Geo-location based underwriting

• US 8,655,773 B1
• Filed: 01/26/2012
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Fasoli, Jonathan David, Dorsch, William Michael, Kerman, Amy M., Gador, Brandon
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamilton, Sara C
• Application Number:
  US13/359,324
• Time in Patent Office: 754 Days
• Field of Search: 705/38, 705/39, 705/40, 705/44
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method for processing financial requests, including: identifying an approval criterion and a predefined proximity for approving financial requests; receiving, from a mobile device of a merchant, a financial request including merchant-provided data, where the merchant-provided data includes an address of the merchant; receiving a location coordinate from the mobile device; determining, by a computer processor, that the location coordinate is within the predefined proximity of the address of the merchant; identifying, by the computer processor, at least a portion of the merchant-provided data required to evaluate the approval criterion; evaluating, by the computer processor, the approval criterion using the portion of the merchant-provided data; determining, based on evaluating the approval criterion, that the approval criterion is satisfied; and approving the financial request in response to determining that the location coordinate is within the predefined proximity and determining that the approval criterion is satisfied.

Claims

1. A method for processing financial requests, comprising:

obtaining an approval criterion and a predefined proximity to an address of a first merchant for approving financial requests, wherein the address of the first merchant is a place of business of the first merchant;

receiving, from a first mobile device of the first merchant, a first financial request for creating a new merchant account, the first financial request comprising a plurality of merchant-provided data;

receiving a plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device of the first merchant, wherein at least one of the plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device indicates that the first merchant is not located at the place of business of the first merchant;

calculating, by a computer processor, a plurality of distances between the address of the first merchant and the plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device;

calculating, by the computer processor, an average of the plurality of distances;

determining, by the computer processor, that the average is within the predefined proximity of the address of the first merchant;

identifying, by the computer processor, at least a portion of the merchant-provided data required to evaluate the approval criterion;

evaluating, by the computer processor, the approval criterion using the at least the portion of the merchant-provided data;

determining, based on evaluating the approval criterion, that the approval criterion is satisfied; and

creating, for underwriting, the new merchant account for the first merchant in response to determining that the average is within the predefined proximity and determining that the approval criterion is satisfied.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a second mobile device, a second financial request comprising an address of a second merchant;

receiving a location coordinate from the second mobile device;

determining that the location coordinate from the second mobile device is outside of the predefined proximity of the address of the second merchant; and

declining the second financial request at least in response to determining that the location coordinate from the second mobile device is outside of the predefined proximity of the address of the second merchant.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

flagging the second financial request for a follow-up in response to declining the second financial request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of merchant-provided data is obtained from an application form submitted by the first merchant.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the approval criterion is a requirement that a merchant-provided average transaction amount is less than a predefined maximum amount, and wherein determining that the approval criterion is satisfied comprises:

identifying the merchant-provided average transaction amount in the plurality of merchant-provided data; and

determining that the merchant-provided average transaction amount is less than the predefined maximum amount.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating, based on the approval criterion and the plurality of merchant-provided data, a risk value for the first merchant; and

setting, for the first merchant and based on the risk value, a maximum allowable dollar amount for transactions per unit time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the approval criterion is a requirement that a merchant-provided telephone number matches a telephone number of the mobile device, and wherein determining that the approval criterion is satisfied comprises:

identifying the merchant-provided telephone number in the plurality of merchant-provided data; and

determining that the merchant-provided telephone number matches the telephone number of the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the approval criterion is a requirement that a chargeback rate of the first merchant is less than a predefined maximum chargeback rate, and wherein determining that the approval criterion is satisfied comprises:

identifying the chargeback rate of the first merchant; and

determining that the chargeback rate of the first merchant is less than the predefined maximum chargeback rate.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the approval criterion is a requirement that a name of the first merchant not reside within a blacklist of banned merchants, and wherein determining that the approval criterion is satisfied comprises:

identifying the name of the first merchant in the plurality of merchant-provided data;

searching the blacklist of banned merchants for the name of the first merchant; and

determining that the name of the first merchant does not reside in the blacklist of banned merchants.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a location coordinate of the plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device is a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate obtained from a GPS receiver of the first mobile device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the approval criterion is based on one selected from a group consisting of a first requirement that the address of the first merchant reside outside of a predefined geographic location, a second requirement that a merchant-provided maximum cumulative transaction amount per unit time is less than a predefined maximum amount, a third requirement that a transaction type selected by the first merchant is not in a plurality of restricted transaction types, and a fourth requirement that a credit score of the first merchant is greater than a minimum allowable credit score.

12. A system for processing financial requests, comprising:

a computer processor upon execution of an underwriting module is configured to;

obtain an approval criterion and a predefined proximity to an address of a first merchant for approving financial requests, wherein the address of the first merchant is a place of business of the first merchant;

receive, from a first mobile device of the first merchant, a first financial request for creating a new merchant account, the first financial request comprising a plurality of merchant-provided data;

receive a plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device of the first merchant, wherein at least one of the plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device indicates that the first merchant is not located at the place of business of the first merchant;

calculate a plurality of distances between the address of the first merchant and the plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device;

calculate an average of the plurality of distances;

determine that the average is within the predefined proximity of the address of the first merchant;

identify at least a portion of the merchant-provided data required to evaluate the approval criterion;

evaluate the approval criterion using the at least the portion of the merchant-provided data;

determine, based on evaluating the approval criterion, that the approval criterion is satisfied; and

create, for underwriting, the new merchant account for the first merchant in response to determining that the average is within the predefined proximity and determining that the approval criterion is satisfied.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a storage device configured to store an underwriting repository, comprising;

a blacklist of banned merchants;

wherein the approval criterion is a requirement that a name of the first merchant not reside within the blacklist of banned merchants, and wherein the computer processor being configured to determine that the approval criterion is satisfied comprises the computer processor being configured to;

identify the name of the first merchant in the plurality of merchant-provided data;

search the blacklist of banned merchants for the name of the first merchant; and

determine that the name of the first merchant does not reside in the blacklist of banned merchants.

14. The system of claim 12,

wherein the first mobile device comprises a global positioning system (GPS) receiver configured to obtain the plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer processor upon execution of the underwriting module is further configured to:

receive, from a second mobile device, a second financial request comprising an address of a second merchant;

receive a location coordinate from the second mobile device;

determine that the location coordinate from the second mobile device is outside of the predefined proximity of the address of the second merchant; and

decline the second financial request at least in response to determining that the location coordinate from the second mobile device is outside of the predefined proximity of the address of the second merchant.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer processor upon execution of the underwriting module is further configured to:

flag the second financial request for a follow-up in response to declining the second financial request.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of merchant-provided data is obtained from an application form submitted by the first merchant.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the first financial request is a request for approval of a financial transaction between the first merchant and one selected from a group consisting of a consumer and a business.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the approval criterion is a requirement that a chargeback rate of the first merchant is less than a predefined maximum chargeback rate, and wherein the computer processor being configured to determine that the approval criterion is satisfied comprises the computer processor being configured to:

identify the chargeback rate of the first merchant; and

determine that the chargeback rate of the first merchant is less than the predefined maximum chargeback rate.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the approval criterion is based on one selected from a group consisting of a first requirement that the address of the first merchant reside outside of a predefined geographic location, a second requirement that a merchant-provided maximum cumulative transaction amount per unit time is less than a predefined maximum amount, a third requirement that a transaction type selected by the first merchant is not in a plurality of restricted transaction types, and a fourth requirement that a credit score of the first merchant is greater than a minimum allowable credit score.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions, executable by a computer processor, for processing financial requests, the plurality of instructions comprising functionality to:

obtain an approval criterion and a predefined proximity to an address of a first merchant for approving financial requests, wherein the address of the first merchant is a place of business of the first merchant;

receive, from a first mobile device of the first merchant, a first financial request for creating a new merchant account, the first financial request comprising a plurality of merchant-provided data;

receive a plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device of the merchant, wherein at least one of the plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device indicates that the first merchant is not located at the place of business of the first merchant;

calculate a plurality of distances between the address of the first merchant and the plurality of location coordinates from the first mobile device;

calculate an average of the plurality of distances;

determine that the average is within the predefined proximity of the address of the first merchant;

identify at least a portion of the merchant-provided data required to evaluate the approval criterion;

evaluate the approval criterion using the at least the portion of the merchant-provided data;

determine, based on evaluating the approval criterion, that the approval criterion is satisfied; and

create, for underwriting, the new merchant account for the first merchant in response to determining that the average is within the predefined proximity and determining that the approval criterion is satisfied.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the plurality of instructions further comprise functionality to:

receive, from a second mobile device, a second financial request comprising an address of a second merchant;

receive a location coordinate from the second mobile device;

determine that the location coordinate from the second mobile device is outside of the predefined proximity of the address of the second merchant; and

decline the second financial request at least in response to determining that the location coordinate from the second mobile device is outside of the predefined proximity of the address of the second merchant.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the plurality of instructions further comprise functionality to:

flag the second financial request for a follow-up in response to declining the second financial request.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the plurality of merchant-provided data is obtained from an application form submitted by the first merchant.