Systems and methods for automated payment processing

• US 8,041,637 B1
• Filed: 02/20/2008
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Vareed, Zinda R., Garcia, Ana Maria, Diener, Pamela Glimm
• Primary Examiner(s): Dixon; Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fields; Benjamin S
• Application Number:
  US12/034,028
• Time in Patent Office: 1,336 Days
• Field of Search: 705/40
• US Class Current: 705/40
• 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 20/4037 Remote solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Apparatus and methods to process loss payments are described herein. In one example, an apparatus includes one or more data stores, a rules engine, an audit engine and a payment engine. In another example, the method may include receiving a notice of loss, deriving a payee, processing one or more rules using the information, determining whether an automatic payment can be made and transferring funds if the automatic payment can be made. In a further example, the method may include receiving a notice of loss, the loss having one or more exposures, processing one or more rules for each of the exposures in parallel, determining if an automatic payment can be made for each of the exposures and removing the automatic payment for an exposure if it can not be made while continuing processing payments for the remaining exposures.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

using a processor in a system including at least one subsystem having a computing device with the processor and memory for storing executable instructions that are executable by the processor to perform;

receiving a notice of a loss in a computer system, wherein the notice of the loss includes information contained in one or more fields and the loss involves more than one exposure;

deriving each of the more than one exposures from the information received in the computer system and stored at a data store, where each exposure may independently expose an insurance company to liability, and wherein the data store includes at least one of the following;

an incident data store that maintains information related to specifics of the loss;

an insured data store that maintains information about an insured party involved in the loss; and

a policy data store that maintains policy specific information that may modify coverage amounts for the loss;

processing, in parallel, for each of the more than one exposures, one or more rules using the information in the computer system to derive a context of the loss;

determining, using the one or more rules in the computer system, whether an automatic payment can be made to a payee for each of the more than one exposures based on the context of the loss, wherein the automatic payment can be made if the processed information passes one or more audit functions including verifying an accuracy of a payment of an exposure; and

removing an exposure from an automatic payment when the one or more rules provide that an automatic payment cannot be made with the computer system while processing an automatic payment for an exposure when the one or more rules provide that an automatic payment can be made with the computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, further including instructions that are executable by the processor to perform:

displaying a status of each of in-process work items in a web browser to an insured; and

receiving, from the insured, information sufficient to alter the status of at least one of the in process work items.

3. The method of claim 1, further including instructions that are executable by the processor to perform:

parsing from the information a payee for the exposure.

4. The method of claim 3, further including instructions that are executable by the processor to perform:

processing an automatic payment if an automatic payment can be made, wherein processing an automatic payment includes at least one of the following;

wire transfer to the payee, automated clearing house (ACH) transaction to the payee, and issuing a physical check that is delivered to the payee.

5. The method of claim 1, including instructions that are executable by the processor to perform:

processing, in parallel for each of the one or more exposures, one or more rules using the information contained in one or more fields and information retrieved from one or more data stores.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more data stores maintain information directly related to the loss and information indirectly related to the loss.

7. A machine-readable medium having computer executable code tangibly embodied thereon that processes payments for a loss on a computer system that executes the code and performs the following operations:

receiving a notice of a loss in the computer system, wherein the notice of the loss includes information contained in one or more fields and the loss involves more than one exposure;

deriving each of the more than one exposures from the information received in the computer system and stored at a data store, where each exposure may independently expose an insurance company to liability, and wherein the data store includes at least one of the following;

an incident data store that maintains information related to specifics of the loss;

an insured data store that maintains information about an insured party involved in the loss; and

a policy data store that maintains policy specific information that may modify coverage amounts for the loss;

processing, in parallel, for each of the more than one exposures, one or more rules using the information to derive a context of the loss;

determining, using the one or more rules in the computer system, whether an automatic payment can be made to a payee for each of the more than one exposures based on the context of the loss, wherein the automatic payment can be made if the processed information passes one or more audit functions including verifying an accuracy of a payment of an exposure; and

removing an exposure from an automatic payment when the one or more rules provide that an automatic payment cannot be made with the computer system while processing an automatic payment for an exposure when the one or more rules provide that an automatic payment can be made with the computer system.

8. The machine-readable medium of claim 7, wherein processing includes:

displaying a status of each of in-process work items in a web browser to an insured; and

receiving, from the insured, information sufficient to alter the status of at least one of the in process work items.

9. The machine-readable medium of claim 7, wherein processing the automatic payment includes:

parsing from the information a payee for the exposure.

10. The machine-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

processing an automatic payment if an automatic payment can be made, wherein processing an automatic payment includes at least one of the following;

wire transfer to the payee, automated clearing house (ACH) transaction to the payee, and issuing a physical check that is delivered to the payee.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 7, wherein processing includes:

processing, in parallel for each of the one or more exposures, one or more rules using the information contained in one or more fields and information retrieved from one or more data stores.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more data stores maintain information directly related to the loss and information indirectly related to the loss.

13. A computer implemented system for processing payments for a loss, the system comprising at least one subsystem having a computing device with a processor and memory for storing executable instructions that are executable by the processor to:

receive a notice of a loss in a claims processing module of the computer implemented system, wherein the notice of the loss includes information contained in one or more fields and the loss involves more than one exposure;

derive each of the more than one exposures from the information received in the claims processing module of the computer system and stored at a data store, where each exposure may independently expose an insurance company to liability, and wherein the data store includes at least one of the following;

an incident data store that maintains information related to specifics of the loss;

an insured data store that maintains information about an insured party involved in the loss; and

a policy data store that maintains policy specific information that may modify coverage amounts for the loss;

process, in parallel, for each of the more than one exposures, one or more rules using the information in a rules engine of the computer system to derive a context of the loss;

determine, using the one or more rules in the rules engine of the computer system, whether an automatic payment can be made to a payee for each of the more than one exposures based on the context of the loss, wherein the automatic payment can be made if the processed information passes one or more audit functions including verifying an accuracy of a payment of an exposure; and

remove an exposure from an automatic payment when the one or more rules provide that an automatic payment cannot be made with the computer system while processing an automatic payment for an exposure when the one or more rules provide that an automatic payment can be made with the computer system.

14. The system of claim 13, including executable instructions that are executable by the processor to:

display a status of each of in-process work items in a web browser to an insured; and

receive, from the insured, information sufficient to alter the status of at least one of the in process work items.

15. The system of claim 13, including executable instructions that are executable by the processor to:

parse from the information a payee for the exposure.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising executable instructions that are executable by the processor to:

process an automatic payment if an automatic payment can be made, including at least one of the following;

wire transfer to the payee, automated clearing house (ACH) transaction to the payee, and issuing a physical check that is delivered to the payee.

17. The system of claim 13, including executable instructions that are executable by the processor to:

process, in parallel for each of the one or more exposures, one or more rules using the information contained in one or more fields and information retrieved from one or more data stores.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more data stores maintain information directly related to the loss and information indirectly related to the loss.