Directing Payments to Satisfy Periodic Financial Obligations

Abstract

Methods, computer program products, and systems, related to financial payments are provided. Data corresponding to payments made by a first financial institution is analyzed to identify periodic financial obligations and a specific biller associated with each obligation. A visual user interface including a mechanism through which a user can submit a make-payments notification is generated and provided to a client computer. A first make-payments notification identifying an obligation and a specific biller is received. A determination is made as to whether the specific biller is automatically requesting payments to satisfy the obligation identified in the make-payments notification, and if so, a cease-billing instruction is caused to be sent to the specific biller. A billing instruction, instructing the first specific biller to automatically request payments from a second financial institution to satisfy the obligation, is caused to be sent to the first specific biller.

1 - 22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 collecting, in a computer system, data corresponding to one or more user transactions, wherein each transaction is a payment made from an account of a user at a first financial institution;   extracting, from the data corresponding to the one or more user transactions, information that identifies one or more periodic financial obligations of the user;   categorizing each of the one or more user transactions into a respective transaction category;   identifying, from the extracted information, the one or more periodic financial obligations of the user using the respective transaction category of each of the one or more user transactions;   associating, in the computer system, a specific biller with each identified periodic financial obligation; and   providing a visual user interface to a client computer of the user, wherein the visual user interface identifies one or more specific billers, wherein each specific biller is associated with at least one of the periodic financial obligations of the user, and wherein the visual user interface provides a mechanism through which the user can submit a make-payments notification identifying one of the one or more specific billers.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising:
 determining, in the computer system, that a first specific biller is automatically requesting payments to satisfy a periodic financial obligation from the first financial institution.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising:
 receiving, in the computer system, a make payments notification, wherein the make payments notification identifies a first specific biller associated with the periodic financial obligation and a second financial institution for satisfying the periodic financial obligation of the user; and   sending a cease-billing instruction to the specific biller, wherein the cease-billing instruction instructs the first specific biller to stop requesting payments to satisfy the periodic financial obligation from the first financial institution, and sending a billing instruction to the first specific biller, wherein the first billing instruction instructs the first specific biller to automatically request payments from the second financial institution to satisfy the periodic financial obligation.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising:
 collecting additional data corresponding to one or more additional user transactions; and   examining the additional data to determine when the financial institution has stopped making payments to the specific biller to meet the periodic financial obligation.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising:
 for each identified periodic financial obligation, predicting in the computer system a future value of revenue for the second financial institution associated with making payments to the specific biller to meet the periodic financial obligation.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising:
 calculating an incentive associated with each identified specific biller, wherein the incentive is a benefit the user receives for requesting that the second financial institution make payments to the specific biller to meet the one or more periodic financial obligations, wherein the incentive is calculated based on the predicted future value of revenue for the second financial institution associated with making payments to the specific biller to meet the one or more periodic financial obligations; and   wherein the visual user interface further displays the incentive associated with each identified specific biller.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising:
 calculating a fee amount;   causing a payment request to be sent to the second financial institution, wherein the payment request specifies a payment equal to the fee amount; and   receiving a notification in the computer system that a payment equal to the fee amount has been received from the second financial institution.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising:
 identifying the one or more periodic financial obligations of the user based on descriptions of the one or more user transactions.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein categorizing each of the one or more user transactions further comprises:
 determining a specific biller for each of the one or more user transactions;   matching the specific biller to a category using a database; and   selecting the category associated with the specific biller in the database.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising:
 receiving, in the computer system, an enrollment notification, wherein the enrollment notification indicates that the user authorizes the collection of the data corresponding to the one or more user transactions.   
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising:
 collecting, in the computer system, data corresponding to the one or more user transactions through the first financial institution;   analyzing the data to determine revenue received by the second financial institution as a result of the payments made to meet the first periodic financial obligation;   generating, in the computer system, a report of the received revenue; and   causing the report to be sent to the second financial institution.   
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein identifying one or more periodic financial obligations of a user from the data comprises:
 identifying, from the one or more user transactions, a plurality of user transactions that each identify a particular biller and a respective payment of a similar amount; and   identifying the plurality of user transactions as periodic financial obligations.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein identifying one or more periodic financial obligations of a user from the data comprises:
 identifying, from the one or more user transactions, a plurality of user transactions that each identify a particular biller and a particular date of payment; and   identifying the plurality of user transactions as periodic financial obligations.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein identifying one or more periodic financial obligations of the user from the data comprises identifying one or more periodic financial obligations of the user from the data that are not paid by automatic payment. 
     
     
         37 . A system comprising one or more computers programmed to perform operations comprising:
 collecting, in a computer system, data corresponding to one or more user transactions, wherein each transaction is a payment made from an account of a user at a first financial institution;   extracting, from the data corresponding to the one or more user transactions, information that identifies one or more periodic financial obligations of the user;   categorizing each of the one or more user transactions into a respective transaction category;   identifying, from the extracted information, the one or more periodic financial obligations of the user using the respective transaction category of each of the one or more user transactions;   associating, in the computer system, a specific biller with each identified periodic financial obligation; and   providing a visual user interface to a client computer of the user, wherein the visual user interface identifies one or more specific billers, wherein each specific biller is associated with at least one of the periodic financial obligations of the user, and wherein the visual user interface provides a mechanism through which the user can submit a make-payments notification identifying one of the one or more specific billers.   
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein the one or more computers are further programmed to perform operations comprising:
 determining, in the computer system, that a first specific biller is automatically requesting payments to satisfy the first periodic financial obligation from the first financial institution.   
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 38 , wherein:
 receiving, in the computer system, a make payments notification, wherein the make payments notification identifies a first specific biller associated with a first periodic financial obligation and a second financial institution for satisfying the periodic financial obligation of the user; and   sending a cease-billing instruction to the specific biller, wherein the cease-billing instruction instructs the first specific biller to stop requesting payments to satisfy the first periodic financial obligation from the financial institution, and sending a billing instruction to the first specific biller, wherein the first billing instruction instructs the first specific biller to automatically request payments from the second financial institution to satisfy the periodic financial obligation.   
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein the one or more computers are further programmed to perform operations comprising:
 collecting additional data corresponding to one or more additional user transactions; and   examining the additional data to determine when the financial institution has stopped making payments to the specific biller to meet the periodic financial obligation.   
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein the one or more computers are further programmed to perform operations comprising:
 for each identified periodic financial obligation, predicting a future value of revenue for the second financial institution associated with making payments to a specific biller to meet the periodic financial obligation.   
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the one or more computers are further programmed to perform operations comprising:
 calculating an incentive associated with each identified specific biller, where the incentive is a benefit the user will receive for requesting that the second financial institution make payments to the specific biller to meet one or more periodic financial obligations, where the incentive is calculated based on the predicted future value of revenue for the second financial institution associated with making payments to the specific biller to meet the one or more periodic financial obligations; and   wherein the visual user interface further displays the incentive associated with each identified specific biller.   
     
     
         43 . The system of  claim 42 , wherein the one or more computers are further programmed to perform operations comprising:
 calculating a fee amount;   causing a payment request to be sent to the second financial institution, where the payment request specifies a payment equal to the fee amount; and   receiving a notification that a payment equal to the fee amount has been received from the second financial institution.   
     
     
         44 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein identifying one or more periodic financial obligations of a user from the data comprises:
 identifying a user transaction as a periodic financial obligation based on a description of the user transaction, the description describing the user transaction as a monthly service charge.   
     
     
         45 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein identifying one or more periodic financial obligations of a user from the data comprises:
 identifying, from the one or more user transactions, a plurality of user transactions that each identify a particular biller and a respective payment of a similar amount; and   identifying the plurality of user transactions as periodic financial obligations.   
     
     
         46 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein identifying one or more periodic financial obligations of a user from the data comprises:
 identifying, from the one or more user transactions, a plurality of user transactions that each identify a particular biller and a particular date of payment; and   identifying the plurality of user transactions as periodic financial obligations.   
     
     
         47 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein, identifying the one or more periodic financial obligations of the user further comprises:
 determining a specific biller for each of the one or more user transactions;   matching the specific biller to a category using a database; and   selecting the category associated with the specific biller in the database.   
     
     
         48 . A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions, that when executed by data processing apparatus, cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
 collecting, in a computer system, data corresponding to one or more user transactions, wherein each transaction is a payment made from an account of a user at a first financial institution;   extracting, from the data corresponding to the one or more user transactions, information that identifies one or more periodic financial obligations of the user;   categorizing each of the one or more user transactions into a respective transaction category;   identifying, from the extracted information, the one or more periodic financial obligations of the user using the respective transaction category of each of the one or more user transactions;   associating, in the computer system, a specific biller with each identified periodic financial obligation; and   providing a visual user interface to a client computer of the user, wherein the visual user interface identifies one or more specific billers, wherein each specific biller is associated with at least one of the periodic financial obligations of the user, and wherein the visual user interface provides a mechanism through which the user can submit a make payments notification identifying one of the one or more specific billers.