Method and apparatus for explaining credit scores
First Claim
1. A method for explaining credit scores, comprising the steps of:
- providing a Web site that contains informative resources, said Web site comprising any of for-pay services and extranet/Internet functions;
offering consumers access to information contained in said informative resources, both general and personal, about practices of collection, storing, reporting, and evaluating consumer credit data;
accepting consumer credit scores and reason codes from individual consumers or third parties, in interactive or batch modes; and
providing an explanation report to said individual consumers based upon the individual consumers'"'"' credit scores and reason codes.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A Web site is provided that contains an array of informative resources including for-pay services and extranet functions to serve consumers and traditional players in the financial services industry, including financial counselors, mortgage brokers, direct lenders, large national credit issuers, and third-party credit report re-sellers, plus information seekers such as the press, consumer groups, and government agencies. A primary focus is to educate consumers, consumer groups, and the consumer press by offering them access to the exceptionally high-quality information, both general and personal, about the practices of collection, storing, reporting, and evaluating consumer credit data.
361 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for explaining credit scores, comprising the steps of:
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providing a Web site that contains informative resources, said Web site comprising any of for-pay services and extranet/Internet functions;
offering consumers access to information contained in said informative resources, both general and personal, about practices of collection, storing, reporting, and evaluating consumer credit data;
accepting consumer credit scores and reason codes from individual consumers or third parties, in interactive or batch modes; and
providing an explanation report to said individual consumers based upon the individual consumers'"'"' credit scores and reason codes.
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2. A credit score explanation service, comprising:
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a Web site that contains informative resources, said Web site comprising any of for-pay services and extranet/Internet functions;
said Web site offering any of consumers and said third parties access to information contained in said informative resources, both general and personal, about practices of collection, storing, reporting, and evaluating consumer credit data;
a display screen for accepting consumer credit scores and reason codes from any of individual consumers and said third parties; and
a report form generator for providing an explanation report to any of said individual consumers and said third parties based upon the individual consumers'"'"' credit score and reason codes. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for processing credit score explanation inputs and presentation of output in a credit score presentation service, comprising the steps of:
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pre-processing user-supplied inputs;
verifying input data;
providing reason code pop-up menu for reason code search;
if there are errors or warnings, returning messages to a user along with a pre-filled form, containing said user'"'"'s post-pre-processed responses;
if no warnings or errors are detected, presenting a checkout screen to said user;
if no errors are detected, but one or more warnings are produced, presenting said one or more warning messages on a data entry screen and offering said user a chance to revise entries; and
if said user re-submits said form and the same warnings are repeated, allow said user to bypass said warnings presenting a checkout screen to said user. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for delivering a credit score and its associated explanation to a consumer, comprising the steps of:
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providing a Web site that contains informative resources, said Web site comprising any of for-pay services and extranet/Internet functions;
providing a non-interactive hyperlink encoding of all necessary credit information, responsive to said consumer, for delivering said credit score and its associated explanation, said encoding accessing said Web Site and offering consumers access to information contained in said informative resources;
accepting said encoding from said consumer; and
delivering a credit score and its associated explanation to said consumer.
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Specification