Method and system for notifying customers of transaction opportunities

• US 8,145,566 B1
• Filed: 12/22/2010
• Issued: 03/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Citicorp Credit Services Incorporated (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Citicorp Development Center Incorporated (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ahuja, Arun, Vaidyanathan, Ramadurai, Tata, Anand, Markarian, Grigor, Pan, Joe, Tompkins, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Champagne, Luna
• Application Number:
  US12/976,548
• Time in Patent Office: 461 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/403 Solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A standalone notification system, including a notification server which generates electronic messages for alerting customers of potentially fraudulent activity on one or more of their financial accounts. Alternatively, or in addition thereto, the notification system may be used to forward transaction code(s) to customers for verification of a request for high risk transaction(s) with respect to a customer'"'"'s financial account. The transaction code is generated in response to a high risk transaction request and sent to through an identified customer notification means, e.g., e-mail, short message service (“SMS”), facsimile, mobile phone, telephone, etc. The customer must enter the transaction code within a predetermined amount of time in order to verify the high-risk transaction request.

Claims

1. An at least partially server-implemented method for confirming a customer request for a transaction comprising:

receiving, using a server, a high-risk transaction request associated with a customer;

determining, using the server, the status of the customer as being either enrolled in a notification system or not enrolled in a notification system;

if it is determined that the customer is enrolled in the notification system, ascertaining the customer'"'"'s preferred method of notification, formulating an alert message including a transaction code and sending the alert message to the customer via the preferred method of notification; and

if it is determined that the customer is not enrolled in the notification system, determining at least one method of notifying the customer, formulating an alert message including the transaction code and sending the alert message to the customer via the at least one identified method of notification; and

requesting, using the server, entrance of the transaction code within a predetermined period of time in order to verify that the high-risk transaction request was made by the customer.

2. The at least partially server-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the at least one method of notifying the customer based on customer data received at the notification system or based on information requested at the time of the high risk transaction request.

3. The at least partially server-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a high risk transaction request includes a request to withdraw, transfer, or remit payment from a customer account in an amount in excess of a predetermined amount.

4. The at least partially server-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a high-risk transaction request includes a request to add a payee to a customer account.

5. The at least partially server-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one method of notifying the customer is selected from the group consisting of e-mail, HTML (hypertext mark-up language), pager, customer service representative call, mobile phone text messaging, and XML (extensible mark-up language), facsimile, and short message service.

6. The at least partially server-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined period of time is 10 minutes.

7. A server-implemented method for executing a transaction, the method comprising:

receiving, using a server, a financial transaction request from a customer;

determining, using the server, if the financial transaction request exceeds a threshold amount;

determining, using the server, the status of the customer as being either enrolled in a notification system or not enrolled in a notification system;

if it is determined that the customer is enrolled in the notification system, ascertaining the customer'"'"'s preferred method of notification, formulating an alert message including a transaction code and sending the alert message to the customer via the preferred method of notification that the transaction request exceeds the threshold amount; and

if it is determined that the customer is not enrolled in the notification system, determining at least one method of notifying the customer, formulating an alert message including the transaction code and sending the alert message to the customer via the at least one identified method of notification that the transaction request exceeds the threshold amount;

requesting, using the server, the customer to enter information associated with the customer;

determining, using the server, whether the customer entered correct information; and

performing, using the server, the requested financial transaction request.

8. The server-implemented method according to claim 7, further comprising providing a secure transaction code to the customer.

9. The server-implemented method according to claim 8, wherein the secure transaction code is generated by a host.

10. The server-implemented method according to claim 7, wherein requesting the customer to enter information associated with the customer further comprises receiving a secure transaction code entered by the customer.

11. The server-implemented method according to claim 7, further comprising determining whether the customer entered the requested information within a predetermined amount of time.

12. The server-implemented method according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined amount of time is 10 seconds.

13. The server-implemented method according to claim 7, further comprising receiving the requested information from the customer from a webpage or a telephone system.

14. The server-implemented method according to claim 7, further comprising:

determining the at least one method of notifying the customer based on customer data received at the notification system or based on information requested at the time of the financial transaction request.

15. The server-implemented method according to claim 7, wherein determining if the financial transaction request exceeds the threshold amount further comprises determining whether the request includes a request to withdraw, transfer, or remit payment from a customer account in an amount in excess of a predetermined amount.

16. The server-implemented method according to claim 7, wherein transmitting the notification to the customer comprises sending an e-mail, HTML (hypertext mark-up language), pager, customer service representative call, mobile phone text messaging, and XML (extensible mark-up language), facsimile, or short message service.