U.S. patent application number 11/539947 was filed with the patent office on 2007-05-10 for system and method of automatic insufficient funds notification and overdraft protection.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Scott D. Mastie, Joan L. Mitchell.
Application Number | 20070106558 11/539947 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 33416323 |
Filed Date | 2007-05-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070106558 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Mitchell; Joan L. ; et
al. |
May 10, 2007 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD OF AUTOMATIC INSUFFICIENT FUNDS NOTIFICATION AND
OVERDRAFT PROTECTION
Abstract
A method and program product for conducting business
transactions and avoiding inadvertent overdrafts. First, the value
of an intended purchase is estimated and an electronic receipt is
generated for the estimate. An account identified for payment
(e.g., a checking account or a credit card account) is analyzed for
sufficient funds and, alerts may be provided whenever the analysis
indicates that the account has insufficient funds. As a result of
the alert, the purchase may be halted or another form of payment
may be selected. Also, total in-store purchases may be estimated
and other accounts may be analyzed to determine if, in addition to
being overdrawn for the selected account, the transaction is over
budget.
Inventors: |
Mitchell; Joan L.;
(Longmont, CO) ; Mastie; Scott D.; (Longmont,
CO) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LAW OFFICE OF CHARLES W. PETERSON, JR. -- PRINTERS
11703 BOWMAN GREEN DR.
SUITE 100
RESTON
VA
20190
US
|
Assignee: |
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES
CORPORATION
Armonk
NY
|
Family ID: |
33416323 |
Appl. No.: |
11/539947 |
Filed: |
October 10, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10430824 |
May 6, 2003 |
|
|
|
11539947 |
Oct 10, 2006 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/16 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 20/209 20130101;
G06Q 20/047 20200501; G06Q 20/202 20130101; G06Q 20/20 20130101;
G07G 5/00 20130101; G06Q 40/12 20131203; G06Q 20/203 20130101; G06Q
40/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/016 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 20/00 20060101
G06Q020/00 |
Claims
1. A method of conducting business transactions, said method
comprising the steps of: a) estimating the value of an intended
purchase; b) generating an electronic receipt for said intended
purchase from the estimate; c) analyzing an account for payment for
sufficient funds; and d) selectively providing an alert responsive
to an indication that said account has insufficient funds.
2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step (a) of estimating
comprises estimating the total value of in-store purchases for an
identified customer.
3. A method as in claim 2, wherein the analyzing step (c) further
comprises analyzing a plurality of accounts to determine whether
said intended purchase exceeds a current total budget.
4. A method as in claim 3, wherein the step (d) of selectively
providing an alert comprises halting said intended purchase.
5. A method as in claim 1, wherein the analyzing step (c) further
comprises analyzing a plurality of accounts to determine whether
said intended purchase exceeds a current total budget.
6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step (d) of selectively
providing an alert comprises halting said intended purchase.
7. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step (b) of generating said
electronic receipt comprises scanning an intended form of
purchase.
8. A method as in claim 7, wherein said intended form of purchase
is selected from one of a check, a credit card and a smart
card.
9. A method as in claim 8, further comprising the step of: e)
identifying another form of purchase responsive to a generated said
alert.
10. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of: e)
identifying another form of purchase responsive to a generated said
alert.
11. A method as in claim 1, wherein said account is a bank account,
said method providing overdraft protection, said method further
comprising the step of: e) identifying another form of purchase
responsive to a generated said alert.
12. A method of providing overdraft protection as in claim 1,
wherein the step (c) of analyzing further comprises verifying that
the account is identified with a customer subscribed to an
overdraft protection service, alerts being provided in step (d)
only for overdraft protection service subscribers.
13. A computer program product for conducting business
transactions, said computer program product comprising a computer
usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, said
computer readable program code comprising: computer program code
means for receiving estimates of intended purchases; computer
program code means for generating electronic receipts for each
received estimate; computer program code means for analyzing
payment accounts for sufficient funds for covering said each
received estimate; and computer program code means for providing
alerts responsive to an indication that an account has insufficient
funds.
14. A computer program product for conducting business transactions
as in claim 13, wherein said computer program code means for
estimating comprises computer program code means for receiving
estimates of the total value of in-store purchases for an
identified customer.
15. A computer program product for conducting business transactions
as in claim 13, wherein the computer readable program code means
for analyzing comprises: computer program code means for analyzing
a plurality of accounts; and computer program code means for
determining whether said intended purchase exceeds a current total
budget.
16. A computer program product for conducting business transactions
as in claim 13, wherein the computer program code means for
providing an alert comprises computer program code means for
halting said intended purchase.
17. A computer program product for conducting business transactions
as in claim 13, wherein the computer program code means for
generating said electronic receipts comprises computer program code
means for receiving scans of intended forms of purchase.
18. A computer program product for conducting business transactions
as in claim 17, wherein said intended forms of purchase include
checks drawing on a checking account, a credit card for a credit
card account and a smart card.
19. A computer program product for conducting business transactions
as in claim 13, further comprising: computer program code means for
identifying an alternate payment account.
20. A computer program product for conducting business transactions
as in claim 13, wherein the computer program code means for
analyzing verifies that bank accounts are identified with customers
subscribed to an overdraft protection service, and said computer
program code means for providing alerts provides alerts only for
overdraft protection service subscribers.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present invention is a continuation in part of published
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/430,824 (Attorney Docket No.
BLD920030021US1), entitled "Point-of-Sale Receipt Electronic
Generation" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed May 6, 2003 and
published Nov. 11, 2004, publication No. 2004/0225567 A1; and
related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,706 B2 (Attorney Docket No.
BLD920030020US1), entitled "Point-of-Sale Bill Authentication" to
Scott D. Mastie et al., issued Apr. 26, 2005; and to published U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 10/446,204 (Attorney Docket No.
BLD920030019US1), entitled "Expense Accounting Data Management
Based on Electronic Expense Document" to Joan L. Mitchell et al.,
filed May 27, 2003 and published Dec. 2, 2004, publication No.
2004/0243489 A1; all assigned to the assignee of the present
invention and incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention generally relates to business
transactions and more particularly to in-store business
transactions and payment of such in-store business transactions and
self service transactions at electronic Point of Sale kiosks, such
as at automated gas pumps and the like.
[0004] 2. Background Description
[0005] Frequently, new businesses fail because of cash-flow
problems and under capitalization. Often this is because a new
business person finds it difficult tracking business expenses.
Also, the typical 30-90 day lag time between invoicing and payment
can cause budgeting problems, even when accounts receivable
sufficiently cover ordinary expenses. Bad or bounced checks further
deplete business resources and are not reflected on the balance
sheet until marked as a loss. So, while the balance sheet may
indicate that the business is in the black, a large accounts
receivable may leave the business cash poor and unable to meet
payroll or pay creditors on time.
[0006] Moreover, tracking bills, payments and receipts can be a
very time consuming process. A business may have multiple employees
on expense accounts or otherwise spending company money, each too
busy to take time to promptly account for expenditures. Even if
business promptly entered expenditures and receipts in the books,
many businesses only balance their financial books/checkbooks once
a month. There are a number of commercially available accounting
software packages to assist small businesses in these complicated
and time-consuming accounting tasks. Unfortunately, these
off-the-shelf packages depend upon either manually entering the
data or periodically downloading checking account and credit card
information from multiple accounts.
[0007] These types of expenditure problems are not limited to new
businesses; individuals and families frequently encounter similar
cash flow problems as well. Financial difficulties arising from
these types of monetary issues can stress a marriage to the
breaking point. For example, couples may use a joint bank account
and have joint credit card accounts; individually drawing on the
same account and independently charging purchases to their joint
accounts. When one or both of the partners is lax about recording
joint account transactions, the charges may reach the credit card
limit and/or the account may become overdrawn without either party
realizing the problem. Consequently, outstanding checks can exceed
available funds and some may even bounce for insufficient funds.
Without available funds, credit card payment due dates may pass
without payment, leaving the credit cards unpaid. Bounced checks
and missed credit card payments injure both partners' credit
rating. Unfortunately, these bounced checks and missed credit card
payments incur large penalties that further exacerbate the problem,
potentially stretching an already tight budget past the breaking
point. If, for example, one partner is susceptible to "impulse
buying," spontaneously making unplanned purchases, the couples'
budget may be blown before the other partner is aware of the
problem. For these and other reasons, marital finances have been
named, consistently, the top source of marital strife.
[0008] Thus, there is a need for notifying individuals and business
of potential budgetary problems in real time; more particularly,
for notifying the appropriate individual(s) of such potential
budgetary problems based on estimated spending that accounts are in
danger of being overdrawn; and, optionally, preventing parties from
overdrawing the account(s).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] It is therefore a purpose of the invention to reduce
inadvertent overdrafts and unbudgeted/over-budget expenditures;
[0010] It is another purpose of this invention to selectively allow
business transactions to go forward even with insufficient funds in
an account initially selected for payment;
[0011] It is yet another purpose of the invention to reduce
inadvertent overdrafts in point-of-sale terminal purchases.
[0012] The present invention is related to a method and program
product for conducting business transactions and avoiding
inadvertent overdrafts. First, the value of an intended purchase is
estimated and an electronic receipt is generated for the estimate.
An account identified for payment (e.g., a checking account or a
credit card account) is analyzed for sufficient funds and alerts
may be provided whenever the analysis indicates that the account
has insufficient funds. As a result of the alert, the purchase may
be halted or another form of payment may be selected. Also, total
in-store purchases may be estimated and other accounts may be
analyzed to determine if, in addition to being overdrawn for the
selected account, the transaction is over budget.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] The foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages will
be better understood from the following detailed description of a
preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the
drawings, in which:
[0014] FIG. 1 shows an example of a preferred point-of-sale (POS)
terminal electronic receipt generation environment, for customer
transacting business at POS terminals.
[0015] FIG. 2 shows a flow chart example of notifying a
business/merchant that an account is becoming overdrawn by a
purchaser/customer in the environment of FIG. 1.
[0016] FIG. 3 shows a flow chart example providing optional
consumer purchase estimates, wherein a customer estimates the
availability of funds.
[0017] FIG. 4 shows another flow chart example of an over total
budget estimate based on a purchase estimate.
[0018] FIG. 5 shows a flow chart example of optionally providing
over-budget alerts based on the itemized electronic receipt, e.g.,
as a result of an over total budget estimate.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0019] Turning now to the drawings, and more particularly, FIG. 1
shows an example of a preferred point-of-sale (POS) terminal
electronic receipt generation environment 10, customer location
(i.e., identified with a client business) 12 and point-of-sale
terminal 14 (hereinafter "POS terminal 14"), such as described in
published U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/430,824 (Attorney
Docket No. BLD920030021US1), entitled "Point-of-Sale Electronic
Receipt Generation" to Joan L. Mitchell et al., filed May 6, 2003,
published Nov. 11, 2004, publication No. 2004/0225567 A1, assigned
to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by
reference. Customer locations 12, e.g., a wallet that includes, for
example, cash 16, a check 18, a credit card 20 and/or a smart card
22, or any other suitable well known payment mechanisms for paying
for merchandise, e.g., gift certificates or store credits. Customer
location 12 may also communicate with POS terminal 14 using a
personal digital assistant (PDA) 24 or any other suitable handheld
computer or communication system, with an appropriate communication
port (not shown), e.g., infrared (IR) or radio frequency
identification (RFID). POS terminal 14 conducts each sales
transaction and generates an electronic receipt 26 for each and,
optionally, a conventional paper receipt 28. According to a
preferred embodiment of the present invention, individuals,
families, and businesses receive real time cash-flow and budget
analysis, and as a byproduct of each transaction, improved
financial health.
[0020] As used herein for example only, a customer, shopper or
purchaser (used interchangeably) at a customer location 12 is
identified with a private or public concern is conducting a
transaction with a merchant or other business concern. The private
concern may be, for example an individual household, a business or
other organization or business. Similarly, a public concern may be,
for example, a business or a non-profit organization. Thus, a
customer/purchaser may be a member of the household, a business
employee or a member of the organization. The POS 14 is located
with the business concern 30, e.g., in a bank, on the premises of a
department or grocery store or, is suitably located for electronic
purchases (e-purchases). Further, either or both of the customers
to the business concern and the private/public concern are
proactively alerted or notified of budgetary problems, even from
available downloadable information that normally does not include
sufficient budgetary detail, e.g., to automatically assign each
purchase to a budget category. Thus, the present invention
facilitates budget compliance, even when a particular customer is
not paying attention to the effects of individual purchases during
shopping, to mitigate the effects of impulse-buying and other
extra-budgeted purchases.
[0021] Each POS terminal 14 may be located on customer premises 30,
e.g., a bank, or be remotely located and include an imager 40, a
check/currency inserter 42, a receipt instruction receiver 46 with
a receipt destination retriever 62, an electronic receipt generator
(ERG) 48 with an authenticating data generator (ADG) 50, a
transmitter 52 and any other components (OC) 54. Imager 40 converts
cash (paper currency or bills) 16, and/or checks 18 into images 58
that may be inserted by check/currency inserter 42 into a paper
receipt, 28 an electronic receipt 26 or both for recordation.
Electronic receipt generation and storage is also described, for
example, in published U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/446,204
(Attorney Docket No. BLD920030019US1) entitled "Expense Accounting
Data Management Based on Electronic Expense Document" to Joan L.
Mitchell et al., filed May 27, 2003, published Dec. 2, 2004,
publication No. 2004/0243489 A1, assigned to the assignee of the
present invention and incorporated herein by reference. Receipt
instruction receiver (RIR) 46 may include a destination retriever
(DR) 62 and receive receipt instructions (RI) 60. Each receipt
instruction 60 includes a Receipt Destination Identifier (RDI) 64
and a content instruction (CI) 66. A receipt instruction 60
reflects communicated customer preferences, e.g., provided verbally
and manually entered to POS terminal 14 or electronically
generated. Electronically generated customer preferences may be
gathered, for example, from an electronic payment from, for
example, a credit card 20, a smart card 22, a PDA 24 or any other
suitable electronic payment mechanism.
[0022] Each RDI 64 expressly or implicitly indicates where to send
a corresponding electronic receipt, if any. An RDI 64 may expressly
state a receipt destination 65 as, for example, an Internet
protocol (IP) address, a mailing address, an e-mail address, e.g.,
for a non-volatile storage. Customer identification may imply a
receipt destination 65 stored in a receipt destination database 68,
e.g., by business name, by credit card number, by smart card
identification, or by PDA based IR communications. The destination
retriever 62 retrieves implied destinations from receipt
destination database 68. The electronic receipt generator 48
generates an electronic receipt 26 for each transaction, e.g., from
date and time; merchant; issuing agent; and merchant address.
Electronic receipts may be in a standard format, e.g., electronic
data interchange (EDI) format or a personalized electronic receipts
26 based on content instruction 66, e.g., indicated in a content
database 70. Authentication data generator 50 can provide
transaction authentication data 72 for confirming that an
electronic receipt 26 has not been altered. For example,
authentication data 72 may include receipt contents, date, time, a
merchant identification or, biometric data collected from the
purchaser. The authentication data 72 may be stored at a merchant
system 74 for access by receipt destination 65 with each receipt 26
or transmitted separately to receipt destination 65. The
transmitter 52 communicates electronic receipts 26 and
authentication data 72 to receipt destinations 65 and/or merchant
system 74. Other POS terminal 14 components 54 may include, for
example, a keyboard, a central processing unit (CPU), a monitor, a
bar code scanner, a telecommunications system, a credit card
authentication system, a smart card authentication system, a PDA
communications system, RFID detection modules and/or a cash
drawer.
[0023] Preferably, receipt destination 65 includes an expense
accounting system 80 such as a customer employer expense reporting
system, a customer personal expense tracking system (e.g.,
Quicken.RTM., Microsoft Money.RTM., TurboTax.RTM. or a spreadsheet
application) and/or a customer accountant expense tracking system.
Each electronic receipt 26 provides immediate information for cash
flow and budget purposes to expense accounting system 80. Also, the
expense account system 80 may include an expense categorizer (EC)
82 categorizing each electronic receipt 26 into an expense
category, e.g., clothing, food, or entertainment. A tax data
collector (TDC) 84 gathers tax related data in electronic receipts
26, e.g., sales tax, deductible expenses, deductible donations, and
medical expenses. A tax authority (TA) 86 (e.g., the US Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), a state tax department, or foreign
equivalent thereof) may provide tax related information or, tax
related information may be otherwise provided. Also, the receipt
destination 65 may include appropriate receipt storage 88 for long
term archiving.
[0024] FIG. 2 shows a flow chart example 100 of notifying a
business concern according to a preferred embodiment of the present
invention that an account may be under-funded and so, not have
sufficient funds to cover a current transaction, e.g., a purchase
or purchases by a purchaser in the environment 10 of FIG. 1. Prior
to making a purchase, in step 102 the business/merchant may obtain
an estimate of each customer's purchases, e.g., at POS terminal 14.
In step 104 the POS terminal 14 scans the selected form of payment,
e.g., check 18, credit card 20, smart card 22 and/or PDA 24. In
step 106 the POS 14 generates a temporary electronic receipt 26,
which the POS 14 forwards to the receipt destination 65. In step
108 the Expense Account System 80, for example, analyzes the
corresponding bank or credit account to determine if the account is
under-funded and, as a result of the current purchase, it may
become overdrawn in step 108. A suitable example of using
electronic receipts for real-time analysis of cash-flow and
budgeting is disclosed in published U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 10/430,824 (Attorney Docket No. BLD920030021US1) entitled
"Point-of-Sale Receipt Generation" to Joan L. Mitchell et al.,
filed May 6, 2003 and published Nov. 11, 2004, publication No.
2004/0225567 A1.
[0025] If in step 110 the corresponding account has sufficient
funds or remaining credit to complete the current purchase, then
the purchase proceeds in step 112, e.g., by finalizing the
temporary electronic receipt for the current customer. Otherwise,
if the customer is under-funded in step 108, such that the current
purchase exceeds customer funds and the corresponding account will
be overdrawn or a credit limit will be exceeded; then in step 114
the business/merchant is alerted, e.g., by a POS terminal message.
Thus, the business/merchant receives an application alert or
another notification when a customer has exceeded his/her
purchasing authority, e.g., is exceeding the budget or an account
will be overdrawn. Then, optionally, in step 116 the customer also
is notified, e.g., by a message displayed on the credit card/smart
card scanner, or on the PDA 24, and the customer may select another
form of payment, e.g., cash 16 instead of credit card 20 or a
different credit card. Thus, overdraft notification enables
purchasers to switch the method of payment or transfer funds
on-the-fly and in real time to avoid incurring bounced check and/or
overdraft fees. Moreover, the business/merchant avoids the
aggravation of collecting bad or bounced checks. Optionally, the
respective bank/creditor may offer additional account protection
services, e.g., verifying that the customer has subscribed to the
service in step 108 and only providing an indication for
subscribers. For example, services may be offered to help
individuals, families and businesses to avoid insufficient funds or
over-credit situations that would otherwise arise.
[0026] FIG. 3 shows a flow chart example 120 of providing optional
consumer purchase estimates, wherein a customer estimates or
calculates the purchase cost and the availability of funds
according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In
step 122 the purchaser decides whether to check for sufficient
funds or remaining available credit to cover current purchases in
one or more accounts. If an estimate is unnecessary, then the
purchase proceeds in step 124. Otherwise, in step 126 the customer
calculates or estimates a total for current purchases. The result
is forwarded to the receipt destination 65 and in step 128 the
Expense Account System 80, for example, analyzes the corresponding
bank or credit account in real time. In step 130 the results of the
real-time analysis are returned to the customer to determine if the
current purchase exceeds available funds in step 132. If sufficient
funds are available to complete the current purchase in step, then
the purchase proceeds in step 124. Otherwise, if in step 132 the
current purchase exceeds the available funds such that the
corresponding account will be overdrawn or the credit limit
exceeded; then in step 134 the customer is notified, e.g., by a
message displayed on the credit card/smart card scanner, or on the
PDA 24, and the customer may select another form of payment to
complete the purchase in step 124, e.g., using cash 16 instead of
credit card 20. Thus, these alerts enable purchasers to switch the
method of payment or transfer funds on-the-fly and in real time to
avoid incurring the bounced check and overdraft fees.
[0027] So, for example, upon entering the cashier's line and
deciding to request a purchase estimate in step 122; then in step
126, the customer can forward an expected purchase amount, e.g., an
estimate or a calculated amount. For example, the customer can
access a bank or credit account by cell phone, PDA, or other
handheld device (or use a merchant's kiosk such as an ATM machine
in a store or on an automated gas pump) and, enter the expected
amount for purchasing the merchandise in step 128. Multiple
responses can be returned in step 130 including "OK," "Borderline"
(e.g., within $200 or a certain minimum funding limit), and
"insufficient funds." Once the purchase is complete in step 124,
the expected amount is replaced with the final purchase amount from
the electronic detailed receipt. Meanwhile other purchasers using
the same account are warned based on the updated available funds,
to have current data and avoid secondary over-credit or
insufficient funds instances. Thus, the public/private concern
avoids having compounded the problem, and may avoid it
altogether.
[0028] FIG. 4 shows a flow chart example 140 of an over total
budget estimate based on a purchase estimate, substantially similar
to the example of FIG. 3 with like elements labeled identically.
Again in step 122 the purchaser decides whether to check for
sufficient funds to cover current purchases in one or more
accounts. If an estimate is unnecessary, then in step 124, the
purchase proceeds. Otherwise, in step 126 the customer estimates
the total for current purchases. The estimate is forwarded to the
receipt destination 65 and in step 142 the Expense Account System
80, for example, analyzes the customer's budget in real time. In
step 144 the results of the real-time analysis are checked to
determine if the budget will be exceeded as a result of the current
purchase. If sufficient budgetary resources are available to
complete the current purchase in step 144, then the purchase
proceeds in step 124. Otherwise, if in step 144 the budget or a
budget sub-category will be exceeded; then, in step 146 the
purchase is halted, e.g., by a message displayed on the credit
card/smart card scanner, or on the PDA 24. Optionally, the customer
may be allowed to select another form of payment to complete the
purchase in step 124, e.g., using cash 16 instead of credit card
20, or replenish necessary funds before close-of-business, to
prevent expensive insufficient funds situations. Optionally, the
customer may elect to override the budget warning, provided that
sufficient funds exist. For example, it may be unavoidable to
exceed fuel budget limits, causing the customer to make other
adjustments to cover the purchase and avoid a bounced check, an
overdraft or a rejected credit card. Thus, over-budget notification
enables individuals/businesses to stop such purchases on-the-fly
and in real time, also to avoid incurring the results of an
under-funded account, e.g., a bounced check, overdraft fees or an
over-credit situation. Also, the customer may adjust budgeted
amounts to prevent generating budget alerts.
[0029] FIG. 5 shows a flow chart example 150 of optionally
providing over-budget alerts based on the itemized electronic
receipt, e.g., as a result of an over total budget estimate 140 of
the example of FIG. 4. When the results of account analysis
indicate that a current purchase exceeds a total budget for the
private/public concern, in step 152 a budget alert is generated. In
response to the alert, in step 154 recent receipts are scanned.
Then, in step 156 the concern's accounts are analyzed to identify
any purchases that have exceeded budget. Finally in step 158, the
receipt destination 65 alerts the customer of any identified
purchases, e.g. to stop or alter the purchases.
[0030] Advantageously, purchases can be halted before bouncing
checks, incurring overdraft penalties, exceeding credit limits,
exceeding budgetary guidelines or otherwise injuring negatively
affecting credit scores and reports. Customers have an accurate,
up-to-date accounting of available funds relative to the respective
budget. The accounting may be used, for example, for education
regarding monthly living expenses. Further, such an accurate
up-to-date accounting reduces the likelihood of inadvertently
creating debt by exceeding available funds (e.g., by check, credit
card, or e-purchase) and may encourage personal responsibility.
With notification provided by the present invention customers can
avoid otherwise inadvertent overdrafts and resulting bounced
checks, e.g., by aborting purchases or transferring money into a
depleted account. A customer can query bank accounts even before
initiating a transaction and while waiting in line, e.g., from a
PDA, handheld computer, or cell phone and confirm that an estimated
or calculated amount will not exceed available funds. Moreover,
merchants can accept checks verified at a preferred POS terminal
according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention
without concern that such checks may bounce.
[0031] Also, the present invention provides immediate purchase
verification for an additional level of overdraft protection, e.g.,
banks may institute an "instant overdraft" option whereby banking
customers receive proactive notice of potentially overdrawn
situations. Many banks currently offer "overdraft insurance," that
allows individuals to replenish overdrawn funds, rather than
allowing protected accounts to be overdrawn, bouncing a check.
Instead, banks offering "instant overdraft" protection can allow
customers to OK an overdraft on-the-spot, e.g., for an appropriate
interest charge. Thus, purchases may complete with otherwise
rejected checks (even checks that would cause the account to be
overdrawn), e.g., with the customer's promise to replenish the
account before close-of-business or by the customer funding the
purchase from another account. Further, such an "instant overdraft"
protection option provides banks with a new revenue service
opportunity, allowing a real-time funds-balance-verification, that
may be marketed as a fee-based value-add offering, or services
related to such an offering.
[0032] While the invention has been described in terms of preferred
embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the
invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and
scope of the appended claims. It is intended that all such
variations and modifications fall within the scope of the appended
claims. Examples and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded as
illustrative rather than restrictive.
* * * * *