Combined debt consolidation and settlement program
First Claim
1. A method for providing a debt consolidation financial service offered by a program provider, the service comprising the steps of:
- enrolling a customer into a debt settlement program, the customer having an outstanding debt owed to one or more creditors and the debt settlement program being provided by a program provider that is not affiliated with the one or more creditors;
qualifying the customer for a debt consolidation loan being provided by a financing entity that is not affiliated with the one or more creditors, the debt consolidation loan being contingent upon the customer making at least one payment into an escrow account associated with the debt consolidation loan;
electronically creating the escrow account;
receiving at least one payment from the customer into the escrow account;
negotiating with the one or more creditors a discounted amount due for at least a portion of the outstanding debt owed;
applying at least a portion of the funds from the debt consolidation loan as settlement to the one or more creditors for the discounted amount due; and
allocating a portion of the difference between the at least a portion of the outstanding debt and the discounted amount due to at least one of the financing entity and the program provider.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A customer is assisted in recovering from indebtedness by combining a debt consolidation/settlement program with an installment loan. The customer is qualified for an installment loan with a value based on the amount of outstanding indebtedness or possibly based on the anticipated discounted balance. The customer is required to make payments into an escrow account for a period of time to ensure that the customer is credit worthy. One or more of the creditors are then approached in an effort to negotiate a discounted settlement amount in exchange for the reception of immediate reconciliation of the debt owed. A portion of the negotiated discount is retained for compensation, which can be provided to the debt settlement provider and/or the bank finding the installment loan. The balance is passed through to the customer.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for providing a debt consolidation financial service offered by a program provider, the service comprising the steps of:
-
enrolling a customer into a debt settlement program, the customer having an outstanding debt owed to one or more creditors and the debt settlement program being provided by a program provider that is not affiliated with the one or more creditors; qualifying the customer for a debt consolidation loan being provided by a financing entity that is not affiliated with the one or more creditors, the debt consolidation loan being contingent upon the customer making at least one payment into an escrow account associated with the debt consolidation loan; electronically creating the escrow account; receiving at least one payment from the customer into the escrow account; negotiating with the one or more creditors a discounted amount due for at least a portion of the outstanding debt owed; applying at least a portion of the funds from the debt consolidation loan as settlement to the one or more creditors for the discounted amount due; and allocating a portion of the difference between the at least a portion of the outstanding debt and the discounted amount due to at least one of the financing entity and the program provider. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for assisting a customer in recovering from indebtedness, the method comprising the steps of:
-
identifying a customer, the customer having an outstanding debt owed to one or more creditors; enrolling the customer into a debt settlement program being provided by a program provider other than the one or more creditors; establishing a monthly payment for the customer to be made into an escrow account in lieu of payments to creditors for the outstanding debts; electronically creating the escrow account; requiring monthly payments from the customer into the escrow account for an initial period of time to detect customer reliability; qualifying the customer for a debt consolidation loan at an initial dollar amount after detecting a level of customer reliability as a result of the step of requiring payments from the customer into the escrow account, the debt consolidation loan being provided by a financing entity other than the one or more creditors; offering to the one or more creditors at least a portion of the debt consolidation loan as a discounted settlement of an outstanding debt owed; providing at least a portion of the discount to the customer; retaining a portion of the discount as compensation to at least one of the program provider and the financing entity; increasing the allocated amount of the debt consolidation loan by the remainder of the discount settlement; and providing the customer with a separate credit card instrument. - View Dependent Claims (12)
-
-
13. A method for assisting a customer in recovering from indebtedness, the method comprising the steps of:
-
identifying a customer, the customer having an outstanding debt owed to one or more creditors; enrolling the customer into a debt settlement program managed by a third party not affiliated with the one or more creditors; qualifying the customer for a debt consolidation loan at an initial dollar amount, the debt consolidation loan being provided by a financing entity, the debt consolidation loan contingent upon the customer making at least one payment into an escrow account associated with the debt consolidation loan; electronically creating the escrow account; receiving at least one payment from the customer into the escrow account; offering at least a portion of the debt consolidation loan to the one or more creditors as a discounted settlement of an outstanding debt owed to at least one creditor; retaining at least a portion of the value of the discount as compensation to the third party or the financing entity; and providing the customer with a separate credit card instrument which is issued by one of the financing entity and the third party. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification