Automated system and method for providing lease payment information to consumers via the internet

• US 9,117,243 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2012
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OfferLogix, LLC
• Original Assignee: LeaseASP Joint Venture
• Inventors: Krautter, William F., Thompson, Jerry
• Primary Examiner(s): Qayyum, Zeshan
• Application Number:
  US13/495,927
• Publication Number:
  US 20120254003A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,168 Days
• Field of Search: 705/38
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 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 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• 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

A system and method of providing payment information for a lease of a specific vehicle in a vehicle dealer'"'"'s inventory to a consumer via an Internet website of a dealer service is disclosed. A lease service obtains data via the Internet from the dealer service. The data is stored in a database associated with an Internet website and includes vehicle data, lease data, and consumer data. The lease service determines a residual value of the vehicle and obtains lease funding information from one or more third parties. The lease service then determines lease payment information and generates a disclosure webpage of the lease payment information. The disclosure webpage is formatted to comply with the Regulation “M” disclosure notice for vehicle lease payments. The consumer is allowed to view the disclosure webpage from the Internet website before committing to the lease.

Claims

1. An automated method of providing payment information of residual-based vehicle financing to consumers, the method comprising:

obtaining, with one or more servers, source data related to vehicles from one or more sources by electronically receiving the source data from the sources via URL web service calls and returns inside HTML code over the Internet, the source data comprising vehicle data, consumer data, and residual-based finance data, the vehicle data comprising vehicle information, a price, and an odometer reading for each of the vehicles;

determining, with the one or more servers, a residual value of each of the vehicles using the vehicle information, the price, and the odometer reading of each of the vehicles as inputs in the residual value determinations;

obtaining, with the one or more servers, funding information for residual-based vehicle financing from one or more third parties;

calculating, with the one or more servers, payment information based on the residual values, the residual-based finance data, the consumer data, and the funding information; and

enabling viewing of the payment information by the consumers via the Internet by generating, with the one or more servers, disclosures of the payment information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicles from the one or more sources comprises specific vehicles in inventory.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle information comprises one or more of:

a style of the vehicle;

one or more options of the vehicle;

a year of the vehicle, a make of the vehicle;

a model of the vehicle;

an identifier of the vehicle; and

a vehicle identification number.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle information lacks a style of the vehicle, and wherein the method further comprises deriving the style of the vehicle from other elements of the vehicle information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the residual-based finance data comprises a term of a lease and an annual mileage for the lease.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumer data comprises a credit score and a location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the residual value of each of the vehicles comprises electronically assigning the residual values from an industry standard table of residual values based on the vehicle data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the funding information for residual-based vehicle financing from the one or more third parties comprises electronically receiving lease program guidelines from automobile dealer manufacturers or third party financial institutions via the Internet.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of calculating the payment information based on the residual values, the residual-based finance data, the consumer data, and the funding information comprises electronically calculating lease payment information based on the residual values, lease program guidelines, lease rates, consumer credit ratings, industry standard vehicle information, and location of the consumers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the disclosures of the payment information comprises electronically formatting the disclosures to conform to a Regulation “

M”

disclosure notice for vehicle lease payments.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the disclosures of the payment information comprises electronically generating one or more hyperlinks to one or more disclosure webpages for incorporation into a website.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the consumer data comprises:

obtaining credit scores of the consumers from one or more third party services; and

storing the credit scores as the consumer data for the consumers.

13. A system for providing automated payment information of residual-based vehicle financing to consumers from one or more sources via the Internet, the one or more sources implemented at one or more first servers having one or more first databases, the one or more first databases storing source data including vehicle data, consumer data, and residual-based finance data, the vehicle data comprising vehicle information, a price, and an odometer reading for each of the vehicles, the system comprising:

one or more second databases; and

one or more second servers communicatively coupleable to the one or more second databases, the one or more second servers configured to;

interface with the one or more first servers via the Internet;

electronically receive the source data related to the vehicles from the one or more sources via URL web service calls and returns inside HTML code over the Internet;

determine a residual value of each of the vehicles using the vehicle information, the price, and the odometer reading of each of the vehicles as inputs in the residual value determinations;

obtain funding information for residual-based vehicle financing from one or more third parties;

calculate payment information based on the residual values, the residual-based finance data, the consumer data, and the funding information;

generate disclosures of the payment information; and

make the disclosures available for viewing by the consumers via the Internet.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the vehicles from the one or more sources comprises specific vehicles in inventory.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the vehicle information comprises one or more of:

a style of the vehicle;

one or more options of the vehicle;

a year of the vehicle, a make of the vehicle;

a model of the vehicle;

an identifier of the vehicle; and

a vehicle identification number.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the vehicle information lacks a style of the vehicle, and wherein the system further comprises deriving the style of the vehicle from other elements of the vehicle information.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the residual-based finance data comprises a term of a lease and an annual mileage for the lease.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the consumer data comprises a credit score and a location.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein to determine the residual value of each of the vehicles, the one or more second servers are configured to electronically assign the residual values from an industry standard table of residual values based on the vehicle data.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein to obtain the funding information for residual-based vehicle financing from the one or more third parties, the one or more second servers are configured to electronically receive lease program guidelines from automobile dealer manufacturers or third party financial institutions via the Internet.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein to calculate the payment information based on the residual values, the residual-based finance data, the consumer data, and the funding information, the one or more second servers are configured to electronically calculate lease payment information based on the residual values, lease program guidelines, lease rates, consumer credit ratings, industry standard vehicle information, and location of the consumers.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein to generate the disclosures of the payment information, the one or more second servers are configured to electronically format the disclosures to conform to a Regulation “

M”

disclosure notice for vehicle lease payments.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein to generate the disclosures of the payment information, the one or more second servers are configured to electronically generate one or more hyperlinks to one or more disclosure webpages for incorporation into one or more websites hosted on the one or more second servers.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein to obtain the consumer data, the one or more second servers are configured to:

obtain credit scores of the consumers from one or more third party services; and

store the credit scores as the consumer data for the consumers.