Payment account monitoring system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10319028-B2
Application number	US-201113151166-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2011
Priority date	Jul 2, 2007
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

A network includes an account status system for checking the status of checking accounts used to make payments, and a payment account monitoring system that includes linking files that store, for individual credit card accounts, the account numbers for checking accounts used to pay the credit card accounts. The monitoring system periodically retrieves checking account numbers from the linking files and checks the account numbers at the status system. If a negative status is indicated at the status system, an alert is provided to the credit card company.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computerized method for monitoring a status of a payment account against which a recurring payment has been drawn for payment to a recipient from a payer, the method comprising:
providing, as part of a computer system, a status database that stores updated status information on payment accounts, the status database operated by or on behalf of an entity other than the recipient or the payer;
providing, as part of the computer system, a monitoring file that stores a plurality of recipient account numbers and a plurality of payment account numbers, and that associates at least one of the plurality of recipient account numbers to at least one of the plurality of payment account numbers;
receiving, at the computer system, a recipient account number and a payment account number from the recipient in response to a payment toward a recurring payment from the payer to the recipient;
determining whether the received payment account number is a new payment account number and is different than a payment account number previously stored in the monitoring file in association with the recipient account number;
upon determining that the received payment account number is a new payment account number and is different than a payment account number previously stored in the monitoring file, updating the monitoring file in response to the payment toward a recurring payment, via the computer system, by storing the received payment account number, as the new payment account number, in association with the received recipient account number in the monitoring file; and
subsequent to and independently of said updating of the monitoring file, periodically accessing, via the computer system, the status information stored in the status database using the at least one of the plurality of payment account numbers stored in association with the at least one of the plurality of recipient account numbers in the updated monitoring file, wherein said periodic access occurs prior to a due date for an expected recurring payment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of recipient account numbers is a creditor account number.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
notifying the creditor of a change in status information if the status information has changed for the at least one of the plurality of payment account numbers stored in association with the at least one of the plurality of recipient account numbers.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the creditor account number is a credit card account number.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the recurring payment is made using an ACH transfer, and wherein the creditor account number is a loan account number to which ACH transfers are made from the at least one of the payment account numbers stored in association with the loan account number.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein a checking account number is stored in association with said creditor account number as one of said payment account numbers.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining whether the status information for periodically accessed payment account numbers has been updated to reflect a change in status information; and
notifying the creditor if there has been a change in the status information, so that the creditor is aware of the change in status information before the due date of the expected recurring payment.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status database is updated periodically.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein periodically is daily.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status database is updated by receiving from participating banks a current status of each of the payment accounts maintained at said participating banks.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the status database is further updated by requesting the participating banks provide the current status of the payment accounts maintained by other banks which have had items returned when drawn against the payment accounts of said other banks.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said periodic access occurs daily using the updated monitoring file.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said periodic access is based on condition data stored in the monitoring file.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the condition data is based on the due date associated with the expected recurring payment to be made on the at least one of the plurality any recipient account numbers.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status information comprises one or more of the following:
open and valid;
closed;
has had checks returned for insufficient funds;
has had a change in the account address; and
has had a change relating to account holders.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein said updating the monitoring file further includes periodically receiving batched linking data from the recipient, the batched linking data including a plurality of recipient account numbers and one or more payment account numbers linked to each of said plurality of recipient account numbers.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the received payment account number in association with the received recipient account number in the monitoring file when the payment is a first payment being made by the payer to the recipient on the received recipient account number.

18. A computer system for monitoring a status of payment accounts against which recurring payments are drawn as payments by a payer for a benefit of a creditor, the system comprising:
a status database at an account status system that stores status information on payment accounts, the status information comprising an account status and/or an account condition associated with each of the payment accounts, the status database operated by or on behalf of an entity other than the payer or the creditor;
a monitoring file at a monitoring system that associates at least one creditor account identifier to at least one payment account identifier, wherein the association between the at least one creditor account identifier and the at least one payment account identifier is updated when a creditor account identifier and a payment account identifier are received by the monitoring system in response to a payment toward a recurring payment from the payer to the creditor and upon determining that the received payment account identifier is a new payment account identifier that is different than the payment account identifier previously associated with the same creditor account identifier, said update including storing the received payment account identifier, as the new payment account identifier, in association with the received creditor account identifier in the monitoring file; and
a processor configured to periodically access, via the status database, the status information using the at least one payment account identifier stored in association with the at least one creditor account identifier in the updated monitoring file, wherein said periodic access occurs subsequent to and independently of said update to the monitoring file and prior to a due date for an expected recurring payment, and configured to send a notification to the creditor if the status information has changed for the at least one payment account identifier stored in association with the at least one creditor account identifier in the updated monitoring file.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the at least one creditor account identifier is a credit card account identifier, and the creditor is a credit card company managing the

Assignees

• Finch Paul
• Early Warning Services Llc

Inventors

• Finch Paul

Classifications

• G06Q40/00

  Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes · CPC title

• G06Q20/10

  specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems · CPC title

• G06Q40/02 Primary

  Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance (credit or loans G06Q40/03) · CPC title

• G06Q20/102

  Bill distribution or payments · CPC title