Method and computer network for co-ordinating a loan over the internet

• US 6,385,594 B1
• Filed: 05/08/1998
• Issued: 05/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: LendingTree LLC (Tree.com Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: LendingTree Incorporated (Tree.com Incorporated)
• Inventors: Stiegler, Richard, Lebda, Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Robinson-Boyce, Akiba
• Application Number:
  US09/075,136
• Time in Patent Office: 1,460 Days
• Field of Search: 705/38, 705/1, 705/35
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• 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 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a computer for coordinating an electronic credit qualification form between an Internet user and a plurality of lending institutions via the Internet. This method involves displaying documents in a web site, and receiving credit data forming placed on the web site. After receiving this data a special loan processing computer applies a filter to the data. The filter comprises loan selection criteria provided by lending institutions which allows these institutions to filter out loan applications that they do not want. Next, after the data is filtered, it is transmitted to a plurality of lending institutions. Finally, the computer and the method then controls and coordinates communication between these lending institutions and the Internet user to match borrowers and lenders via the Internet.

Claims

1. A method for coordinating an electronic credit qualification form between an Internet user and a plurality of lending institutions via the Internet, comprising the steps of:

a) receiving selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions;

b) storing the selection criteria in a database;

c) displaying a plurality of documents in a web site;

d) receiving a plurality of credit data sent from the Internet user;

e) applying said credit data to a filter comprising the plurality of selection criteria of the database to select without manual intervention each one of said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data to said selection criteria;

f) determining an appropriate transfer method to transmit said electronic credit qualification form to the lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;

g) transmitting said electronic qualification form comprising said credit data to said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data via said appropriate transfer method, the transmission of said electronic qualification form comprising said credit data occurring without a delay for reception of any credit decisions from said lending institutions;

h) receiving a plurality of positive credit decisions from said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the Internet user;

i) simultaneously displaying the plurality of positive credit decisions to the Internet user on the web site;

j) receiving via the web site at least one decision from the Internet user regarding at least one of the positive credit decisions, the Internet user'"'"'s decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data; and

k) transmitting the at least one Internet user'"'"'s decision to at least one lending institution corresponding with a positive credit decision so that said Internet user can obtain credit or a loan from one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data,

whereby said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data compete with each other for business with the Internet user.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises the steps of:

displaying a document welcoming the Internet user;

displaying a document explaining the electronic credit qualification form process;

displaying a document explaining the services provided; and

displaying said electronic credit qualification form.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (d) further comprises the steps of:

verifying data input in a credit qualification form on a web site; and

storing said plurality of credit data in a database table in a storage device.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein step (e) further comprises the steps of:

obtaining a Fair Isaac Credit Score based upon said plurality of credit data submitted; and

attaching the Fair Isaac Credit Score to said database table.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

reading the credit data of said database table from said storage device;

reading the selection criteria of said filter from said database, said selection criteria comprising lending institution criteria defined by each of the lending institutions and useful for identification of a qualified candidate for credit or a loan;

comparing said selection criteria of said filter to said credit data of said database table; and

identifying a match between said filter and said database table wherein said match yields a qualification form selection of at least one of said plurality of lending institutions that will determine whether to respond to the electronic credit application by making a loan or credit offer to the Internet user.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each lending institution is assigned a corresponding filter, said filter comprising selection criteria customizable by the lending institution.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (e) further comprises the steps of:

advancing to the first of said selection criteria of said filter;

comparing said selection criteria to the corresponding credit data on said electronic credit qualification form;

proceeding to the next level of said selection criteria if the comparison is successful; and

proceeding to the next level of said filter if the comparison is unsuccessful.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting said electronic credit qualification form to said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data via a Common Gateway Interface (CGI).

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting said electronic credit qualification form to said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data via a secured website.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting said credit qualification form to said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data via a secured E-Mail.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving a notification of a successful transmission of said electronic credit qualification form from said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the Internet'"'"'s user decision further comprises the step of collecting said Internet user'"'"'s decision and storing said decision in a storage device.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a notification of a closure of said electronic credit qualification form from one of the lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of reports comprising said credit data for said plurality of lending institutions; and

displaying said plurality of reports to said plurality of lending institutions.

15. A network system for coordinating the submission of a loan qualification form by a borrower to a plurality of lenders, comprising:

a database for storing and receiving lender criteria data from the plurality of lenders;

means for inputting loan qualification form data from a prospective borrower into the network system;

means for inputting lender criteria data into the network system, the lender criteria data associated with each of the lenders and useful for selecting a successful loan qualification form;

computing means for comparing said borrower qualification form data to said lender criteria data of said database, the computing means operative to identify a plurality of lenders associated with a match of the qualification form data to the lender criteria data as a possible candidate for offering credit or a loan to the borrower; and

communicating means, connecting said means for inputting borrower qualification form data and said means for inputting lender criteria data to said computing means, for allowing said connected components to communicate with each other;

said computing means further operative to transmit said borrower qualification form data to a selected number that is less than said identified lenders or a random number of said identified lenders via said communicating means, said selected number comprising two or more identified lenders when a plurality of lenders exists, said computing means also operative to transmit said borrower qualification form data to said selected number of said identified lenders without a delay for reception of any credit decisions received from said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;

said computing means also operative to receiving and simultaneously displaying a plurality of credit decisions on a web site from said identified lenders that received the credit data regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the borrower, said computing means further operative to determine an appropriate transfer method to transmit said electronic credit qualification form data to lenders associated with a match of said credit data;

said computing means further operative receive from the web site at least one borrower'"'"'s decision and to transmit the at least one borrower'"'"'s decision to at least one lender corresponding with a positive credit decision, the borrower'"'"'s decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive credit decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data,

whereby said selected number of said identified lenders competes with each other for business with said borrower.

16. The network system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said database is connected to said computing means, for storing said borrower qualification form data and said lender criteria data.

17. The network system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said communicating means comprises the Internet.

18. The network system as claimed in claim 17, wherein said means for inputting borrower qualification form data comprises a computer connected to the Internet.

19. The network system as claimed in claim 17, wherein said means for inputting lender criteria data comprises a computer connected to the Internet.

20. The network system as claimed in claim 17, wherein said computing means comprises an Internet server connected to remote computers on the Internet.

25. The network system of claim 20, wherein the computing means, responsive to the decision from the borrower, is operative to send the borrower'"'"'s decision to each identified lending institution via the communicating means and to store the borrower'"'"'s decision in a storage device coupled to the computing means.

21. A computer-implemented method for coordinating submission of an electronic credit qualification form between a consumer and a plurality of lending institutions via a distributed computer network, comprising the steps of:

receiving selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions;

storing the selection criteria in a database;

receiving credit data for the electronic credit qualification form from the consumer via the distributed computer network;

comparing the credit data to the selection criteria of the database, the selection criteria being useful for selecting a successful credit qualification form and corresponding to each of the plurality of lending institutions;

in response to the credit data satisfying the selection criteria, identifying each lending institution associated with a match of the credit data to the selection criteria as a possible candidate for offering credit or a loan to the consumer;

determining an appropriate transfer method to forward the credit data to the lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;

forwarding the credit data to a selected number of matching lending institutions associated with a match of the credit data to the selection criteria via the determined appropriate transfer method, the forwarding of the credit data occurring without a delay for reception of any credit decisions from said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data, said selected number of matching lending institutions being less than a total number of the identified matching lending institutions and being greater than one when a plurality of identified lending institutions exists;

receiving positive credit decisions from the identified lending institutions that received the credit data regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the consumer;

creating a dynamic personal web site accessible by the consumer via the distributed computer network;

publishing a decision of each identified lending institution that received the credit data on the dynamic personal web site;

receiving at least one decision via the dynamic personal web site from the consumer regarding at least one of the positive credit decisions, the consumer'"'"'s decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive credit decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data; and

transmitting at least one consumer decision to at least one lending institution corresponding with a positive credit decision via the distributed computer network,

whereby the selected number of lending institutions compete with each other for business with the consumer.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21, further comprising the step of providing the electronic credit qualification form to the identified lending institutions by transmitting the credit data to the identified lending institutions via the distributed computer network.

23. The method as claimed in claim 21, further comprising the steps of:

obtaining a Fair Isaac Credit Score based upon the credit data supplied by the consumer in response to completing the electronic credit qualification form; and

supplementing the credit data with the Fair Isaac Credit Score.

24. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the comparing step comprises:

(a) obtaining the selection criteria for a selected one of the lending institutions;

(b) determining whether the credit data satisfies the selection criteria for the selected lending institution;

(c) if so, then identifying the selected lending institution as a candidate for offering credit or a loan to the consumer;

(d) otherwise, determining whether selection criteria is available for a remaining one of the lending institutions;

(e) continuing steps (a)-(d) for each one of the remaining ones of the lending institutions.

26. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for coordinating submission of an electronic credit qualification form between a consumer and a plurality of lending institutions, comprising:

receiving selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions;

storing the selection criteria in a database;

receiving credit data for the electronic credit qualification form from the consumer;

comparing the credit data to the selection criteria of the database, the selection criteria useful for selecting a successful credit qualification form and defined by each of the lending institutions based on their particular lending criteria;

in response to the credit data satisfying the selection criteria, identifying each lending institution associated with a match of the credit data to the selection criteria as a possible candidate for offering credit or a loan to the consumer;

selecting a predetermined number of the matching lending institutions and forwarding the credit data to the selected set of the matching lending institutions, the forwarding of the credit data occurring without a delay for reception of any credit decisions from said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data, said predetermined number being less than a total number of the matching lending institutions previously identified and being greater than one when a plurality of identified lending institutions exists;

receiving a plurality of positive credit decisions from the matching lending institutions of the selected set regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the consumer;

displaying information including each credit decision to the consumer advising that the selected set of the matching lending institutions represents possible candidates for offering credit or a loan to the consumer, thereby providing the consumer with the opportunity to accept the credit or loan offer from one of the selected set of identified lending institutions, such that the selected set of identified lending institutions competes for business with the consumer;

determining an appropriate transfer method to transmit the electronic credit qualification form to each selected one of the matching lending institutions;

sending the electronic credit qualification form to each selected one of the matching lending institutions via the appropriate transfer method;

accepting a consumer'"'"'s decision via a web site regarding the offer of credit or a loan from the selected ones of the matching lending institutions, the consumer'"'"'s decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive credit decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data; and

forwarding the consumer'"'"'s decision to the selected ones of the matching lending institutions.

27. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 26, wherein the computer-executable instructions for completing the comparing step comprise:

(a) obtaining the selection criteria for a selected one of the lending institutions;

(b) determining whether the credit data satisfies the selection criteria for the selected lending institution;

(c) if so, then identifying the selected lending institution as a candidate for offering credit or a loan to the consumer;

(d) otherwise, determining whether selection criteria is available for a remaining one of the lending institutions;

(e) continuing steps (a)-(d) for each one of the remaining ones of the lending institutions.

28. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 26, further comprising computer-executable instructions for providing the electronic credit qualification form to only the selected set of the matching lending institutions by transmitting the credit data to the selected set of the matching lending institutions via a distributed computer network.

29. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 26, further comprising computer executable instructions for sorting the credit data, prior to the step of comparing the credit data, based on the type of loan or credit requested by the consumer.

30. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 26, wherein the computer executable instructions for forwarding the credit data comprise transmitting the credit data to a secured website accessible by the selected ones of the matching lending institutions, the credit data published at the secured website for review by only the selected ones of the matching lending institutions.

31. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 30, further comprising executable instructions for accepting at the secured website changes to the selection criteria for one of the selected matching lending institutions, thereby enabling the institution to customize its selection criteria on a real-time basis.

32. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 26, further comprising executable instructions for accepting a notice of a credit or loan closure in response to the consumer closing the credit or loan with one of the selected set of matching lending institutions.

34. The method as claimed in claim 32, further comprising:

forwarding said credit data to said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data via a Common Gateway Interface (CGI).

35. The method as claimed in claim 32, further comprising:

forwarding said credit data to said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data via said first secured website.

36. The method as claimed in claim 32, further comprising:

forwarding said credit data to said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data via a secured E-Mail.

33. A method for coordinating an electronic credit qualification form between an Internet user and a plurality of lending institutions via the Internet, comprising the steps of:

generating a first web site for receiving selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions, the first website comprising a secured dynamic website;

obtaining selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions with said first website;

storing the selection criteria in a database;

displaying an electronic qualification form in a second website;

obtaining credit data from the Internet user with the electronic qualification form;

applying said credit data to a filter comprising the plurality of selection criteria of the database to select without manual intervention each one of said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data to said selection criteria;

determining an appropriate transfer method to forward said credit data to said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;

forwarding said credit data to a selected number of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data, the selected number of lending institutions being less than a total number of identified matching lending institutions, and being greater than one when a plurality of identified lending institutions exists, the forwarding of said credit data occurring without a delay for reception of any credit decisions from said lending institutions and via the appropriate transfer method;

receiving a plurality of positive credit decisions from said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the Internet user;

displaying the plurality of positive credit decisions to the Internet user;

establishing communication between one or more of the selected number of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data and the Internet user so that said Internet user can obtain credit or a loan from one of the selected lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data, whereby said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data compete with each other for business with the Internet user;

receiving at least one decision via the second web site from the Internet user regarding at least one of the positive credit decisions, the Internet user'"'"'s decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive credit decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data; and

transmitting the at least one Internet user'"'"'s decision to at least one lending institution corresponding with a positive credit decision.