Method and system for cash remittances using a two country banking structure

• US 7,996,309 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2010
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Avazian, Thomas D., Tucker, Faith A., Vergara, Eduardo J., Rosenberg, Marcos, Tabacinic, Claudia, Cintron, Miguel
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEUNG, MARY DA ZHI WANG
• Application Number:
  US12/842,675
• Publication Number:
  US 20100287100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 382 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705 39- 40, 705 42- 44, 705/64, 705 67- 70, 705/73, 705 75- 79, 902/22, 902/24, 902/40, 382/137, 235/379
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A bank customer of a first bank in a first country has a bank account. The bank provides a banking service whereby customer is able to send cash to a recipient in a second country via a commingled bank account belonging to a second bank. The cash is provided to the recipient in the currency of the second country by a third party payment agent. To effect a transfer, the bank customer in the first country instructs the first bank to debit his or her account and send cash to a designated recipient. In response, the first bank debits the customer'"'"'s account, sends first payment instructions to the second bank, and transfers funds to a commingled account at the second bank. Funds from this commingled account are used to pay for the cash provided to the recipient. The banking service may be provided free of charge to a banking customer of the first bank.

Claims

1. A method for a banking customer of a first bank in a first country to invoke a banking service of sending a first amount of cash to a recipient in a second country, the first amount of cash being in the currency of the second country, the banking customer having a bank account in the first bank, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first bank computer associated with the first bank, information for designating a recipient of the first amount of cash and for specifying the first amount of cash to be provided to the recipient;

updating a bank database of the first bank computer to debit the banking customer'"'"'s bank account for a second amount of cash;

transmitting to a second bank located in the second country, a first data message with information sufficient for the second bank to provide the first amount of cash to the recipient via a payment agent in the second country; and

transferring an amount of funds equivalent in value to the first amount of cash to a commingled account belonging to the second bank.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second bank is an affiliate of the first bank.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information in the first data message comprises a first set of fields that identify a transaction, a second set of fields that include details of the transaction, a third set of fields that include details of the recipient, and a fourth set of fields that identify the payment agent.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first set of fields comprise a transaction routing number, retrieval access code, record creation date, and a record creation time.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the second set of fields comprise a date and time that a transaction request expires, the first amount of cash to be sent to the recipient, a sender'"'"'s name, and an authentication code.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the third set of fields comprise a name, address, and phone number of the recipient.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the fourth set of fields comprise a payment agent name.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first amount of cash in the commingled account is in currency of the first country or the second country.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the information in the first data message is based on a sender transaction profile stored in a memory of the first bank computer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data message includes a memo to the recipient.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving confirmation that the first amount of cash has been disbursed to the recipient.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

updating the bank database on the first bank computer to reflect the received confirmation.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an invoice from the payment agent for services provided over a predetermined period of time.

14. An apparatus for sending cash from a sending bank in a first country comprising:

a database configured to store user profile information;

a receiving bank computer communication module configured to communicate with a receiving bank in a second country for transmitting the cash to a recipient;

a payment agent computer communication module configured to communicate with a payment agent in the second country for disbursing the cash to the recipient, wherein the payment agent computer communicates with the receiving bank computer to disburse the cash to the recipient; and

a cash remittance module configured to manage the transmission of the cash to the recipient based on the user profile information stored in the database at the sending bank in the first country, wherein the cash is converted from a first currency in the first country to a second currency in the second country and is transmitted to the recipient through the receiving bank and the payment agent.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the user profile information comprises a date and time that a transaction request expires, a transaction amount to be sent to the recipient, a sender'"'"'s name, and an authentication code.

16. The apparatus, of claim 14, further comprising:

a sender communication module for receiving initial instructions from a sender with regard to the transmitting the cash to the recipient.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the initial instructions are received via a telephone line or the Internet.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, at a first bank computer located in a first country, having computer-executable program instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving first data identifying a sender, a recipient, a payment agent, and a first amount of cash in a first currency, wherein the sender is located in a first country using the first currency, wherein the recipient is located in a second country using a second currency, wherein the payment agent is located in the second country for disbursing funds to the recipient by communicating with a second bank computer located in the second country, and wherein the first amount of cash is in the first currency;

determining a second amount of cash in the second currency to provide to the recipient, by converting the first amount of cash into the second currency at a predetermined exchange rate; and

sending a first data message for receipt by the second bank computer, the first data message comprising second data identifying the recipient and at least one of the first amount of cash or the second amount of cash.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions further perform:

receiving a confirmation that the second amount of cash has been disbursed to the recipient.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions further perform:

accessing a sender'"'"'s user profile detailing the first and second data.

21. A first bank computer of a first bank in a first country, the first bank computer comprising:

a processor;

a receiving module configured to receive payment information including a first amount of cash to be provided to a recipient in a second country via a payment agent in the second country, a date that the first amount of cash is to be sent to the recipient, and an identity of the payment agent located in the second country to be used in disbursing the first amount of cash to the recipient;

a formatting module configured to format the payment information into first payment instructions, wherein the first payment instructions include a first set of fields that identify a transaction, a second set of fields that include details of the transaction, a third set of fields that include details of the recipient, and a fourth set of fields that identify the payment agent; and

a transmitting module configured to (a) transmit to a second bank computer associated with a second bank located in the second country, the first payment instructions and (b) transmit an amount of funds equivalent in value to the first amount of cash to a commingled account belonging to the second bank.