Collecting and aggregating creditworthiness data

• US 7,580,884 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2001
• Issued: 08/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Cook, Scott D
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamilton; Lalita M
• Application Number:
  US09/892,223
• Publication Number:
  US 20020198824A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,983 Days
• Field of Search: 705/38, 705/35, 705/75
• US Class Current: 705/38
• 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

Transaction data is uploaded from client machines running a software application such as an accounting or financial software application. Uploaded data describes transaction history with respect to subject companies. A central server aggregates the uploaded data to generate and distribute reports and/or alerts containing creditworthiness assessments of the subject companies.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for collecting and aggregating creditworthiness data describing a subject company, comprising:

from a plurality of client machines each running an accounting software application and operated by different users, receiving transaction data for a plurality of companies comprising the subject company;

for each company of the plurality of companies, aggregating transaction data from the plurality of client machines using a processor to obtain aggregated transaction data;

determining, using the processor, a creditworthiness rating of the subject company based on aggregated transaction data;

generating, using the processor, a creditworthiness report for the subject company based on the creditworthiness rating;

receiving a request from a user for the creditworthiness report;

determining whether the user is authorized to receive the creditworthiness report; and

responsive to the user being authorized to receive the creditworthiness report, outputting the creditworthiness report,

wherein at least a subset of the different users are unaffiliated with one another.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a credit history report based on aggregated transaction data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the creditworthiness report to a set of users designated as subscribers to the creditworthiness report.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transaction data comprises locally aggregated data describing company payment histories.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating transaction data for the subject company comprises normalizing subject company identifiers to account for variations in naming the subject company.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving transaction data comprises:

receiving indications as to whether users of the plurality of client machines assent to data collection; and

receiving transaction data from those of the plurality of client machines for which user assent was received.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to an indication of user assent being received from the user, permitting the user to use a mark signifying that the user participates in a creditworthiness data collection effort.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising outputting, within the accounting software application, an indication of the creditworthiness rating for the subject company.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to at least one predefined criterion with respect to the subject company, outputting to the user an indication of the creditworthiness rating for the subject company.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one predefined criterion comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of:

the creditworthiness rating having changed by at least a predetermined amount;

a length of time since the indication was most recently outputted;

the user having at least a predetermined number of transactions involving the subject company within a predetermined time period;

the subject company being located within a defined geographic region with respect to the user;

the user having indicated an interest in the subject company;

a type of business of the subject company being related to that of the user; and

the type of business of the subject company being related to that of other customers of the user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to the creditworthiness rating, generating a factoring valuation for the subject company.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein transaction data comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of:

a transaction date;

an invoice date;

an invoice number;

a name of the subject company;

a transaction description;

a transaction amount; and

a transaction category.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the creditworthiness report comprises transmitting an alert to the user.

14. A system for collecting and aggregating creditworthiness data describing a subject company, comprising:

a processor;

a memory operatively connected to the processor and comprising;

a data collection module, for receiving from a plurality of client machines, each running an accounting software application and operated by different users, transaction data for a plurality of companies comprising the subject company;

a data aggregation module, coupled to the data collection module, for;

for each company of the plurality of companies, aggregating transaction data from the plurality of client machines to obtain aggregated transaction data, and

determining a creditworthiness rating of the subject company based on aggregated transaction data;

a report generation module, for generating a creditworthiness report for the subject company based on the creditworthiness rating; and

a report distribution module, for;

receiving a request from a user for the creditworthiness report,

determining whether the user is authorized to receive the creditworthiness report, and

responsive to the user being authorized to receive the creditworthiness report, outputting the creditworthiness report,

wherein at least a subset of the different users are unaffiliated with one another.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the report generation module is further for generating a credit history report based on aggregated transaction data.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the report distribution module is further for transmitting the creditworthiness report to a set of users designated as subscribers to the creditworthiness report.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein transaction data comprises locally aggregated data describing company payment histories.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the data aggregation module is further for normalizing subject company identifiers to account for variations in naming the subject company.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein receiving transaction data by the data collection module comprises:

receiving indications as to whether users of the plurality of client machines assent to data collection; and

receiving transaction data from those of the plurality of client machines for which user assent was received.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the accounting software application comprises functionality for outputting, within the accounting software application, an indication of the creditworthiness metric for the subject company.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the report generation module is further for, responsive to at least one predefined criterion with respect to the subject company, outputting to the user an indication of the creditworthiness metric for the subject company.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one predefined criterion comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of:

the creditworthiness rating having changed by at least a predetermined amount;

a length of time since the indication was most recently outputted;

the user having at least a predetermined number of transactions involving the subject company within a predetermined time period;

the subject company being located within a defined geographic region with respect to the user;

the user having indicated an interest in the subject company;

a type of business of the subject company being related to that of the user; and

the type of business of the subject company being related to that of other customers of the user.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the report generation module is further for, responsive to the creditworthiness rating, generating a factoring valuation for the subject company.

24. The system of claim 14, wherein transaction data comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of:

a transaction date;

an invoice date;

an invoice number;

a name of the subject company;

a transaction description;

a transaction amount; and

a transaction category.

25. The system of claim 14, wherein outputting the creditworthiness report by the report generation module comprises using an alert generation module to transmit an alert to the user.

26. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable code executable on a computer, the computer-readable code comprising instructions to:

receive, from a plurality of client machines, each running an accounting software application and operated by different users, transaction data for a plurality of companies comprising the subject company;

aggregate, for each company of the plurality of companies, transaction data from the plurality of client machines to obtain aggregated transaction data;

determine a creditworthiness rating of the subject company based on aggregated transaction data;

generate a creditworthiness report for the subject company based on the creditworthiness rating;

receive a request from a user for the creditworthiness report;

determine whether the user is authorized to receive the creditworthiness report; and

responsive to the user being authorized to receive the creditworthiness report, output the creditworthiness report,

wherein at least a subset of the different users are unaffiliated with one another.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, further comprising computer-readable code adapted to generate a credit history report based on aggregated transaction data.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, further comprising computer-readable code adapted to transmit the creditworthiness report to a set of users designated as subscribers to the creditworthiness report.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein transaction data comprises locally aggregated data describing company payment histories.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein computer-readable code adapted to aggregate transaction data for the subject company comprises computer-readable code adapted to normalize subject company identifiers to account for variations in naming the subject company.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein computer-readable code adapted to receive transaction data comprises computer-readable code adapted to:

receive indications as to whether users of the plurality of client machines assent to data collection; and

receive transaction data from those of the plurality of client machines for which user assent was received.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, further comprising computer-readable code adapted to, responsive to an indication of user assent being received from the user, permit the user to use a mark signifying that the user participates in a creditworthiness data collection effort.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, further comprising computer-readable code adapted to output, within the accounting software application, an indication of the creditworthiness metric for the subject company.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, further comprising computer-readable code adapted to, responsive to at least one predefined criterion with respect to the subject company, output to the user an indication of the creditworthiness metric for the subject company.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the at least one predefined criterion comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of:

the creditworthiness rating having changed by at least a predetermined amount;

a length of time since the indication was most recently outputted;

the user having at least a predetermined number of transactions involving the subject company within a predetermined time period;

the subject company being located within a defined geographic region with respect to the user;

the user having indicated an interest in the subject company;

a type of business of the subject company being related to that of the user; and

the type of business of the subject company being related to that of other customers of the user.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, further comprising computer-readable code adapted to, responsive to the creditworthiness rating, generate a factoring valuation for the subject company.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein transaction data comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of:

a transaction date;

an invoice date;

an invoice number;

a name of the subject company;

a transaction description;

a transaction amount; and

a transaction category.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein computer-readable code adapted to output the creditworthiness report comprises computer-readable code adapted to transmit an alert to the user.