System for reducing information required to open a new account

• US 8,341,055 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2011
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• 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: Bertucci, Rhonda Lee, Okerlund, Randy, Berlin, Suzanne K, Miranda, Lorraine C., Khandros, Yelena, Glenn, Gregory Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Bartley, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US13/184,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20110282772A1
• Time in Patent Office: 529 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 method comprising

receiving, by a computer-based system for processing applications, an incomplete first account application of a customer, including a name of the customer and less than a full identification number, and a selection indicating that the customer is a pre-existing customer, wherein the incomplete first account application comprises at least one more field than fields comprising information entered by the customer;

determining, by the computer-based system, that application information in fields of the incomplete first account application correspond to existing fields in a second account application;

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

transferring, by the computer-based system, the application information entered by the customer in the fields of the incomplete first account application to the corresponding fields in the second account application, in response to the selection indicating that the customer is the pre-existing customer;

transmitting, by the computer-based system, the second account application to the customer, wherein the second account application includes a fewer number of the fields than the first account application which was previously presented to the customer, wherein the first application and the second application are applications for identical at least one of products or services; and

receiving, by the computer-based system, the second account application from the customer.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising approving or denying, by the computer-based system, the second account application based on the information transferred to the second account application and retrieved stored information associated with the customer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received incomplete first account application does not include a pre-stored user ID or logon identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring of the application information from the first account application to the second account application is performed by an automated process.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second account application includes a fewer number of the fields for entering personal identification and financial information.

6. The method 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.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

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

validating the application information for the existing account.

8. The method 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.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the existing account comprises an existing transaction account and a confirmation code associated with the existing account, wherein the confirmation code comprises a transaction card identification (CD) code.

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

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

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

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

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

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

processing the second account application based on the retrieved stored information.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising approving or denying the second account application based on the processing.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting the retrieved stored information to the customer for confirmation; and

receiving, from the customer, a confirmation or a correction for the retrieved stored information.

15. The method 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.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the selectable indication comprises a hyperlink.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the full identification number is a government identification code.

18. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based system for processing applications, cause the computer-based system to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the computer-based system, an incomplete first account application of a customer, including a name of the customer and less than a full identification number, and a selection indicating that the customer is a pre-existing customer, wherein the incomplete first account application comprises at least one more field than fields comprising information entered by the customer;

determining, by the computer-based system, that application information in fields of the incomplete first account application correspond to existing fields in a second account application;

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

transferring, by the computer-based system, the application information entered by the customer in the fields of the incomplete first account application to the corresponding fields in the second account application, in response to the selection indicating that the customer is the pre-existing customer;

transmitting, by the computer-based system, the second account application to the customer, wherein the second account application includes a fewer number of the fields than the first account application which was previously presented to the customer, wherein the first application and the second application are applications for identical at least one of products or services; and

receiving, by the computer-based system, the second account application from the customer.

19. A system comprising:

a processor for processing applications,

a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor,

the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, by the processor, an incomplete first account application of a customer, including a name of the customer and less than a full identification number, and a selection indicating that the customer is a pre-existing customer, wherein the incomplete first account application comprises at least one more field than fields comprising information entered by the customer;

determining, by the processor, that application information in fields of the incomplete first account application correspond to existing fields in a second account application;

verifying, by the processor, application information provided in the incomplete first account application against stored information of an existing account;

transferring, by the processor, the application information entered by the customer in the fields of the incomplete first account application to the corresponding fields in the second account application, in response to the selection indicating that the customer is the pre-existing customer;

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

receiving, by the processor, the second account application from the customer.