Patent Application
20160350848
The invention relates generally to systems and methods for providing financial accounts to customers.
Financial accounts are widely used by both individuals and entities to track, measure, and record the flow of funds. In particular, a commonplace financial account records the net value of deposits and debits that are associated with that particular account. Financial accounts may be maintained by a bank or some other financial institution.
In the art, a wide variety of functionality are associated with financial accounts and a customer's experience in working with a financial account. However, the prior art in this area has shortcomings. The systems and methods of the invention address various such shortcomings in a novel manner.
The invention includes a system and method to provide a group account in the form of a financial fund, and implemented by a tangibly embodied computer processing system. The group account is maintained on the computer processing system. The method may include maintaining, by the computer processing system, the group account, and the group account being associated with a plurality of customers who each have selective access to the account, such selective access determined by a rule set disposed in the computer processing system, each of the plurality of customers having an interest in the group account. Processing may include the computer processing system (1) inputting credentials from one of the plurality of customers in a session; (2) comparing the input credentials with the rule set to determine access to the group account to be provided to the customer; (3) generating, based on the comparing, a graphical user interface presenting the customer with access options; (4) outputting the graphical user interface, with the access options, to the one of the plurality of customers; (5) inputting, from the one of the plurality of customers, a selection of one of the access options; and (6) performing processing in response to the selected access option.
The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the following description together with the accompanying drawing, in which like reference indicators are used to designate like elements, and in which:
Hereinafter, aspects of systems and methods for providing a group account in accordance with various embodiments of the invention will be described. As used herein, any term in the singular may be interpreted to be in the plural, and alternatively, any term in the plural may be interpreted to be in the singular.
As used herein, the terms “information” and “data” are used interchangeably.
The invention relates to a “group account” and associated credentials, such as “group account cards” (GA Cards), as well as systems and methods of using the group account. The group account provides functionality such that a group of persons may respectively interface with the group account, so as to perform transactions, secure information, and perform various other activities. The group account may be supported by a suitable banking platform.
As used herein, an “account” means a fund that is entrusted to a bank and maintained on a tangibly embodied bank platform, the fund maintained as a record of financial transactions that records the net value of credits and debits that are associated with that particular account, and the bank platform being in the form of a computer processing system. Relatedly, a “group account” as used herein means an “account” that is associated with a plurality of customers who each have an interest in the account, in conjunction with the plurality of customers possessing varying levels of access to the account, the access providing each customer access to information and/or access to processing tasks. As used herein, the terms “customer” and “user” are used interchangeably. Relatedly, as used herein, the term “customer” and/or “user” means a primary customer and/or a participant customer, or any other person who accesses or otherwise uses a group account.
In particular, a problem the invention addresses is intermingling of funds into a private account. That is, in a fund raiser for example, a common situation occurs when a particular person (e.g. one of the parents) is designated to be the collection person. During the course of the fund raiser, all the other parents give their raised money to the particular collection person over some period of time. In turn, the collection person, being provided with no alternative, deposits the collected funds into their personal checking account. As a result, the collected funds are intermingled with the collection person's own personal funds. In addition, tracking of the funds is often cumbersome and difficult. For example, monies may well be given to the collection person in hampered situations, such as when the collection person is packing up after a practice or other wise on the run.
The group account of the invention addresses the intermingling problem, as well as other problems. The group account of the invention may be directed to any situation in which a number of people in a group need to interact with an account, which is associated with the group. For example, a group account of the invention may be used in a situation where there is a need for various persons (coaches, parents, administrators, trustees) to interface with an account for purposes of running a fund raiser for a team. However, the group account may be utilized with a wide variety of situations, such as with other fund raisers, a bridal shower where persons are contributing to collectively purchase items, any other collective purchase, a fantasy football league, a fund collection for a particular event, or a fund collection for a particular season, and in particular a specific sports season, for example
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the group account employs access control to users, i.e., persons, interfacing with the account. Specifically, the banking platform (that supports the group account) controls access to the group account based on access rights provided to a particular user, i.e., what access options are provided to what customers. For example, an administrator user (or primary customer) of the particular group account may be authorized to perform any activities such as deposit funds, withdraw funds, or secure statements of the account for example. On the other hand, a parent user (or participant customer) may be provided with access such that the parent may only make deposits and view the current balance of the account. The parent user might not be provided access to make withdrawals or view complete history of the account. In one embodiment, it might be required for fund transfers to be cleared by an administrator, or in some other way reconciled, prior to such fund transfers being visible to another type or user, i.e., one with different access rights.
Access control may be provided in various ways. For example, access may be controlled based on the particular group account card (and credentials stored thereon) that is provided to a user—and used to interface with the group account. On the other hand, access control might be performed by other credentials that are provided to a particular user, such as username/password. Alternatively; access may be controlled based on attributes of the particular user's device, such as their computer or cell phone.
In general, various rules and rule sets may be implemented in conjunction with administering the group account. One aspect of the rule set may include access control. Other rules may control the availability of particular functionality to particular users at particular times, based on particular parameters, for example. A rule set may be crafted for the particular situation in which the group account is to be used.
In accordance with further aspects of the invention, the invention provides various tracking features. Specifically, the banking platform, that supports the group account, may track various parameters associated with the group account including—tracking deposits and withdrawals of the group account; balance information of the group account; and access to the group account including who accessed particular information and when, for example. Also, the invention may provide for enhanced input (scanning) and tracking of checks, receipts, and other documentation associated with the group account.
The group account may be associated with any number of users. In turn, each user may be associated with a respective GA Card. Each GA Card may be in the form of a credit card, debit card, or stored value card, for example. Each card may be exclusively associated with a particular individual in the particular group. Alternatively, each card may be associated with a portion of the group, e.g. such as a particular family. Various other demarcations are possible. Alternatively, the group account may provide for cardless users, i.e., without a physical card but rather based solely on credentials provided to the particular user. Relatedly, a user might interface with the group account via a variety of channels, such as using an ATM, going to a branch (i.e., a physical branch office of the bank) or interfacing on-line, for example. Specific tracking capabilities may be provided to track activity of users on an individual basis. Relatedly, various reports may be crafted and created for particular situations. For example, a report may be generated based on each player on the team or each team in the club, for example, and show such particulars as funds contributed, timing parameters, progress percentages, and other parameters. The invention provides the advantage of transparency, in a controlled manner, of transactions associated with the group account. The invention may further be used in conjunction with P2P (person to person) transactions.
Administration of the group account and associated cards may be performed by a suitable banking entity. Various fees may be implemented in conjunction with the group account. For example, there may be a $1 monthly fee associated with the group account, with $1 additional for each card associated with the account, unless the average balance is greater than $500, in which case the fees are waived. Various other fee arrangements are of course possible with thresholds as desired.
Administration of the group account may be provided such that the group account is easy to setup (open) and easy to close via a website, for example. The invention provides for various linking of the group account. For example, to enhance ease of group account setup, the group account may be linked to a particular user's permanent account. Such permanent account of the user might be relied upon for personal information and for overdraft protection of the group account. Relatedly, the group account may provide for accumulated funds to be automatically transferred to the user's permanent account in some automated, and documented manner. For example, such a transfer might occur upon a particular external event, in a particular time frame, and/or upon a particular threshold being attained (such as a particular balance being attained). In one embodiment, upon the expiration of the group account, all funds would transfer to a particular permanent account, to which the group account was linked.
The group account may utilize direct deposit account processing; person to person (P2P) processing, bill payment processing, and other known processing. In one embodiment, the group account may be used in conjunction with (and linked to) social media sites, such as FACEBOOK. Such conjunctive use may include setting up the group account, payments, securing information about the group account, and various other processing, as desired.
The GA processor 110, disposed in the bank platform 100, handles a variety of processing performed in operation of a group account. The GA processor 110 includes a rule processor 120. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the rule processor 120 inputs various parameters associated with customer's requested processing task, and based on associated rules, provides certain processing options. For example, the rules may dictate what operations are available to a particular customer based on the credentials of the customer.
The GA generation processor 130 also includes a GA generation processor 130. The GA generation processor 130 generates a group account in response to a request from a customer.
The GA processor 110 further includes a tools processor 140. Further details of the tools processor 140 are shown in
As shown in
As shown, the process of
With further reference to
As reflected in step 800 of
After step 510, the process passes to step 520 of
After step 520, the process passes to step 530. In step 530, the bank platform pulls any stored information (regarding the primary customer) from the bank database. Such retrieval of data may, for example, constitute retrieving information associated with any prior account that the customer has identified. However, it may be the situation that other data may also be collected regarding the customer. After step 530, the process passes to step 540.
In step 540, information regarding what is herein characterized as “participant customers” is collected. To explain, the processing of steps 510, 520, and 530 relate to the “primary customer” in that such customer is the customer who is setting up the group account, working with the particular bank. Step 540 of
Accordingly, after the bank platform has collected the participant customer information (from the primary customer) in step 540, the process passes to step 550.
In step 550, the processing, as performed by the bank platform 100 in this embodiment, establishes the parameters of the group account. In the embodiment reflected in step 550 of
Then, in step 570, the bank platform forwards a communication to each group account customer regarding set up of the group account and any further information to be provided to the group account customers, i.e., including the primary customer, as well as the participant customers.
After step 570 of
In step 551 of
After step 552 of
In step 554 of
With further reference to
In step 556, the bank platform interfacing with the primary customer, sets up notification parameters for the group account customers, i.e., what customer's are to be notified of what actions dealing with the group account. Such notice might include notice of particular processing requests that are received, actions taken in response to such requests, and/or periodic reporting such as balance information, deposit information in general, and/or debit information in general.
After step 556, the process passes to step 557. In step 557, the bank platform interfacing with the primary customer sets up close parameters of the group account, i.e., when and how the group account is to be terminated.
Then, in step 558, the bank platform retrieves any further information, needed to set up the group account from the primary customer and performs any further processing needed to set up the group account. After step 558, the process passes to step 559.
In step 559, the process returns to
In step 620 of
In step 640 of
Alternatively, as shown in step 640′ of
After step 640 of
After step 660, the process passes to step 670. In step 670, the bank platform sends notifications to the group account customers based on mapping the processing task into a rule set and determining which group account customers to send email messages regarding the processing task. After step 670, the process passes to step 690. In step 690, the processing returns to step 700 of
In step 820, the bank platform 100 resolves any remaining funds left in the group account, such as forwarding funds in the group account to an associated account, such as a permanent account of the primary customer. Alternatively, it may be required to debit an associated account (of the primary customer, for example) for any funds needed for close of the group account. After step 820, the process passes to step 830.
In step 830, the bank platform sends notification to the group account customers in accord with the rules in place. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the primary customer as well as all the participant customers are sent notice of the closure of the group account. After step 830, the process passes to step 840.
In step 840, the group account is formally closed. Step 840 of
Step 850 of
The record number (in the group account listing 174) is associated, i.e., mapped, to the actual group account record 176. Accordingly, the group account record 176 contains the various information that is used by the bank platform 100 in maintaining the group account. As shown in
As described herein, various data may be input, processed by, and output by the GA processor 110. Illustratively, the record keeping and planning tools portion 142 may track a variety of parameters, and input information as needed to perform such tracking. Relatedly,
Regarding allocation to a customer upon close of the group account, the portion 142 and/or the account close tools portion 146 may include functionality to perform a variety of tasks. For example, upon opening a group account, the customers may be provided with different options of how the group account is to be terminated. One option might be to disperse the funds evenly between all the group account customers, after all expenses of the group are paid out. Another option might offer adjustments in the allocation of funds upon close of the group account. Such adjustment might be based on money contributions to the group account, i.e., disbursement is based pro rata on how much each customer contributed. The adjustment might be based on other criteria, such as non-monetary contributions.
Relatedly, the record keeping and planning tools portion 142 may track parameters associated with any deposit or withdrawal from the group account. For example, if a particular deposit is made electronically, then the record keeping and planning tools portion 142 may retrieve the associated data and store such in the customer record 177. If cash is collected by the primary customer, for example, then the primary customer may deposit the cash into the group account. However, in conjunction with the deposit, the record keeping and planning tools portion 142 may require that the customer input information documenting the source of the cash. In other words, the tools processor 140 may provide a processing layer over transactions to and from the group account, so as to document such transactions. The content of such documentation may vary as desired. In particular, the documentation required by the tools processor 140 may well exceed that required in a typical every day transaction. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, such required documentation, i.e., the level of documentation, might be varied by the primary customer, or other person.
The reporting tools portion 144 may then report any collected information and stored information as desired.
It is appreciated that the processing described above may be utilized in a wide variety of contexts.
Step 910 illustrates that the soccer coach (the primary customer in this example) signs up for new Chase Group Account on Chase.com.
Step 920 of
Steps 930 and 940 illustrate further uses of the particular group account. In step 930, the coach (the primary customer) uses a debit card (provided to the coach in conjunction with opening the group account) to order team uniforms. In step 940, Jill's mom (a participant customer) uses her debit card (provided in conjunction with opening the group account) to order pizza for the team.
Step 960 and
As set forth herein above, it is appreciated that various processing is described as performed by the bank platform 100. However, it is appreciated that such processing may alternatively be preformed by a further system that works with the bank platform to perform the various processing. In particular, some of the processing described above may be performed by a processor and/or server, for example, sitting in front of the bank platform. Relatedly, various of the communications described herein, such as communications to and from the customer may flow through other systems. As described above, in one embodiment, the primary customer of a particular group account is authorized to perform activities such as deposit funds, withdraw funds, or secure statements of the account for example. On the other hand, a parent user (or participant customer) is provided with less access—such that the parent may only make deposits and view the current balance of the account, for example. However, it is appreciated that persons involved with a particular group account may change over time, including both primary customers, as well as participant customers. Relatedly, the GA processor 110 may be provided with functionality to change to a new primary customer. That is, the tools processor 140 may be provided with a tool such that Joanne Smith is designated as the current primary customer, and that Laura Alpha is designated as the “backup primary customer.” Upon Joanne Smith's departure from the group account, if such indeed occurs, the processing may provide for either Joanne or Laura to log into the GA processor 110 to advise of the change. Such backup primary customer may be designated at any point in the life of a group account, such as upon the opening of the group account or upon the primary customer's departure from the group account.
Relatedly, the GA processor 110 may be provided with functionality to require two (or more) persons to perform certain actions, i.e., require multiple authorizations. This might be the case with a particularly large transaction, closing down the account, or other notable actions. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the GA processor 110 may input a request for a particular notable action from one customer (e.g. the primary customer), and then send a communication to the backup primary customer asking for confirmation. Accordingly, the GA processor 110 may require such multiple authorization from two particular persons (e.g., the primary customer and backup primary customer), or alternatively might require such multiple authorization from any two, or more, persons. For example, to close the group account, the GA processor 110 might require authorization from more than two group account customers. In accordance with further aspects of the invention, the group account may utilize known technology such as direct deposit accounts and other account mechanisms. For example, the “group account,” as described herein, might in one embodiment be constituted by a plurality of accounts. One account might be in the form of a deposit only account. Account information for such account could be relatively freely given out, since the account information (given out) would not allow withdrawals. Funds in the deposit only account might be periodically transferred to a standard checking account. Access to such checking account may then be controlled as described herein.
In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, it is appreciated that the group account as described herein may be comprised of a plurality of accounts, as described above. Further, such plurality of accounts may be organized in a hierarchical manner, either from the perspective of access to the group account or in some other manner. For example, there may be a master group account with sub group accounts. The primary customer of the master group account is also a primary customer on all the sub group accounts, and in addition, each of the sub group accounts has a respective primary customer, for example. In this manner, each of the sub group accounts has two (2) primary customers, as well as the various respective participant customers. Funds as well as various information associated with such funds, may flow from the master account to the subaccounts (or vice-a-versa) in some manner. For example, the flow of funds and/or information might be based on a suitable rule set.
Hereinafter further aspects of implementation will be described.
As described above, embodiments of the system of the invention and various processes of embodiments are described. The system of the invention or portions of the system of the invention may be in the form of a “processing machine,” i.e. a tangibly embodied machine, such as a general purpose computer or a special purpose computer, for example. As used herein, the term “processing machine” is to be understood to include at least one processor that uses at least one memory. The at least one memory stores a set of instructions. The instructions may be either permanently or temporarily stored in the memory or memories of the processing machine. The processor executes the instructions that are stored in the memory or memories in order to process data. The set of instructions may include various instructions that perform a particular task or tasks, such as any of the processing as described herein. Such a set of instructions for performing a particular task may be characterized as a program, software program, or simply software.
As noted above, the processing machine, which may be constituted, for example, by the group account system 10 described above, executes the instructions that are stored in the memory or memories to process data. This processing of data may be in response to commands by a user or users of the processing machine, in response to previous processing, in response to a request by another processing machine and/or any other input, for example.
As noted above, the processing machine used to implement the invention may be a general purpose computer. However, the processing machine described above may also utilize (or be in the form of) any of a wide variety of other technologies including a special purpose computer, a computer system including a microcomputer, mini-computer or mainframe for example, a programmed microprocessor, a micro-controller, a peripheral integrated circuit element, a CSIC (Consumer Specific Integrated Circuit) or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or other integrated circuit, a logic circuit, a digital signal processor, a programmable logic device such as a FPGA, PLD, PLA or PAL, or any other device or arrangement of devices that is capable of implementing the steps of the processes of the invention.
The processing machine used to implement the invention may utilize a suitable operating system. Thus, embodiments of the invention may include a processing machine running the Microsoft Windows™ Vista™ operating system, the Microsoft Windows™ XP™ operating system, the Microsoft Windows™ NT™ operating system, the Windows™ 2000 operating system, the Unix operating system, the Linux operating system, the Xenix operating system, the IBM AIX™ operating system, the Hewlett-Packard UX™ operating system, the Novell Netware™ operating system, the Sun Microsystems Solaris™ operating system, the OS/2™ operating system, the BeOS™ operating system, the Macintosh operating system, the Apache operating system, an OpenStep™ operating system or another operating system or platform. It is appreciated that in order to practice the method of the invention as described above, it is not necessary that the processors and/or the memories of the processing machine be physically located in the same geographical place. That is, each of the processors and the memories used by the processing machine may be located in geographically distinct locations and connected so as to communicate in any suitable manner. Additionally, it is appreciated that each of the processor and/or the memory may be composed of different physical pieces of equipment. Accordingly, it is not necessary that the processor be one single piece of equipment in one location and that the memory be another single piece of equipment in another location. That is, it is contemplated that the processor may be two pieces of equipment in two different physical locations. The two distinct pieces of equipment may be connected in any suitable manner. Additionally, the memory may include two or more portions of memory in two or more physical locations.
To explain further, processing as described above is performed by various components and various memories. However, it is appreciated that the processing performed by two distinct components as described above may, in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, be performed by a single component. Further, the processing performed by one distinct component as described above may be performed by two distinct components. In a similar manner, the memory storage performed by two distinct memory portions as described above may, in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, be performed by a single memory portion. Further, the memory storage performed by one distinct memory portion as described above may be performed by two memory portions.
Further, various technologies may be used to provide communication between the various processors and/or memories, as well as to allow the processors and/or the memories of the invention to communicate with any other entity; i.e., so as to obtain further instructions or to access and use remote memory stores, for example. Such technologies used to provide such communication might include a network, the Internet, Intranet, Extranet, LAN, an Ethernet, or any client server system that provides communication, for example. Such communications technologies may use any suitable protocol such as TCP/IP, UDP, or OSI, for example. As described above, a set of instructions is used in the processing of the invention. The set of instructions may be in the form of a program or software. The software may be in the form of system software or application software, for example. The software might also be in the form of a collection of separate programs, a program module within a larger program, or a portion of a program module, for example. The software used might also include modular programming in the form of object oriented programming. The software tells the processing machine what to do with the data being processed.
Further, it is appreciated that the instructions or set of instructions used in the implementation and operation of the invention may be in a suitable form such that the processing machine may read the instructions. For example, the instructions that form a program may be in the form of a suitable programming language, which is converted to machine language or object code to allow the processor or processors to read the instructions. That is, written lines of programming code or source code, in a particular programming language, are converted to machine language using a compiler, assembler or interpreter. The machine language is binary coded machine instructions that are specific to a particular type of processing machine, i.e., to a particular type of computer, for example. The computer understands the machine language.
Any suitable programming language may be used in accordance with the various embodiments of the invention. Illustratively, the programming language used may include assembly language, Ada, APL, Basic, C, C++, COBOL, dBase, Forth, Fortran, Java, Modula-2, Pascal, Prolog, REXX, Visual Basic, and/or JavaScript, for example. Further, it is not necessary that a single type of instructions or single programming language be utilized in conjunction with the operation of the system and method of the invention. Rather, any number of different programming languages may be utilized as is necessary or desirable.
Also, the instructions and/or data used in the practice of the invention may utilize any compression or encryption technique or algorithm, as may be desired. An encryption module might be used to encrypt data. Further, files or other data may be decrypted using a suitable decryption module, for example.
As described above, the invention may illustratively be embodied in the form of a processing machine, including a computer or computer system, for example, that includes at least one memory. It is to be appreciated that the set of instructions, i.e., the software for example, that enables the computer operating system to perform the operations described above may be contained on any of a wide variety of media or medium, as desired. Further, the data that is processed by the set of instructions might also be contained on any of a wide variety of media or medium. That is, the particular medium, i.e., the memory in the processing machine, utilized to hold the set of instructions and/or the data used in the invention may take on any of a variety of physical forms or transmissions, for example. Illustratively, the medium may be in the form of paper, paper transparencies, a compact disk, a DVD, an integrated circuit, a hard disk, a floppy disk, an optical disk, a magnetic tape, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM, a EPROM, a wire, a cable, a fiber, communications channel, a satellite transmissions or other remote transmission, as well as any other medium or source of data that may be read by the processors of the invention.
Further, the memory or memories used in the processing machine that implements the invention may be in any of a wide variety of forms to allow the memory to hold instructions, data, or other information, as is desired. Thus, the memory might be in the form of a database to hold data. The database might use any desired arrangement of files such as a flat file arrangement or a relational database arrangement, for example.
In the system and method of the invention, a variety of “user interfaces” may be utilized to allow a user to interface with the processing machine or machines that are used to implement the invention. As used herein, a user interface includes any hardware, software, or combination of hardware and software used by the processing machine that allows a user to interact with the processing machine. A user interface may be in the form of a dialogue screen for example. A user interface may also include any of a mouse, touch screen, keyboard, voice reader, voice recognizer, dialogue screen, menu box, list, checkbox, toggle switch, a pushbutton or any other device that allows a user to receive information regarding the operation of the processing machine as it processes a set of instructions and/or provide the processing machine with information. Accordingly, the user interface is any device that provides communication between a user and a processing machine. The information provided by the user to the processing machine through the user interface may be in the form of a command, a selection of data, or some other input, for example.
As discussed above, a user interface is utilized by the processing machine that performs a set of instructions such that the processing machine processes data for a user. The user interface is typically used by the processing machine for interacting with a user either to convey information or receive information from the user. However, it should be appreciated that in accordance with some embodiments of the system and method of the invention, it is not necessary that a human user actually interact with a user interface used by the processing machine of the invention. Rather, it is also contemplated that the user interface of the invention might interact, i.e., convey and receive information, with another processing machine, rather than a human user. Accordingly, the other processing machine might be characterized as a user. Further, it is contemplated that a user interface utilized in the system and method of the invention may interact partially with another processing machine or processing machines, while also interacting partially with a human user.
It will be readily understood by those persons skilled in the art that the present invention is susceptible to broad utility and application. Many embodiments and adaptations of the present invention other than those herein described, as well as many variations, modifications and equivalent arrangements, will be apparent from or reasonably suggested by the present invention and foregoing description thereof, without departing from the substance or scope of the invention.
Accordingly, while the present invention has been described here in detail in relation to its exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that this disclosure is only illustrative and exemplary of the present invention and is made to provide an enabling disclosure of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure is not intended to be construed or to limit the present invention or otherwise to exclude any other such embodiments, adaptations, variations, modifications and equivalent arrangements.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/370,582 filed Aug. 4, 2010, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61370582 | Aug 2010 | US |
