System for reducing information required to open a new account

• US 8,005,732 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2003
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Glenn, Gregory Alan, Bertucci, Rhonda Lee, Okerlund, Randy, Berlin, Suzanne K., Miranda, Lorraine, Khandros, Yelena
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jagdish N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bartley, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US10/749,697
• Publication Number:
  US 20050144101A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,792 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

An existing customer of a financial institution may open a new account with their financial institution using an optimized online interface. Initially, the interface presents a standard application for a new account in which an extensive number of fields for personal and financial information must be completed. A link is provided on this long application for use by existing account holders only. Upon selection of the link, an existing account holder is instead presented with a short application in which only the account holder'"'"'s name, a portion of their social security number, their existing account number, and their account confirmation identifier are required to be entered.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions for processing applications, the plurality of instructions, when executed by a processor, are configured to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the processor, an incomplete first account application of a customer, including a name of a customer and less than a full government identification number, and selection of a check box indicating that the customer is a pre-existing customer, wherein the received first account application does not include a pre-stored user ID or logon identifier;

transferring, by the processor, information entered by the customer in fields of the first account application to corresponding fields in a second account application, in response to the selection of a check box indicating that the customer is a pre-existing customer, wherein the transferring of the information from the first account application to the second account application is performed by an automated process;

verifying, by the processor, the information provided in the first account application against stored information of an existing transaction account to update customer information;

transmitting, by the processor, the second account application to the customer, wherein the second account application includes a fewer number of the fields for entering personal identification and financial information than the first account application which was previously presented to the customer, wherein the first application and the second application are applications for identical products or services;

receiving, by the processor, a submitted second account application from the customer; and

approving or denying, by the processor, the submitted second account application based on the information submitted with the second account application and retrieved stored information associated with the customer.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the fields of the first account application comprise at least one of:

a customer name field, a customer address field, a field for entering financial account information of the customer, a field for entering employment information of the customer, or a field for entering an annual income of the customer.

3. The medium of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving information for an existing account in the fields of the first account application; and

validating the information for the existing account.

4. The medium of claim 2, wherein the existing account comprises an existing transaction account and a confirmation code associated with the existing account comprises a transaction card identification (CD) code.

5. The medium of claim 2, wherein the government identification code comprises a social security number of the customer.

6. The medium of claim 1, wherein the second account application comprises at least one of:

a customer name field, a field for entering at least a portion of a government identification number of the customer, a field for entering an account number of an existing account of the customer, or a field for entering a confirmation number associated with the existing account.

7. The medium of claim 1, wherein the first account application comprises a field that is not in the second account application.

8. The medium of claim 1, wherein the second account application comprises at least one of the fields of the first account application.

9. The medium of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information from the customer for each of the fields of the second account application;

validating the information received from the customer against data stored for an existing account of the customer;

retrieving information required for the first account application from data stored for the existing account; and

processing the second account application based on the retrieved information.

10. The medium of claim 9, wherein the approving or denying the submitted second account application is based on the processing.

11. The medium of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting the retrieved information to the customer for confirmation.

12. The medium of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, from the customer, one of a confirmation and a correction for the retrieved information.

13. The medium of claim 1, wherein the first account application comprises a selectable indication that the customer is a holder of an existing account of a financial institution responsible for issuing the first account.

14. The medium of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the selectable indicator from the customer.

15. The medium of claim 13, wherein the selectable indication comprises a hyperlink.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computer-based system for processing applications, an incomplete first account application of a customer, including a name of a customer and less than a full government identification number, and selection of a check box indicating that the customer is a pre-existing customer, wherein the received first account application does not include a pre-stored user ID or logon identifier;

transferring, by the computer-based system, information entered by the customer in fields of the first account application to corresponding fields in a second account application, in response to the selection of a check box indicating that the customer is a pre-existing customer, wherein the transferring of the information from the first account application to the second account application is performed by an automated process;

verifying, by the computer-based system, the information provided in the first account application against stored information of an existing transaction account to update customer information;

transmitting, by the computer-based system, the second account application to the customer, wherein the second account application including a fewer number of the fields for entering personal identification and financial information than the first account application which was previously presented to the customer, wherein the first application and the second application are applications for identical products or services;

receiving, by the computer-based system, a submitted second account application from the customer; and

approving or denying, by the computer-based system, the submitted second account application based on the information submitted with the second account application and retrieved stored information associated with the customer.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer based system, information from the customer for each of the fields of the second account application, the information including an identification of the existing transaction account;

validating, by the computer based system, the information received from the customer against data stored for the existing transaction account;

retrieving, by the computer based system, additional information required for the first account application from data stored for the existing transaction account; and

processing, by the computer based system, the second account application based on the retrieved additional information.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer based system, information from the customer in the first account application; and

transferring, by the computer based system, the information from the first account application to the second account application for at least one field that is provided in both the first account application and the second account application.

19. A computer based system, comprising:

a computer network communicating with a memory;

the memory communicating with a processor; and

the processor, when executing a computer program for processing applications, is configured to;

receive an incomplete first account application of a customer, including a name of a customer and less than a full government identification number, and selection of a check box indicating that the customer is a pre-existing customer, wherein the received first account application does not include a pre-stored user ID or logon identifier;

transfer information entered by the customer in fields of the first account application to corresponding fields in a second account application, in response to the selection of a check box indicating that the customer is a pre-existing customer, wherein the transferring of the information from the first account application to the second account application is performed by an automated process;

verify, the information provided in the first account application against stored information of an existing transaction account to update customer information;

transmit the second account application to the customer, wherein the second account application including a fewer number of the fields for entering personal identification and financial information than the first account application which was previously presented to the customer, wherein the first application and the second application are applications for identical products or services;

receive a submitted second account application from the customer; and

approve or deny the submitted second account application based on the information submitted with the second account application and retrieved stored information associated with the customer.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor, when executing a computer program for processing applications, is further configured to:

receive information from the customer for each of the fields of the second account application, the information including an identification of the existing transaction account;

validate the information received from the customer against data stored for the existing transaction account;

retrieve additional information required for the first account application from data stored for the existing transaction account; and

process the second account application based on the retrieved additional information.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor, when executing a computer program for processing applications, is further configured to:

receive information from the customer in the first account application; and

transfer the information from the first account application to the second account application for at least one field that is provided in both the first account application and the second account application.