Providing credit data in search results

• US 9,892,457 B1
• Filed: 04/16/2014
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Consumerinfo.com Incorporated (Experian plc)
• Original Assignee: Consumerinfo.com Incorporated (Experian plc)
• Inventors: Kapczynski, Mark Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Felten, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US14/254,561
• Time in Patent Office: 1,399 Days
• Field of Search: 705 72, 705 38, 707739
• 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

A credit report system is disclosed which may provide credit data to a consumer in the consumer'"'"'s search results or at other times when credit data may be useful to a consumer. Searches relevant to credit data may be determined based on the search terms entered, or based on the results of the search. Credit data may be provided if the consumer accesses webpages relevant to credit reports or credit scores. The credit report system may also authenticate the consumer'"'"'s identity before providing credit data to the consumer. Credit data may include the consumer'"'"'s credit score as well as other information such as credit report data that may be useful to a consumer.

Claims

1. A computing system providing a composite web page, in response to a search query from a user, personalized credit data of the user retrieved from a credit bureau along with search results that are retrieved from a search engine, the computing system comprising:

one or more hardware computer processors; and

one or more storage devices configured to store software instructions configured for execution by the one or more hardware computer processors in order to cause the computing system to;

receive, from a user computing device, a search query including one or more search terms;

determine, based on performance of the search query by a search engine, a plurality of search results each including one or more of the search terms of the search query;

parse the search results and/or the search query to identify one or more terms related to consumer financial data;

in response to identifying that the one or more terms related to consumer financial data do not meet a predefined criteria indicative that the user is considering a financial transaction, transmit a web page including the plurality of search results to the user computing device without any personalized credit data of the user;

or

in response to identifying that the one or more terms related to consumer financial data meet the predefined criteria indicative that the user is considering a financial transaction;

retrieve, from a credit bureau, personalized credit data associated with the consumer of the user, the personalized credit data comprising at least a credit score of the user, financial account information regarding each of one or more financial accounts of the user, and a level of credit used by the user consumer; and

automatically generate and transmit a composite web page to the user computing device, the composite web page comprising;

(A) at least a portion of the personalized credit data associated with the consumer of the user including at least the credit score of the user and the level of credit used by the user, as retrieved from the credit bureau, and

(B) plurality of search results.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured to authenticate an identity of the user.

3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured to parse a web page to identify the one or more terms related to consumer financial data.

4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the portion of the personalized credit data of the user in the composite web page is displayed as one or more of the following:

a banner, a pop-up, or a widget.

5. The computing system of claim 2, wherein authenticating the user'"'"'s identity comprises providing a user interface to the user enabling the user to enter additional information indicating the user'"'"'s identity.

6. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured:

access location data of the user; and

determine whether the user is considering the financial transaction based at least partly on the location data.

7. The computing system of claim 6, wherein the composite web page further comprises a map generated at least partly based on the location data.

8. A computing system providing a composite web page having

credit data to a consumer user comprising:

one or more hardware computer processors; and

one or more storage devices configured to store software instructions configured for execution by the one or more hardware computer processors in order to cause the computing system to;

receive, from a consumer user computing device, a search query request including comprising search terms;

retrieve, from a search engine, search result data responsive to the search request query received from the user computing device consumer, the search result data comprising a plurality of search results each including one or more of the search terms of the search query;

parse the search results data and/or the search request query to identify one or more terms related to consumer financial data;

in response to identifying one or more terms related to consumer financial data in the search results data and/or the search request query that meet predefined criteria indicative that the user is considering a financial transaction;

retrieve, from a credit bureau, personalized credit data of the user associated with the consumer, the personalized credit data comprising at least a credit score of the user, financial account information regarding each of one or more financial accounts of the user, and a level of credit used by the user; and

using the retrieved search results data and the personalized credit data, automatically generate and transmit to a web browser of the consumer user computing device a composite web page that displays comprising;

(A) at least a portion of the personalized credit data of the user, as retrieved from the credit bureau information associated with the credit data of the consumer, and

(B) the plurality of search results the search result data from the search engine.

9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein identifying one or more terms related to consumer financial data in the search results and/or the search query that meet predefined criteria indicative that the user is considering a financial transaction comprises:

identifying a first term in the search query and/or the search result data;

identifying, based on the identified first term, a second term associated with the first term included in the search query and/or the search result data; and

calculating a threshold quantity of terms based at least partly on the first term and the second term.

10. The computing system of claim 8, wherein determining whether the one or more terms related to consumer financial data in the search results and/or the search query meet predefined criteria indicative that the user is considering a financial transaction comprises:

identifying respective locations of the one or more identified terms in the search query and/or the search results;

weighing the one or more identified terms based on the location of the one or more identified terms; and

calculating whether the one or more identified terms include a threshold quantity of terms based at least in part on the one or more identified terms and their associated weights.

11. The computing system of claim 8, wherein identifying one or more terms related to consumer financial data in the search results and/or the search query that meet predefined criteria indicative that the user is considering a financial transaction comprises:

assigning a weight associated with each of the one or more identified terms; and

calculating whether the one or more identified terms include a threshold quantity of terms based at least in part on the one or more identified terms and their associated weights.

12. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the computing system is further configured to:

provide the composite web page to a mobile application of a mobile computing device of the user.

13. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the computing system is further configured to:

determine if the search result data include a website associated with the computing system;

in response to determining that the search results include the website associated with the computing system, provide the composite web page that displays the information associated with the personalized credit data of the user in a location near information associated with the website.

14. A method for providing credit data in search results, the method comprising:

receiving a search query comprising search terms;

retrieving, from a search engine, search result data responsive to the search query, the search result data comprising a plurality of search results each including one or more of the search terms of the search query;

parsing the search result data and/or the search query to identify one or more financial terms that are included in a listing of terms related to financial transactions;

in response to identifying one or more financial terms in the search result data and/or the search query that meet predefined criteria indicative that the user is considering a financial transaction;

retrieving, from a credit bureau, personalized credit data associated with the user, the personalized credit data comprising at least a credit score of the user, financial account information regarding each of one or more financial accounts of the user, and a level of credit used by the user;

automatically generating, based at least on the personalized credit data and at least one of the retrieved search result data or the search query, a composite web page comprising;

(A) at least a portion of the personalized credit data of the user including at least the credit score of the user, as retrieved from the credit bureau, and

(B) the plurality of search results; and

transmitting the composite web page to a web browser.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions for causing a computing system to:

receive a search query comprising search terms;

retrieve, from a search engine, search result data responsive to the search query, the search result data comprising a plurality of search results each including one or more of the search terms of the search query;

parse the search result data and/or the search query to identify one or more terms related to the user'"'"'s financial data;

in response to identifying one or more terms related to the user'"'"'s financial data in the search result data and/or the search query that meet predefined criteria indicative that the user is considering a financial transaction;

retrieve, from a credit bureau, personalized credit data associated with the user, the personalized credit data comprising at least a credit score of the user, financial account information regarding each of one or more financial accounts of the user, and a level of credit used by the user; and

automatically generating based at least on the personalized credit data and at least one of the retrieved search result data or the search query, a composite web page comprising;

(A) at least a portion of the personalized credit data of the user including at least the credit score of the user and the level of credit used by the user, as retrieved from the credit bureau, and

(B) the plurality of search results.