Patent Grant
10275826
In recent years personal savings rates have continued to decline and the amount of debt has continued to rise in the United States. Many customers of financial institutions have one primary bank account from which they conduct all of their financial transactions, including paying bills, discretionary spending, saving, etc. The abundant availability of ATMs and credit and debit cards makes consumer spending convenient, resulting in easy depletion of funds available for other expenses and leaving no funds available for savings. As mobile networks and on-line banking continue to expand, financial customers want easy, identifiable transactions as well as immediate access to available funds. To meet this demand and to encourage personal savings by their customers, financial institutions are constantly improving their electronic and on-line banking services. Still, there is a need for simplified and effective methods of budgeting and saving for customers using one primary account or a small number of accounts for all their financial transactions.
In one general aspect, embodiments of the present invention pertain to a system and method of segregating funds within a primary financial account for personal savings and budgeting. Embodiments of the present invention allow a user to allocate funds to a separate, hidden money folder within a primary financial account until a set goal amount of funds in the folder or a set amount of time has been achieved, after which the amount of funds in the hidden folder is transferred back into the available funds within the primary account.
In various embodiments the present invention is directed to a computer-assisted method for segregating funds within an existing financial account by a user of the account. The method includes creating at least one separate folder that is hidden from the user and allocating a user-specified amount of funds to the separate folder from the existing financial account. The method also includes transferring an amount of funds from the separate folder to the existing financial account upon occurrence of a user-specified goal.
Those and other details, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood or apparent from the following description and drawings showing embodiments thereof.
Various embodiments of the present invention are described herein by way of example in conjunction with the following figures, wherein:
In general, various embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods relating to electronic or online (e.g., Internet) banking services offered to customers by financial entities that provide for personal budgeting and saving. The systems and methods, in various embodiments, allow a user of a financial account, such as a checking account, an investment account, a savings account, etc., to organize funds, budget, and save. The systems and methods, in various embodiments, allow the user to create a segregated, hidden (i.e. invisible) folder, for example a “ghost” folder, in which to allocate funds from the available funds within the primary account, wherein the allocated funds are no longer available for withdrawal or other disposition in the available funds of the primary account.
Various embodiments of the present invention allow the user to designate the folder for a specific purpose and to create multiple folders. Various embodiments of the present invention allow the user to specify a predetermined goal amount of funds for the folder or an amount of time in which to allocate funds to the folder. Various embodiments of the present invention allow the user to allocate funds according to a user-created savings rule or through automatic withdrawal or transfer into the hidden money folder. After the goal amount of funds has been achieved or the predetermined time period has expired, the amount of funds within the folder is transferred back into the available fluids within the primary account. Optionally, a message is sent to the user, for example via email or SMS text message, indicating the amount of the transfer and the amount of available funds.
Folders 18, 32 may be designated by the user and a predetermined goal amount of funds 20, 21 may be set by the user for each folder 18, 32. In the interface, the amount of funds 24, 25 in the folders 18, 32 is displayed along with graphical representations 22, 23 depicting the amounts saved in proportion to the goal amounts 20, 21. In one embodiment, the user can create a savings rule using icons 26, 27 for allocating funds to the folders 18, 32. In another embodiment, the user can create an automatic withdrawal or transfer into the folders 18, 32 at, for example, periodic intervals. The interface 8 displays the total amount filed 28 in the folders 18, 32 as well as the difference, or “loose” funds 30, between the account balance 14 and the “filed” amount 28. Multiple folders can be created within the primary account 10 using the interface 8, thus allowing the user to organize, budget, and save money. For example, the user could allocate money for paying bills or saving for vacations or special purchases. In one embodiment, a hidden folder may be created by the user so that the user may allocate funds to the hidden folder, thus rendering the funds no longer available for withdrawal or other disposition.
At step 41, the funds allocated to the hidden folder are withdrawn and deducted from the available finds in the account 10, i.e. account balance 14. The user cannot see and therefore will not withdraw or otherwise dispose of the segregated funds in the hidden folder. After the goal amount of funds has been reached or the predetermined time period for saving funds has expired as determined at step 42, the funds in the hidden folder are transferred at step 43 back into the available funds within the account 10. In one embodiment shown in
The online banking application server 62 is in communication with a transfer warehouse 68 (funds transfer engine), an account information database 70, a customer information database 72, a customer preferences/settings database 74, and other online banking databases 76 that store additional settings and configurations.
Various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented on computer-readable media. The terms “computer-readable medium” and “computer-readable media” in the plural as used herein may include, for example, magnetic and optical memory devices such as diskettes, compact discs of both read-only and writeable varieties, optical disk drives, hard disk drives, etc. A computer-readable medium may also include memory storage that can be physical, virtual, permanent, temporary, semi-permanent and/or semi-temporary. A computer-readable medium may further include one or more data signals transmitted on one or more carrier waves.
While several embodiments of the invention have been described, it should be apparent that various modifications, alterations and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to persons skilled in the art with the attainment of some or all of the advantages of the present invention. It is therefore intended to cover all such modifications, alterations and adaptations without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
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