System and method for providing a savings opportunity in association with a financial account

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to comparison shopping and usage based service analysis for consumers, primarily for financial products. A consumer may not be aware of a provider's services, options, terms, conditions, costs, or how the service options change based on the consumer's particular usage characteristics. The disclosed comparison shopping method uses the consumer's actual or predicted service usage data. Service provider information is used to present the consumer with relevant alternative service offering options. Transaction data is gathered from a user's financial account and is analyzed for a savings opportunity indication. The analysis is used to match a savings opportunity from a database of savings opportunities, and the savings opportunity may be displayed in a statement of a user's financial account. Past responses to a savings opportunity indication may be gathered and analyzed. In one example, a savings opportunity is presented with a statement of the consumer's financial account.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for finding a savings opportunity, comprising:
 importing transaction data from a user's financial account by at least one computer;   analyzing the transaction data from the user's financial account by the at least one computer for a savings opportunity indication;   matching a savings opportunity from a database of savings opportunities to the user based on the savings opportunity indication by the at least one computer; and   displaying the savings opportunity in association with a specific transaction among the transaction data within a statement of the user's financial account, wherein the savings opportunity comprises an offer to perform a bill analysis for the specific transaction, and wherein the offer to perform the bill analysis comprises an indication of a specific savings amount.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising gathering a past response to a savings opportunity indication and analyzing it, wherein the savings opportunity is based on both the analyzed transaction data and past response data. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the statement is at least one of an online statement, an online graphical user interface associated with the user's financial account, an online bill pay area, a dialog box associated with the user's financial account, an ATM receipt, a teller receipt, a mobile statement, and a paper statement. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of analyzing comprises extracting by the at least one computer at least one of a merchant name, a merchant category, a merchant location, a store number, a transaction amount, a transaction frequency, a zip code, a store category, a transaction description, and a total spending amount. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of analyzing comprises analyzing the transaction data for a savings opportunity indication relating to a merchant. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of analyzing comprises analyzing the transaction data for a savings opportunity indication relating to a market segment. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of displaying the savings opportunity comprises displaying the savings opportunity within a field of the statement where prior transaction data is presented. 
     
     
         8 . (The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user's financial account is a plurality of financial accounts and the savings opportunity is displayed in association with at least one of the user's financial accounts. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the savings opportunity is from a provider other than a provider among the user's transaction data. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user's financial account is at least one of a credit card account, a bank account, a checking account, a savings account, a personal finance program account, and a loan account. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method for finding a savings opportunity, comprising:
 importing transaction data from a user's financial account by at least one computer;   analyzing the transaction data from the user's financial account by the at least one computer for a savings opportunity indication;   matching a savings opportunity from a database of savings opportunities to the user based on the savings opportunity indication by the at least one computer;   displaying the savings opportunity in association with a statement of the user's financial account, wherein the savings opportunity comprises an offer to perform a bill analysis for at least one item among the transaction data from the user's financial account; and   in response to an acceptance of the savings opportunity, presenting by the at least one computer a request for access to a user's account with a provider of the at least one item among the transaction data from the user's financial account.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the step of analyzing comprises anonymizing the transaction data. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the offer to perform the bill analysis is presented in association with a specific transaction among the transaction data of the user. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising generating and displaying a link, in a graphical user interface to the user's financial account, to a transaction assessment user interface to compare the at least one item among the transaction data from the user's financial account to a plurality of alternative offers. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein analyzing the transaction data comprises analyzing market segment information. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the step of matching is limited to savings opportunities near a user's identified location. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the user's location is identified manually by the user. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the user's location is identified automatically from a mobile device implementing the method. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising
 gathering detailed billing information of the user's transactions with the provider of the at least one item, wherein the detailed billing information is in addition to data of financial transactions with the provider available in the user's financial account with the financial institution; and   calculating the savings opportunity with respect to at least one alternative offering or alternative provider based on the detailed billing information.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising accepting by the at least one computer a selection of the at least one alternative offering or alternative provider based on the calculated savings opportunity.