Hybrid electronic lockbox

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9984423-B2
Application number	US-201414458928-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 13, 2014
Priority date	Aug 13, 2014
Publication date	May 29, 2018
Grant date	May 29, 2018

Abstract

A method of managing an electric lockbox, such as to reduce processing times associated with remittance processing, may include receiving, by one or more computing devices at a financial institution, a batch file and/or one or more physical remittances at lockbox associated with a payee, the batch file and any physical remittances comprising information associated with a plurality of financial transactions between one or more payors and the payee. The one or more computing devices may then determine whether at least a portion of the information corresponds to a payee preference. A report may be communicated to the payee, the report including a record of the plurality of financial transactions as a set of documents corresponding to the payee preference. In some cases, the report may include at least a portion of the remittance information associated with the plurality of financial transactions deposited into an account associated with the payee.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a communications interface communicatively coupled to a network;
a processor communicatively coupled to the communications interface; and
a non-transitory memory device communicatively coupled to the processor and the communications interface, the non-transitory memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, would cause the apparatus to:
communicate, by a driver file generator via the network, a driver file to a payment processor, the driver file identifying an information format of a batch file and defining one or more rules to identify remittances to be physically assigned to a hybrid electronic lockbox, wherein the batch file and physical remittances comprise a plurality of remittances between payors and a payee that are received by the payment processor;
receive, the batch file at a batch file processor via the network, the batch file comprising a plurality of electronic financial remittances and a plurality of scanned images of a plurality of physically received financial transactions received by the payment processor within a specified time period;
receive one or more physical remittances based on the one or more rules;
assign, by the batch file processor, the batch file comprising the plurality of electronic financial remittances, the plurality of scanned images of the plurality of physically received financial transactions including a physically received envelope, and the one or more physical remittances to a hybrid electronic lockbox associated with the payee;
generate, by an image generator, a simulated envelope image that corresponds to a particular financial remittance electronically received by the payment processor for each electronic financial remittance that were received without a physical envelope, wherein the simulated envelope image comprises an image formatted to resemble a scanned physical envelope had one been associated with a particular financial transaction and includes at least one of information capable of identifying a consumer associated with the financial transaction or an identifier of the hybrid electronic lockbox; and
generate a report, by a report generator, including the plurality of financial remittances associated with the batch file and the physical remittances to the payee, wherein the report includes a plurality of delimiters between each electronic financial remittance, physically received financial transaction, and physical remittance, each delimiter comprising one of a scanned physical envelope when a physical envelope was received or the simulated envelope image for an electronic financial remittance, wherein each delimiter includes information capable of identifying at least one of a consumer associated with the financial transaction or a lockbox identifier.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory memory device stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive, via the network, a payee preference from the payee, the payee preference comprising a format of a report, the report comprising information associated with the plurality of remittances to the payee; and
create, by the driver file generator, the driver file based on the payee preference.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory memory device stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive, via the network, a payee preference from the payee, the payee preference comprising the one or more rules to identify remittances to be physically assigned to a hybrid electronic lockbox, wherein the one or more rules correspond to a business rule associated with remittances conducted using a foreign funds type; and
create the driver file based on the payee preference.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the payee preference identifies at least a first funds type; and
wherein the non-transitory memory device stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, would cause the apparatus to:
identify a second funds type associated with at least a first remittance of the plurality of remittances included in the batch file; and
reject at least the first remittance when the second funds type is different than the first funds type.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the non-transitory memory device stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, would cause the apparatus to:
notify the payment processor of at least one rejected first financial transaction;
receive at the hybrid electronic lockbox a physical remittance corresponding to each of the at least one rejected first financial transaction; and
notify the payee of at least the rejected first financial transaction in at least one entry in the report.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the batch file is an extensible markup language (XML) file including a header section and a consumer communications section, the header including at least a first payee identifier, and the consumer communications section including information corresponding to the plurality of remittances received from a payor, wherein one or more of the plurality of remittances are associated with a second payee identifier.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the non-transitory memory device stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
assign the batch file to a first hybrid electronic lockbox associated with the first payee identifier when the first payee identifier is equal to the second payee identifier.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the non-transitory memory device stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
assign the batch file to a second hybrid electronic lockbox associated with the second payee identifier when the first payee identifier is different than the second payee identifier.

Assignees

• Bank Of America

Inventors

• Mauller Janet M
• Howe Tera L
• Lamb Amy
• Dillon James
• Wilson Iii Gerald Whitney

Classifications

• G06Q40/12 Primary

  Accounting · CPC title

• G06Q40/10

  Tax strategies · CPC title

• G06Q40/02

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

• G06Q20/102

  Bill distribution or payments · CPC title

• G06Q40/00

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