Method and apparatus for monitoring and verifying a transfer of financial settings

• US 7,844,522 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Issued: 11/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Fong, Spencer W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dixon; Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vizvary; Gerald C
• Application Number:
  US11/928,567
• Publication Number:
  US 20090112746A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/35
• 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

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that monitors and verifies a transfer of financial settings. During operation, the system receives a request to transfer a set of financial settings from an initial account to a destination account. In response to the transfer request, the system transfers the financial settings and then monitors the initial account following the transfer to determine whether any subsequent transactions occur. If so, the system analyzes each subsequent transaction to determine whether the subsequent transaction is associated with the transferred financial settings. By monitoring and analyzing subsequent transactions, the system verifies the success of the transfer.

Claims

1. A method executed by a computer system that includes a processor for resolving errors for transferred financial settings, comprising:

upon receiving a transfer request, transferring a scheduled future transaction from an initial account to a destination account by transferring a set of financial settings that describe the scheduled future transaction to the destination account;

detecting an anomalous transaction in the initial account subsequent to the transfer;

analyzing the anomalous transaction and the transferred financial settings to identify a discrepancy for the transferred scheduled future transaction; and

automatically resolving the cause of the identified discrepancy by performing one or more of the following operations;

repeating the transfer of the set of financial settings from the initial account to the destination account;

adjusting or deleting a parameter in the initial account that is associated with the scheduled future transaction; and

adjusting a parameter in the destination account that is associated with the scheduled future transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically resolving the cause of the identified discrepancy involves one or more of the following:

verifying that a specified set of financial settings has been successfully transferred from the initial account to the destination account;

confirming that no transactions associated with the financial settings occur in the initial account after the transfer; and

/or

detecting additional transactions in the initial account that indicate errors or omissions in the transfer process.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the transfer request can further involve:

presenting an initial set of financial settings from the initial account to a user during a selection process; and

receiving from the user all or a subset of the initial set of financial settings to be transferred to the destination account.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of financial settings is associated with one or more of the following:

an automated funds transfer;

a bill pay transaction; and

/or

an Automated Clearing House transaction.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of financial settings includes one or more of the following:

a name for a vendor;

an amount for a one-time and/or recurring financial transaction with the vendor;

a set of account and/or routing information associated with the vendor;

a schedule relating to financial transactions with the vendor; and

/or

historical data for financial transactions associated with the vendor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the anomalous transaction further involves:

accessing the initial account after the transfer; and

retrieving records for one or more subsequent transactions from the initial account.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein monitoring the initial account further involves accessing the initial account multiple times to retrieve records for one or more subsequent transactions.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the anomalous transaction further involves performing a notification operation when the anomalous transaction is determined to be associated with the set of financial settings.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the anomalous transaction involves one or more of:

comparing the anomalous transaction to a set of transactions specified by a user and/or administrator; and

determining an amount, a description, and/or a pattern for one or more subsequent transactions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further involves one or more of the following:

disabling a recurring and/or scheduled transaction in the initial account associated with the set of financial settings;

deleting the set of financial settings from the initial account; and

/or

maintaining a copy of the financial settings in the initial account after the transfer.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein analyzing the anomalous transaction involves one or more of:

comparing the anomalous transaction to a set of transactions specified by a user and/or administrator; and

determining an amount, a description; and

/or a pattern for one or more subsequent transactions.

11. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for resolving errors for transferred financial settings, the method comprising:

upon receiving a transfer request, transferring a scheduled future transaction from an initial account to a destination account by transferring a set of financial settings that describe the scheduled future transaction to the destination account;

detecting an anomalous transaction in the initial account subsequent to the transfer;

analyzing the anomalous transaction and the transferred financial settings to identify a discrepancy for the transferred scheduled future transaction; and

automatically resolving the cause of the identified discrepancy by performing one or more of the following operations;

repeating the transfer of the set of financial settings from the initial account to the destination account;

adjusting or deleting a parameter in the initial account that is associated with the scheduled future transaction; and

adjusting a parameter in the destination account that is associated with the scheduled future transaction.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the set of financial settings is associated with one or more of the following:

an automated funds transfer;

a bill pay transaction; and

/or

an Automated Clearing House transaction.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the set of financial settings includes one or more of the following:

a name for a vendor;

an amount for a one-time and/or recurring financial transaction with the vendor;

a set of account and/or routing information associated with the vendor;

a schedule relating to financial transactions with the vendor; and

/or

historical data for financial transactions associated with the vendor.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein detecting the anomalous transaction further involves:

accessing the initial account after the transfer; and

retrieving records for one or more subsequent transactions from the initial account.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein detecting the anomalous transaction further involves accessing the initial account multiple times to retrieve records for one or more subsequent transactions.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein analyzing the anomalous transaction further involves performing a notification operation when the subsequent anomalous transaction is determined to be associated with the set of financial settings.

18. A computing device that includes a processor that resolves errors for transferred financial settings, wherein the processor comprises:

a transfer mechanism configured to, upon receiving a transfer request, transfer a scheduled future transaction from an initial account to a destination account by transferring a set of financial settings that describe the scheduled future transaction to the destination account;

a monitoring mechanism configured to detect an anomalous transaction in the initial account subsequent to the transfer; and

an analysis mechanism configured to analyze the anomalous transaction and the transferred financial settings to identify a discrepancy for the transferred scheduled future transaction;

wherein the analysis mechanism is further configured to automatically resolve the cause of the identified discrepancy by performing one or more of the following operations;

repeating the transfer of the set of financial settings from the initial account to the destination account;

adjusting or deleting a parameter in the initial account that is associated with the scheduled future transaction; and

adjusting a parameter in the destination account that is associated with the scheduled future transaction.