Payment account monitoring system and method
First Claim
1. A computerized method for monitoring the status of a payment account against which a recurring payment has been drawn, via a monitoring file which is continuously updated as payments are made to a recipient by a payer, the method comprising:
- providing, as part of a computer system, a status database that stores status information on payment accounts, the status information comprising an account status and/or an account condition associated with each of the payment accounts, the status database operated by or on behalf of an entity other than the recipient or the payer;
updating the status database in the computer system if there is a change in the status information for any of the payment accounts;
providing, as part of the computer system, a monitoring file that stores a plurality of recipient account numbers and a plurality of payment account numbers, and that associates at least one of the plurality of recipient account numbers to at least one of the plurality of payment account numbers;
receiving, at the computer system, a recipient account number and a payment account number from the recipient in response to a payment toward a recurring payment from the payer to the recipient;
updating the monitoring file, via the computer system, by comparing the received payment account number to any payment account numbers previously stored in association with the received recipient account number in the monitoring file and by storing the received payment account number in association with the received recipient account number in the monitoring file if the received payment account number is a new payment account number; and
subsequent to and independently of said updating of the monitoring file to periodically accessing, via the status database of the computer system, the status information using any payment accounts numbers stored in association with any recipient account number of the plurality of recipient account numbers in the updated monitoring file, wherein said periodic access occurs prior to a due date for an expected recurring payment and before a date on which the expected recurring payment is made on said any recipient account number, so that notification can be sent to the recipient if the status information has changed for said any payment account numbers stored in association with said any recipient account number in the updated monitoring file.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A network includes an account status system for checking the status of checking accounts used to make payments, and a payment account monitoring system that includes linking files that store, for individual credit card accounts, the account numbers for checking accounts used to pay the credit card accounts. The monitoring system periodically retrieves checking account numbers from the linking files and checks the account numbers at the status system. If a negative status is indicated at the status system, an alert is provided to the credit card company.
-
Citations
31 Claims
-
1. A computerized method for monitoring the status of a payment account against which a recurring payment has been drawn, via a monitoring file which is continuously updated as payments are made to a recipient by a payer, the method comprising:
-
providing, as part of a computer system, a status database that stores status information on payment accounts, the status information comprising an account status and/or an account condition associated with each of the payment accounts, the status database operated by or on behalf of an entity other than the recipient or the payer; updating the status database in the computer system if there is a change in the status information for any of the payment accounts; providing, as part of the computer system, a monitoring file that stores a plurality of recipient account numbers and a plurality of payment account numbers, and that associates at least one of the plurality of recipient account numbers to at least one of the plurality of payment account numbers; receiving, at the computer system, a recipient account number and a payment account number from the recipient in response to a payment toward a recurring payment from the payer to the recipient; updating the monitoring file, via the computer system, by comparing the received payment account number to any payment account numbers previously stored in association with the received recipient account number in the monitoring file and by storing the received payment account number in association with the received recipient account number in the monitoring file if the received payment account number is a new payment account number; and subsequent to and independently of said updating of the monitoring file to periodically accessing, via the status database of the computer system, the status information using any payment accounts numbers stored in association with any recipient account number of the plurality of recipient account numbers in the updated monitoring file, wherein said periodic access occurs prior to a due date for an expected recurring payment and before a date on which the expected recurring payment is made on said any recipient account number, so that notification can be sent to the recipient if the status information has changed for said any payment account numbers stored in association with said any recipient account number in the updated monitoring file. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A computer system for monitoring the status of payment accounts against which recurring payments have been drawn, via a monitoring file which is continuously updated as payments are made by a payer for the benefit of a creditor, the system comprising:
-
a status database, on a storage medium of an account status system, that stores status information on payment accounts, the status information comprising an account status and/or an account condition associated with each of the payment accounts, the status database operated by or on behalf of an entity other than the payer or the creditor; a monitoring file, on a storage medium of a monitoring system, that associates at least one creditor account identifier to at least one payment account identifier, wherein the association between the at least one creditor account identifier and the at least one payment account identifier is updated when a creditor account identifier and a payment account identifier are received by the monitoring system in response to a payment toward a recurring payment from the payer to the creditor and when a comparison of the received payment account identifier to any payment account identifiers previously stored in association with the received creditor account identifier indicates that the received payment account identifier is a new payment account identifier, said update including storing the received payment account identifier in association with the received creditor account identifier in the monitoring file and a processor configured to periodically access, via the status database, the status information using any payment account identifiers stored in association with any creditor account identifier of the at least one creditor account identifier in the updated monitoring file, wherein said periodic access occurs subsequent to and independently of said update to the monitoring file, prior to a due date for an expected recurring payment and before a date on which the expected recurring payment is made on said any creditor account identifier, so that notification can be sent to the creditor if the status information has changed for said any payment account identifiers stored in association with said any creditor account identifier in the updated monitoring file. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
-
Specification