Method and apparatus for implementing financial transactions

• US 7,321,874 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2007
• Issued: 01/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CashEdge Incorporated (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CashEdge Incorporated (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Dilip, Venkatachari, Dheer, Sanjeev
• Primary Examiner(s): WEISBERGER, RICHARD C
• Application Number:
  US11/698,468
• Publication Number:
  US 20070136167A1
• Time in Patent Office: 362 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 45
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• 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 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 Electronic credentials
• 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 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 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A withdrawal of assets is initiated from a first account at a first financial institution. A deposit of the assets withdrawn from the first account is initiated to a second account at a second financial institution. The first account and the second account have a common account holder. The withdrawal and deposit of assets may be initiated after analyzing multiple accounts of the account holder and determining whether an adjustment of funds among the multiple accounts would benefit the account holder. A debit instruction is used to initiate the withdrawal of assets and a credit instruction is used to initiate the deposit of the withdrawn assets. The withdrawal and deposit of assets can be implemented using one or more payment networks, debit networks, or a wire transfer between the two financial institutions.

Claims

1. A method for executing financial transactions, the method comprising:

a financial management system maintaining customer information for a plurality of customers, the customer information for each of the plurality of customers comprising,

customer identification information;

account identification information for each of a plurality of customer accounts at each of the plurality of financial institutions;

active accounts and account balances; and

customer preferences, the customer preferences comprising,

requirements for one or more of the plurality of customer accounts at each of the plurality of financial institutions, comprising a minimum balance and a maximum balance;

a manner in which accounts should be analyzed by the financial management system; and

types of recommendations the customer prefers to receive from the financial management system;

the financial management system maintaining financial institution information for each of a plurality of financial institutions, the financial institution information for each of the plurality of financial institutions comprising,

financial institution identification information;

American Bankers Association (ABA) information, comprising an ABA number and a routing number;

account offering information;

a customer communicating with the financial management system to initiate a financial transaction involving at least two different financial institutions of the plurality of financial institutions; and

the financial management system executing the financial transaction, comprising,

in a first part of the financial transaction, executing a debit transaction with a first financial institution;

holding the funds from the debit transaction in an intermediate account owned by the financial management system at a third financial institution; and

in a second part of the financial transaction, the financial management system executing a credit transaction with a second financial institution to deposit the funds in an account at the second financial institution;

the financial management system analyzing active accounts for a customer, comprising determining whether there is a more favorable allocation of at least one of assets and debts for the customer;

the financial management system making a recommendation to the customer based on the analysis; and

the financial management system receiving an instruction from the user to automatically execute the recommendation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the financial management system updating the customer information after executing the financial transaction.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the financial management system:

automatically determining one or more transactions to be executed in order to comply with the customer preferences; and

automatically executing the one or more transactions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the funds from the debit transaction with the first financial institution are withdrawn via a first payment network, and the funds are deposited in the credit transaction with the second financial institution via a second payment network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the funds are withdrawn from the first financial institution via an automated clearing house (ACH) network, and the funds are deposited in the second financial institution via an ACH network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the funds are withdrawn from the first financial institution via a capitalized EFT network comprising a NYCE network and a STAR network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the funds are deposited at the second financial institution via a capitalized EFT network comprising a NYCE network and a STAR network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the funds are deposited at the second financial institution via a wire transfer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the withdrawal of funds from the first financial institution comprises a loan from an account at the first financial institution.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising opening the account at the second financial institution, and wherein depositing the funds in the account at the second financial institution comprises initially funding the account at the second financial institution.