Systems and methods for identifying financial relationships

• US 9,477,988 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2012
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Haggerty, Kathleen, Varadachary, Venkat
• Primary Examiner(s): HAMILTON, SARA CHANDLER
• Application Number:
  US13/403,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20130226778A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,706 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.49, 705/38
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

Improved systems and methods are provided for identifying financial relationships. In particular, financial relationships may be identified by associating tradelines with one or more people who sign or co-sign on the tradeline. In various embodiments a method is provided comprising, receiving, at a computer-based system for credit data analysis comprising a processor and a tangible, non-transitory memory, credit reporting data relating to a tradeline, parsing, by the computer-based system, the credit reporting data to yield primary debtor data and secondary debtor data and linking, by the computer-based system, the tradeline with the primary debtor data and the secondary debtor data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

page scraping, by a computer-based system using first application programming interfaces (APIs), tradeline data associated with a primary debtor from internet websites having a remote data store containing credit bureau data;

receiving, by the computer-based system and in response to the page scraping, the tradeline data associated with the primary debtor from the remote data store via internet channels;

combining, by the computer-based system, at least two subsets of the tradeline data associated with the primary debtor,

wherein the at least two subsets comprise at least two of;

an original balance amount, a current balance, a payment history, an origination data, or a credit issuer name,

creating, by the computer-based system and using a fingerprinting function, a mathematical representation of the tradeline data associated with the primary debtor in response to the combining;

processing, by the computer-based system and using the fingerprinting function, data points from the tradeline data to yield a tradeline fingerprint associated with the primary debtor,

wherein different data points from the tradeline data yields different and unique tradeline fingerprints,

wherein the same data points from the tradeline data yields the same tradeline fingerprints;

wherein the fingerprinting function comprises at least one of;

a hash function, a checksum function, or a randomization function,

page scraping, by the computer-based system using second application programming interfaces (APIs), tradeline data associated with a secondary debtor from internet websites having a remote data store containing credit bureau data;

receiving, by the computer-based system and in response to the page scraping, the tradeline data associated with the secondary debtor from the remote data store via internet channels;

combining, by the computer-based system, at least two subsets of the tradeline data associated with the secondary debtor,

creating, by the computer-based system and using the fingerprinting function, a mathematical representation of the tradeline data associated with the secondary debtor in response to the combining;

processing, by the computer-based system and using the fingerprinting function, data points from the tradeline data to yield a tradeline fingerprint associated with the secondary debtor,

comparing, by the computer-based system, the tradeline fingerprint associated with the primary debtor and the tradeline fingerprint associated with the secondary debtor;

determining, by the computer-based system, that the tradeline fingerprint associated with the primary debtor matches the tradeline fingerprint associated with the secondary debtor;

determining, by the computer-based system and in response to determining the match, that the primary debtor and the secondary debtor are associated with the same tradeline fingerprint;

tagging, by the computer-based system and in response to determining the association, records associated with the primary debtor and records associated with the secondary debtor with first tags to establish an association between the records to create first linkages,

wherein the creating the first linkages includes a concatenation of two or more data fields from the tradeline data;

receiving, by the computer-based system, credit reporting data related to the primary debtor and the secondary debtor;

parsing, by the computer-based system and in response to the receiving credit reporting data, the credit reporting data to determine associated debtors;

tagging, by the computer-based system and in response to the parsing, the records for the associated debtors with second tags to create second linkages,

wherein the creating the second linkages includes a concatenation of two or more data fields from the tradeline data;

comparing, by the computer-based system and in response to the second tagging, the first linkages to the second linkages;

determining, by the computer-based system, that the first linkages are different from the second linkages;

adjusting, by the computer-based system and based on the determining the differences, the first linkages;

obtaining, by the computer-based system and using the page scraping, social network information associated with the primary debtor;

determining, by the computer-based system and based on the social network information, a third debtor associated with the primary debtor;

determining, by the computer-based system and at a first time period, that the third debtor does not yet have tradeline data associated with the third debtor;

tagging, by the computer-based system, the third debtor to preserve the third debtor as an unmatched debtor;

obtaining, by the computer-based system and at a second time period, that the third debtor has tradeline data associated with the third debtor;

establishing, by the computer-based system, a third linkage between the primary debtor and the third debtor;

determining, by the computer-based system, a debtor entity based on the first linkage, second linkage and the third linkage,

wherein the debtor entity is liable for the same tradeline fingerprint, and

wherein the debtor entity includes more than one person liable for the same tradeline,

providing, by the computer-based system, at least one of a product or service to the debtor entity, based upon the tradeline fingerprint of the first debtor and spending patterns of the first debtor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising linking, by the computer-based system, the tradeline data with the primary debtor and the secondary debtor in the remote data store.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising combining, by the computer-based system, alternate data points from the tradeline data using the fingerprinting function to yield an alternate tradeline fingerprint.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising querying the remote data store for the alternate tradeline fingerprint to retrieve a secondary debtor associated with the alternate tradeline fingerprint.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying the remote data store for additional tradeline data associated with the primary debtor.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining a credit score using the household tradeline data set.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the credit score represents a default risk associated with a debtor entity comprising the primary debtor and the secondary debtor.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining at least one of a familial relationship or marital relationship between the primary debtor and the secondary debtor.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining whether the primary debtor and the secondary debtor reside at the same physical address.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the tradeline fingerprint from the remote data store via internet channels includes the remote data store using a first application programming interface (API) to scrape data from an Internet web site, and wherein the receiving the primary debtor data from the remote data store via internet channels includes using a second API to scrape the primary debtor data from an Internet web site.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the computer-based system, the tradeline data in a database as ungrouped data elements via a fixed memory offset using a binary large object method with different data sets from different owners with different formats,

tuning, by the computer-based system, the database to optimize database performance,

wherein the tuning includes placing frequently used files on separate file systems to reduce in and out bottlenecks;

annotating, by the computer-based system, the tradeline data with a header, trailer or indicator to convey information for managing the tradeline data;

annotating, by the computer-based system, the tradeline data to include security information establishing access levels;

providing, by the computer-based system, based on the security access level and in response to updating a permissions indicator, access to the tradeline data;

designating, by the computer-based system, a type of the tradeline data as a key field in a plurality of related data tables to speed searching for the data;

linking, by the computer-based system, the plurality of related data tables based on the type of the tradeline data in the key fields;

partitioning, by the computer-based system and using the key field, the database according to a class of objects defined by the key field to speed searching for the tradeline data;

sorting, by the computer based system, the tradeline data according to a known order to simplify the lookup process; and

obtaining, by the computer-based system, the tradeline data from the database.

12. A system comprising:

a non-transitory memory communicating with a processor,

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

page scraping, by the processor using first application programming interfaces (APIs), tradeline data associated with a primary debtor from internet websites having a remote data store containing credit bureau data;

receiving, by the processor and in response to the page scraping, the tradeline data associated with the primary debtor from the remote data store via internet channels;

combining, by the processor, at least two subsets of the tradeline data associated with the primary debtor,

wherein the at least two subsets comprise at least two of;

an original balance amount, a current balance, a payment history, an origination data, or a credit issuer name,

creating, by the processor and using a fingerprinting function, a mathematical representation of the tradeline data associated with the primary debtor in response to the combining;

processing, by the processor and using the fingerprinting function, data points from the tradeline data to yield a tradeline fingerprint associated with the primary debtor,

wherein different data points from the tradeline data yields different and unique tradeline fingerprints,

wherein the same data points from the tradeline data yields the same tradeline fingerprints;

wherein the fingerprinting function comprises at least one of;

a hash function, a checksum function, or a randomization function,

page scraping, by the processor using second application programming interfaces (APIs), tradeline data associated with a secondary debtor from internet websites having a remote data store containing credit bureau data;

receiving, by the processor and in response to the page scraping, the tradeline data associated with the secondary debtor from the remote data store via internet channels;

combining, by the processor, at least two subsets of the tradeline data associated with the secondary debtor,

creating, by the processor and using the fingerprinting function, a mathematical representation of the tradeline data associated with the secondary debtor in response to the combining;

processing, by the processor and using the fingerprinting function, data points from the tradeline data to yield a tradeline fingerprint associated with the secondary debtor,

comparing, by the processor, the tradeline fingerprint associated with the primary debtor and the tradeline fingerprint associated with the secondary debtor;

determining, by the processor, that the tradeline fingerprint associated with the primary debtor matches the tradeline fingerprint associated with the secondary debtor;

determining, by the processor and in response to determining the match, that the primary debtor and the secondary debtor are associated with the same tradeline fingerprint;

tagging, by the processor and in response to determining the association, records associated with the primary debtor and records associated with the secondary debtor with first tags to establish an association between the records to create first linkages,

wherein the creating the first linkages includes a concatenation of two or more data fields from the tradeline data;

receiving, by the processor, credit reporting data related to the primary debtor and the secondary debtor;

parsing, by the processor and in response to the receiving credit reporting data, the credit reporting data to determine associated debtors;

tagging, by the processor and in response to the parsing, the records for the associated debtors with second tags to create second linkages,

wherein the creating the second linkages includes a concatenation of two or more data fields from the tradeline data;

comparing, by the processor and in response to the second tagging, the first linkages to the second linkages;

determining, by the processor, that the first linkages are different from the second linkages;

adjusting, by the processor and based on the determining the differences, the first linkages;

obtaining, by the processor and using the page scraping, social network information associated with the primary debtor;

determining, by the processor and based on the social network information, a third debtor associated with the primary debtor;

determining, by the processor and at a first time period, that the third debtor does not yet have tradeline data associated with the third debtor;

tagging, by the processor, the third debtor to preserve the third debtor as an unmatched debtor;

obtaining, by the processor and at a second time period, that the third debtor has tradeline data associated with the third debtor;

establishing, by the processor, a third linkage between the primary debtor and the third debtor;

determining, by the processor, a debtor entity based on the first linkage, second linkage and the third linkage,

wherein the debtor entity is liable for the same tradeline fingerprint, and

wherein the debtor entity includes more than one person liable for the same tradeline,

providing, by the processor, at least one of a product or service to the debtor entity, based upon the tradeline fingerprint of the first debtor and spending patterns of the first debtor.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the non-transitory memory has instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, further comprising linking, by the processor, the tradeline data with the primary debtor and the secondary debtor in the remote data store.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the non-transitory memory has instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, further comprising combining, by the processor, alternate data points from the tradeline data using the fingerprinting function to yield an alternate tradeline fingerprint.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the non-transitory memory has instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, further comprising querying the remote data store for the alternate tradeline fingerprint to retrieve a secondary debtor associated with the alternate tradeline fingerprint.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the non-transitory memory has instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, further comprising querying the remote data store for additional tradeline data associated with the primary debtor.