Pay yourself first with user guidance

• US 8,407,137 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2010
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Propulsion Remote Holdings LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Thomas, Tracey R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Apple, Kirsten
• Application Number:
  US12/714,772
• Publication Number:
  US 20100174645A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,121 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35
• US Class Current: 705/38
• 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 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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

Abstract

The system encourages users to not only pay themselves first, but to pay themselves first in the largest amounts possible, even if they are not able to fully pay outstanding debts. The system obtains information related to the user'"'"'s income, income sources, user'"'"'s debts (e.g., bills) and user'"'"'s goals. The system provides recommendations related to the prioritization of paying certain bills and the amount to pay for each bill based upon, for example, savings goals, minimizing penalties/fees associated with user'"'"'s debts, minimum amounts due, due dates and available income. The system and/or the user may then determine a payment hierarchy which includes transferring funds to the user'"'"'s savings account prior to paying all or a portion of certain bills, wherein the transfer of funds may include different funds transfer systems and methods.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer-based system, financial information about a user;

determining, by the computer-based system and based on the received financial information, a savings amount to be transferred to an account of the user;

verifying, by the computer-based system, whether the determined savings amount has been transferred to the account; and

restricting access to functions of the computer-based system by the user until transfer of the determined savings amount to the account is verified.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

awarding, by the computer-based system, loyalty points to the user in response to verifying that the determined savings amount has been transferred to the account.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the restricting includes restricting access to a user interface that permits entry of expense information relating to a plurality of debt obligations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the restricting includes restricting access to a user interface that presents a payment hierarchy determined based on the received financial information and expense information relating to a plurality of debt obligations of the user, wherein the payment hierarchy specifies timings for paying one or more of the plurality of debt obligations.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the expense information includes penalty information for late payment of one or more of the plurality of debt obligations, and wherein the payment hierarchy is further determined based on the penalty information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the payment hierarchy recommends a partial payment of one of the plurality of debt obligations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the restricting includes restricting access to a user interface that facilitates payment for one or more debt obligations of the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial information includes income information and savings goal information that includes a desired savings amount specified by the user, and wherein the determined savings amount is determined based, at least in part, on the specified desired savings amount.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the verifying includes receiving an indication that the determined savings amount has been transferred to the account, wherein the indication is from a third party distinct from the computer-based system and the user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the indication includes an authorization key of the third party.

11. A non-transitory, computer readable medium having program instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based system, cause the computer-based system to perform operations comprising:

determining a savings amount to be transferred to an account of a user, wherein the savings amount is determined based on financial information about the user;

verifying whether the determined savings amount has been transferred to the account; and

restricting access to functions of the computer-based system by the user until transfer of the determined savings amount to the account is verified.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise awarding loyalty points to the user responsive to the verifying.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the determining includes determining a payment hierarchy that specifies a timing for transferring the savings amount to the account of the user and timings for paying one or more debt obligations of the user.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise providing a plurality of interfaces to the user to facilitate entry of financial information of the user, and wherein the restricting includes restricting presentation of ones of the plurality of interfaces to the user.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein one of the plurality of interfaces is a web page usable to enter expense information relating to one or more debt obligations of the user.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computer-based system, financial information of a user;

determining, by the computer-based system and based on the received financial information, a savings amount to be transferred to an account of the user;

validating, by the computer-based system, that the determined savings amount has been transferred to the account;

enabling additional functionality of the computer-based system in response to the validating.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

awarding, by the computer-based system, loyalty points to the user based on the validating.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the additional functionality includes determining a payment hierarchy for the user based on the received financial information and expense information relating to a plurality of debt obligations of the user, wherein the payment hierarchy specifies timings for paying one or more of the plurality of debt obligations.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the validating includes receiving an electronic message indicating that the savings amount has been transferred, and wherein the electronic message is from a third party distinct from the user and the computer-based system.