Automatically decisioning transaction requests

• US 8,799,161 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2010
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Kreutz, Deborah Fay, Sylvester, Mary Naureen, Hilliard, Shannon Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): TINKLER, MURIEL S
• Application Number:
  US12/783,603
• Publication Number:
  US 20110288996A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,538 Days
• Field of Search: 705/38, 705/39, 705/44
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A system and method of automatically decisioning transaction requests is provided. In some examples, a decisioning system may receive customer transaction limit information, as well as current activity information. The system may determine whether a requested transaction is within a first transaction limit. If not, the system may determine whether the requested transaction is within a second transaction limit. If so, one or more business rules may be applied to the requested transaction to determine whether the transaction is approved.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, in real time by a computing system having a processor, activity relating to a customer of a financial institution;

receiving, in real time by the computing system, a first transaction limit associated with the customer, wherein the first transaction limit associated with the customer comprises an automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer, wherein the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer comprises at least one value associated with the customer received from a computerized facility that electronically processes inter-bank credits and debits among member financial institutions;

receiving, by the computing system, a request for a transaction by the customer;

automatically determining, by the computing system, whether the requested transaction is within the received real time first transaction limit associated with the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer, wherein determining whether the requested transaction is within the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer comprises determining whether the requested transaction is within the at least one value associated with the customer received from the computerized facility that electronically processes inter-bank credits and debits among the member financial institutions;

responsive to automatically determining that the transaction is not within the real time first transaction limit associated with the customer, determining, by the computing system, a second real time transaction limit associated with the customer, wherein the second real time transaction limit associated with the customer comprises an overall credit limit for the customer;

determining, by the computing system, whether the requested transaction is within the determined second real time transaction limit associated with the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the overall credit limit for the customer;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is within the determined second real time transaction limit associated with the customer, determining, by the computing system, whether the requested transaction is eligible for application of a business rule;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is eligible for application of the business rule;

determining, by the computing system, whether an amount of the requested transaction is within a predetermined amount threshold specified by the business rule and whether a risk rate of the customer is below a predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the business rule;

responsive to determining that the amount of the requested transaction is within the predetermined amount threshold specified by the business rule and that the risk rate of the customer is below the predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the business rule, approving, by the computing system, the requested transaction; and

responsive to determining that the amount of the requested transaction is not within the predetermined amount threshold specified by the business rule or that the risk rate of the customer is not below the predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the business rule, transferring, by the computing system, the requested transaction to a queue of requested transactions for manual approval determination by a risk analyst of the financial institution; and

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is not eligible for application of the business rule, transferring, by the computing system, the requested transaction to the queue of requested transactions for manual approval determination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the overall credit limit for the customer includes the first transaction limit associated with the customer.

3. The method of claim 1, further including transmitting, by the computing system, a determination of whether the transaction is approved to data storage for use in future determinations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein responsive to determining that the requested transaction is within the first transaction limit, approving, by the computing system, the requested transaction.

5. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing system having a processor, transaction limit information associated with a customer of a financial institution, the transaction limit information including at least a first transaction limit associated with the customer and a second transaction limit associated with the customer, wherein the first transaction limit associated with the customer comprises an automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer, wherein the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer comprises at least one value associated with the customer received from a computerized facility that electronically processes inter-bank credits and debits among member financial institutions, and wherein the second transaction limit associated with the customer comprises an overall credit limit for the customer;

receiving, by the computing system, a transaction request by the customer;

automatically determining, by the computing system, whether the requested transaction is within the first transaction limit associated with the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer, wherein determining whether the requested transaction is within the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer comprises determining whether the requested transaction is within the at least one value associated with the customer received from the computerized facility that electronically processes inter-bank credits and debits among the member financial institutions;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is not within the first transaction limit associated with the customer, automatically determining, by the computing system, whether the requested transaction is within the second transaction limit associated with the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the overall credit limit for the customer;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is within the second transaction limit associated with the customer, automatically determining, by the computing system, whether the requested transaction is eligible for application of an auto-decisioning business rule;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is eligible for application of the auto-decisioning business rule;

determining, by the computing system, whether an amount of the requested transaction is within a predetermined amount threshold specified by the auto-decisioning business rule and whether a risk rate of the customer is below a predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the auto-decisioning business rule;

responsive to determining that the amount of the requested transaction is within the predetermined amount threshold specified by the auto-decisioning business rule and that the risk rate of the customer is below the predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the auto-decisioning business rule, approving, by the computing system, the requested transaction; and

responsive to determining that the amount of the requested transaction is not within the predetermined amount threshold specified by the auto-decisioning business rule or that the risk rate of the customer is not below the predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the auto-decisioning business rule, transferring, by the computing system, the requested transaction to a queue of requested transactions for manual approval determination by a risk analyst of the financial institution; and

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is not eligible for application of the auto-decisioning business rule, transferring, by the computing system, the requested transaction to the queue of requested transactions for manual approval determination.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transaction limit information is received in real time.

7. The method of claim 5, further including transmitting, by the computing system, an approval determination of the requested transaction to a data storage for use in future decisioning.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the overall credit limit for the customer includes an amount of the first transaction limit associated with the customer.

9. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

receive account activity of a customer associated with a financial institution;

receive transaction limit information associated with the customer, the transaction limit information associated with the customer including at least a first transaction limit associated with the customer and a second transaction limit associated with the customer, wherein the first transaction limit associated with the customer comprises an automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer, wherein the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer comprises at least one value associated with the customer received from a computerized facility that electronically processes inter-bank credits and debits among member financial institutions, and wherein the second transaction limit associated with the customer comprises an overall credit limit for the customer;

receive a transaction request by the customer;

automatically determine whether the requested transaction is within the first transaction limit associated with the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the at least one value associated with the customer received from the computerized facility that electronically processes inter-bank credits and debits among the member financial institutions;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is not within the first transaction limit associated with the customer, automatically determine whether the requested transaction is within the second transaction limit associated with the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the overall credit limit for the customer;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is within the second transaction limit associated with the customer, determine whether the requested transaction is eligible for application of a plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is eligible for application of the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction;

determine whether an amount of the requested transaction is within a predetermined amount threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction and whether a risk rate of the customer is below a predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction;

responsive to determining that the amount of the requested transaction is within the predetermined amount threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction and that the risk rate of the customer is below the predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction, approve the requested transaction; and

responsive to determining that the amount of the requested transaction is not within the predetermined amount threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction or that the risk rate of the customer is not below the predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction, transfer the requested transaction to a queue of requested transactions for manual approval determination by a risk analyst of the financial institution; and

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is not eligible for application of the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction, transfer the requested transaction to the queue of requested transactions for manual approval determination.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 9, wherein the transaction limit information is received in real time.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 9, wherein the account activity of the customer is received in real time.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 9, wherein the overall credit limit for the customer includes an amount of the first transaction limit associated with the customer.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory operatively coupled to the processor and storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to;

receive account activity of a customer associated with a financial institution;

receive transaction limit information associated with the customer, the transaction limit information associated with the customer including at least a first transaction limit associated with the customer and a second transaction limit associated with the customer, wherein the first transaction limit associated with the customer comprises an automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer, wherein the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer comprises at least one value associated with the customer received from a computerized facility that electronically processes inter-bank credits and debits among member financial institutions, and wherein the second transaction limit associated with the customer comprises an overall credit limit for the customer;

receive a transaction request by the customer;

automatically determine whether the requested transaction is within the first transaction limit associated with the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the automated clearinghouse credit limit for the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the at least one value associated with the customer received from the computerized facility that electronically processes inter-bank credits and debits among the member financial institutions;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is not within the first transaction limit associated with the customer, automatically determine whether the requested transaction is within the second transaction limit associated with the customer by determining whether the requested transaction is within the overall credit limit for the customer;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is within the second transaction limit associated with the customer, determine whether the requested transaction is eligible for application of a plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction;

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is eligible for application of the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction;

determine whether an amount of the requested transaction is within a predetermined amount threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction and whether a risk rate of the customer is below a predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction;

responsive to determining that the amount of the requested transaction is within the predetermined amount threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction and that the risk rate of the customer is below the predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction, approve the requested transaction; and

responsive to determining that the amount of the requested transaction is not within the predetermined amount threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction or that the risk rate of the customer is not below the predetermined risk rate threshold specified by the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction, transfer the requested transaction to a queue of requested transactions for manual approval determination by a risk analyst of the financial institution; and

responsive to determining that the requested transaction is not eligible for application of the plurality of business rules comprising criteria for approving the requested transaction, transfer the requested transaction to the queue of requested transactions for manual approval determination.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the transaction limit information is received in real time.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the account activity of the customer is received in real time.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the overall credit limit for the customer includes an amount of the first transaction limit associated with the customer.