Service charge adjustment platform
First Claim
1. Apparatus for providing a customer with an opportunity to request a refund or waiver of a fee or charge on a customer account, the apparatus comprising:
- a network interface for sending and receiving a customer request for a refund or waiver of a fee or charge over an electronic network;
a service charge adjustment system coupled to the network interface, the service charge adjustment system including processing components for automatically performing at least the functions of;
receiving, through the network interface, the customer request to refund or waive a fee or charge on the account, wherein the request for refund or waiver relates to a charge or fee posted against the customer account;
delivering the customer request to an automated interface of the service charge adjustment system,establishing validity of the customer request by validating the existence of a service charge;
retrieving data for evaluation; and
applying at least one business rule to the retrieved data to determine whether the customer request should be granted, the retrieved data including at least customer account information;
automatically rendering a decision on the customer request using the automated interface; and
presenting the customer with the decision, wherein the decision is one of the following;
granting a refund or waiver request, denying a refund or waiver request, and referring a request to an external system for further consideration.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of providing a representative or customer with an opportunity to electronically process a request to adjust, refund or waive a service charge on various products and services, comprising the steps of a) receiving requests via various channels such as phone, facsimile, in person, on-line, etc.; b) maintaining an electronic site on a computer network which representative or customer may connect; c) presenting at least one electronic screen over the network to a representative or customer who has connected to the electronic site, including a first input field operable to receive a first command from the representative or customer indicative of a type of adjustment; d) electronically delivering the first command to an automated interface which converts a format of the first command to another format; and presenting a decision to the representative or customer in response to the first command.
157 Citations
27 Claims
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1. Apparatus for providing a customer with an opportunity to request a refund or waiver of a fee or charge on a customer account, the apparatus comprising:
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a network interface for sending and receiving a customer request for a refund or waiver of a fee or charge over an electronic network; a service charge adjustment system coupled to the network interface, the service charge adjustment system including processing components for automatically performing at least the functions of; receiving, through the network interface, the customer request to refund or waive a fee or charge on the account, wherein the request for refund or waiver relates to a charge or fee posted against the customer account; delivering the customer request to an automated interface of the service charge adjustment system, establishing validity of the customer request by validating the existence of a service charge; retrieving data for evaluation; and applying at least one business rule to the retrieved data to determine whether the customer request should be granted, the retrieved data including at least customer account information; automatically rendering a decision on the customer request using the automated interface; and presenting the customer with the decision, wherein the decision is one of the following;
granting a refund or waiver request, denying a refund or waiver request, and referring a request to an external system for further consideration. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer-implemented method of providing a customer with an opportunity to request a refund or waiver of a charge or fee on a customer account comprising the steps of:
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receiving a customer request to make a refund or waiver of a charge or fee, the request received over a network at a service charge adjustment system, wherein the request for refund or waiver relates to a charge or fee posted against the customer account; delivering the customer request to an automated interface of the service charge adjustment system, the service charge adjustment system having processing components for processing the customer request, the processing comprising; establishing validity of the customer request by validating existence of the service charge; retrieving data for evaluation of the customer request; applying business rules to the retrieved data to determine whether the customer request should be granted, the retrieved data including at least information regarding the customer account; automatically rendering a decision on the request using the automated interface; and presenting the customer with the decision with respect to the request, wherein the decision is one of the following;
granting a refund or waiver request, denying a refund or waiver request, and referring a request to an external system for further consideration. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. Apparatus for providing a customer with an opportunity to request a refund or waiver of a fee or charge on a customer account, the apparatus comprising:
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a network interface for sending and receiving data over an electronic network, the data including a customer request to refund or waive a fee or charge on the customer account; a service charge adjustment system coupled to the network interface, the service charge adjustment system including processing components performing at least the functions of; receiving the customer request to refund or waive a fee or charge on the account, wherein the request for refund or waiver relates to a charge or fee posted against the customer account; delivering the request to an automated interface, the automated interface validating the existence of a service charge; wherein if a service charge is validated, the automated interface performs at least two of the functions of;
(1) retrieving at least one business rule from a business rules database, (2) applying the at least one business rule to arrive at a decision regarding the request, (3) determining the cost-effectiveness of granting the request, (4) determining of the request is justified, (5) checking to see if the customer has a special status, (6) determining if a bank error has occurred, (7) checking to see of the customer is a high value customer, (8) rating the profitability of granting the request, (9) checking to see if the customer has made at least a predetermined number of previous requests, and (10) ascertaining if the customer has been granted at least one courtesy refund or waiver;automatically rendering a decision on the request using the automated interface, the decision based on the at least two functions; and presenting the customer with the decision with respect to the request, wherein the decision is one of the following;
granting a refund or waiver request, denying a refund or waiver, and referring a request to an external system for further consideration.
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Specification