Systems and methods for electronic account certification and enhanced credit reporting

• US 8,762,243 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2012
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Formfree Holdings Corporation
• Original Assignee: Formfree Holdings Corporation
• Inventors: Chandler, Brent A., Jenkins, Chad G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Kito R
• Application Number:
  US13/354,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20130191261A1
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/38
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for electronically certifying financial account data and providing enhanced credit reporting capabilities. The systems and methods may include electronically receiving a certification request from a requesting computer, wherein the request is associated with a financial account requiring certification, collecting financial data from at least one financial data provider, where the financial data provider is associated with at least one financial account requiring certification.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing certified financial data indicating financial risk about an individual, comprising:

(a) receiving a request for the certified financial data;

(b) electronically collecting financial account data about the individual from at least one financial source,

(c) transforming the financial account data into a desired format;

(d) validating the financial account data by applying an algorithm engine to the financial account data to identify exceptions, wherein the exceptions indicate incorrect data or financial risk;

(e) confirming the exceptions by collecting additional data and applying the algorithm engine to the additional data,

(f) marking the exceptions as valid exceptions when output of the algorithm engine validates the exceptions; and

(g) generating, using a computer, a report from the financial account data and the valid exceptions,

wherein the financial account data comprises at least one of real-time transaction data, real time balance data, historical transaction data, or historical balance data; and

the algorithm engine identifies a pattern of financial risk;

the method is computer implemented, and steps (c), (e), and (f) are executed via the computer or a series of computers.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pattern of risk is selected from the group consisting of not-sufficient funds instances, direct deposits, deposit transactions, transaction velocity, purchase history, and combinations thereof.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the algorithm engine provides indicators of the risk associated with the individual.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the financial data is real-time data.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the steps (b) through step (f) are continually updated in real time.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the financial source is selected from a group consisting of employers, financial institutions, mortgage lenders, credit card bureaus, credit reporting bureaus, financial aggregators, securities firms, and investment firms.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the certified financial data is suitable financial for reporting by comparing the certified financial data to criteria provided by a requester; and

transmitting the certified financial data to an authorized recipient.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the confirmation step comprises the steps of:

querying the specific individual for permission to access one of the financial sources for additional financial data related the exceptions;

requesting authorization to access the additional financial data, wherein the authorization request includes authentication information associated with the individual;

receiving authorization to access the additional financial data;

collecting the financial data subsequent to receiving authorization to access the financial data; and

applying algorithm engine to the additional financial data.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising electronically collecting financial data from one or more financial data providers via one or more computer readable media.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the financial account data comprises at least one of asset data, debt data, income data, expense data, credit report data, employment data, or identity data.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein electronically collecting the financial account data comprises periodically collecting the financial data, and further comprising the step of:

updating the financial data once the additional financial data is collected; and

continuously updating the financial data at a specified time period.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the financial data and the report is not modifiable by the individual.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the algorithm engine implements one or more of rules associated with financial analysis, rules associated with financial reporting, rules associated with risk analysis, rules associated with risk reporting, and rules associated with financial scoring.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the algorithm engine implements neural networks, genetic algorithms, and pattern matching algorithms.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the individual is a business, organization, or partnership.

16. A computer-implemented method for providing certified financial data indicating financial risk about an individual, comprising:

(a) receiving a request for the certified financial data related to the financial risk of the individual;

(b) electronically collecting financial account data about the individual from at least one financial source selected from a group consisting of employers, financial institutions, mortgage lenders, credit card bureaus, credit reporting bureaus, financial aggregators, securities firms, and investment firms,

(c) transforming the financial account data into a desired format;

(d) validating the financial account data by applying an algorithm engine to the financial account data to identify exceptions, wherein the exceptions indicate incorrect data or financial risk;

(e) confirming the exceptions by collecting additional data and applying the algorithm engine to the additional data,

(f) marking the exceptions as valid exceptions when output of the algorithm engine validates the exceptions; and

(g) generating a report from the financial account data and the valid exceptions,

wherein the financial account data comprises at least one of real-time transaction data, real time balance data, historical transaction data, or historical balance data; and

the algorithm engine identifies a pattern of financial risk;

the algorithm engine provides indicators of the risk associated with the individual and the method is computer implemented; and

steps (c) and (f) are executed via the computer or a series of computers.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the confirmation step comprises the steps of:

querying the specific individual for permission to access one of the financial sources for additional financial data related the exceptions;

requesting authorization to access the additional financial data, wherein the authorization request includes authentication information associated with the individual;

receiving authorization to access the additional financial data;

collecting the financial data subsequent to receiving authorization to access the financial data; and

applying algorithm engine to the additional financial data.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the algorithm engine implements one or more of rules associated with financial analysis, rules associated with financial reporting, rules associated with risk analysis, rules associated with risk reporting, and rules associated with financial scoring.