a number of shares of the investment account, a balance of the investment account, or a value of a total portfolio, the total portfolio including the investment account.

9. A system for bundling insurance policies and investment accounts, comprising:

a computing device having a processor and a memory;

a set of computer-executable instructions stored on the memory and executable by the processor to cause the computing device to;

determine an eligibility of a first product for bundling with a second product to form a bundled set of products for a particular party,

the first product being one of an insurance policy or an investment account corresponding to the particular party,

the second product being the other one of the insurance policy or the investment account corresponding to the particular party,

the particular party being at least one of an insured party, an annuitant, a policy owner, a beneficiary, or a guarantor of the insurance policy, and

the particular party being at least one of an investor or an account owner of the investment account; and

generate an indication corresponding to the bundled set of products based on the eligibility.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the eligibility of the first product for bundling is a first eligibility,

the set of computer-executable instructions stored on the memory are further executable by the processor to cause the computing device to determine an eligibility of the second product for bundling with the first product to form the bundled set of products, the eligibility of the second product being a second eligibility, and

the indication corresponding to the bundled set of products is based on both the first eligibility and the second eligibility.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of:

the computing device is in communicative connection with a user interface, and the set of computer-executable instructions are further executable to cause the computing device to cause the indication of the bundled set of products to be presented at the user interface;

or

the computing device further includes a link communicatively connected to another computing device, and the set of computer-executable instructions are further executable to cause the computing device to transmit the indication of the bundled set of products to the another computing device via the link.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the indication of the bundled set of products includes at least one of:

an indication that the first product is eligible to be included in the bundled set of products;

an indication that the second product is eligible to be included in the bundled set of products;

an indication that the first product and the second product are both included in the bundled set of products;

or

an indication of a bundling benefit corresponding to the bundled set of products, the bundling benefit including;

a discount on or a reduction of a premium of the insurance policy;

a discount on or a reduction of at least one of a fee, a load, a sales charge, or a service charge of the investment account;

or

an increase in at least one of a rate of return or a dividend of the investment account.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the bundling benefit is the discount on or the reduction of the premium of the insurance policy.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of:

the insurance policy is at least one of a life insurance policy or annuity policy;

or

the investment account is a mutual fund account.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the eligibility of the first product for bundling is based on at least one of:

a particular state from a set of states of the first product, a condition of the first product, or a characteristic of the first product.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein one of:

(i) the first product is the insurance policy, and the condition or the characteristic of the insurance policy includes at least one of;

a coverage amount of the insurance policy, a deductible amount of the insurance policy, a cash value of the insurance policy, or a term of the insurance policy;

or

(ii) the first product is the investment account, and the condition or the characteristic of the investment account includes at least one of;

a number of shares of the investment account, a balance of the investment account, or a value of a total portfolio, the total portfolio including the investment account.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein one of:

(i) the first product is the insurance policy and the set of states of the insurance policy includes in-force and not in-force;

or

(ii) the first product is the investment account and the set of states of the investment account includes open and not open.

18. A system for bundling insurance policies and investment accounts, the system comprising:

a processor;

one or more data storage devices accessible to the processor and configured to store an entry corresponding to a party, the entry including (i) an insurance policy status indicator configured to store a status of an insurance policy corresponding to the party, and (ii) an investment account status indicator configured to store a status of an investment account corresponding to the party; and

a program memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to update at least one of (i) the insurance policy status indicator corresponding to a change in status of the insurance policy, or (ii) the investment account status indicator corresponding to a change in the status of the investment account,

wherein the update of the at least one of the insurance policy status indicator or the investment account status indicator causes at least one of (i) an indication of a bundling benefit to be presented at a user interface, (ii) the indication of the bundling benefit to be transmitted to another computing device, or (iii) the bundling benefit to be enacted.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the party is at least one of a guarantor, a policy owner, an annuitant, a beneficiary, or an insured of the insurance policy.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein at least one of:

the insurance policy is a life insurance policy, or the investment account is a mutual fund account.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the data storage entity is further configured to store additional data corresponding to one of the insurance policy or the investment account, and wherein the bundling benefit is enacted by the system;

or

the another computing device is configured to store additional data corresponding to the other one of the insurance policy or the investment account, and the bundling benefit is enacted by the another computing device.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the bundling benefit includes a reduction of at least one of a fee, a load, a sales charge, or a service charge of the investment account.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein a provider of the insurance policy is different from a provider of the investment account.