Method and system for negotiating, generating, documenting, and fulfilling vendor financing opportunities

Abstract

A method for managing a financing or lease of a product and/or service, the method executing on a computing device, the method including: receiving a price of the product to be financed or leased; receiving an amount of the price of the product to be financed; selecting a rate card; determining a current finance rate based upon the rate card that is selected; selecting a purchase option for the product and/or service; selecting a contract term of the financing or lease related to the purchase or lease the product and/or service; determining a payment amount for the product based on the inputted price of the product to be financed or leased, the amount of the price of the product to be financed, the current finance rate, the purchase option selected, and the term of the financing or lease selected; and displaying the payment amount that is determined.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for managing a financing or lease of a product, the method comprising:
 displaying, on a display screen of a computing device, a plurality of interactive input fields, wherein (i) a first input field of the plurality of input fields receives input of a total price of a product via a drop down menu, and (ii) a second input field of the plurality of input fields receives input of an amount of the total price to be financed;   determining, by a processor of the computing device, a plurality of payment amounts for the product based on at least the inputted total price of the product and the amount of the total price of the product to be financed, wherein (1) a first determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts is further determined on a basis of at least a first contract term and a first rate factor, (2) a second determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts is further determined on a basis of at least, a second contract term that is different from the first contract term, and a second rate factor, and (3) a third determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts is further determined on a basis of at least a third contract term, different from the first contract term and the second contract term, and a third rate factor;   simultaneously displaying, on the display screen of the computing device, a plurality of payment fields, wherein (1) a first payment field displays the first determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts, the first contract term, and the first rate factor, (2) a second payment field displays the second determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts, the second contract term, and the second rate factor, and (3) a third payment field displays the third determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts, the third contract term, and the third rate factor;   receiving, by the interactive display screen, a user instruction to drag a particular payment field across the interactive display screen in a direction from a first side thereof to a second side thereof; and   in response to receiving the instruction, by the interactive display screen, dragging the particular payment field in the direction associated with the received instruction across the interactive display screen from the first side thereof to the second side thereof, wherein said dragging of said particular payment field exposes and displays a plurality of selectable icons on the interactive display screen in an area previously occupied by the particular payment field.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the interactive display screen, a user selection of a purchase option, from a plurality of purchase options, for the product wherein the plurality of purchase options include at least a fair market value purchase option and a one dollar purchase option.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the interactive display screen, an input of a customer from a contacts list, and auto-populating contact information of the customer into customer contact fields;   saving the populated customer contact fields; and   associating the contact information of the customer with the product and the payment amount.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the interactive display screen, an input of a product selection, for the product to be leased or financed, from a drop-down list;   auto-populating make and model information about the product into product make and product model information fields;   saving the populated product make and product model information fields; and   associating the product make and product model information fields with the contact information of the customer.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 displaying, by the interactive display screen, the make and model information of the product, and the contact information of the customer.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 sending, by a transmitting unit of the computing device, the plurality of payment amounts via email to the customer.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 accepting a payment amount by receiving an electronic signature of the customer and a social security number of the customer by the interactive display screen.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of icons includes at least a copy button, a delete button, and a star button, wherein (i) the copy button allows a payment amount at a payment field to be copied, (ii) the delete button allows the payment amount at the payment field to be deleted, (iii) the star button allows the payment field to be saved as a favorite. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the star button further causes the payment amount at the payment field to be selected and subsequently used for further operations, functions, and/or calculations. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 selecting, by the interactive display device, a rate card from a plurality of rate cards; and   determining a current finance rate based upon the selected rate card.   
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing thereon computer program instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computing device, causes the computing device to implement a method for managing a financing or lease of a product, the method comprising:
 displaying, on a display screen, a plurality of interactive input fields, wherein (i) a first input field of the plurality of input fields receives input of a total price of a product via a drop down menu, and (ii) a second input field of the plurality of input fields receives input of an amount of the total price to be financed;   determining a plurality of payment amounts for the product based on at least the inputted total price of the product and the amount of the total price of the product financed, wherein (1) a first determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts is further determined on a basis of at least a first contract term and a first rate factor, (2) a second determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts is further determined on a basis of at least, a second contract term that is different from the first contract term, and a second rate factor, and (3) a third determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts is further determined on a basis of at least a third contract term, different from the first contract term and the second contract term, and a third rate factor;   simultaneously displaying, on the display screen, a plurality of payment fields, wherein (1) a first payment field displays the first determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts, the first contract term, and the first rate factor, (2) a second payment field displays the second determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts, the second contract term, and the second rate factor, and (3) a third payment field displays the third determined payment amount from the plurality of payment amounts, the third contract term, and the third rate factor;   receiving, by the interactive display screen, a user instruction to drag a particular payment field across the interactive display screen in a direction from a first side thereof to a second side thereof; and   in response to receiving the instruction, by the interactive display screen, dragging the particular payment field in the direction associated with the received instruction across the interactive display screen from the first side thereof to the second side thereof, wherein said dragging of said particular payment field exposes and displays a plurality of selectable icons on the interactive display screen in an area previously occupied by the particular payment field.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the interactive display screen, a user selection of a purchase option, from a plurality of purchase options, for the product, wherein the plurality of purchase options include at least a fair market value purchase option and a one dollar purchase option.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the interactive display screen, an input of a selection of a customer from a contacts list, and auto-populating contact information of the customer into customer contact fields;   saving the populated customer contact fields; and   associating the contact information of the customer with the product and the payment amount.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 receiving an input of a product selection for the product to be leased or financed from a drop-down list;   auto-populating make and model information about the product into product make and product model information fields;   saving the populated product make and product model information fields; and   associating the product make and product model information fields with the contact information of the customer.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 displaying, by the interactive display screen, the make and model information of the product, and the contact information of the customer.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 sending the plurality of payment amounts via email to the customer.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 accepting a payment amount by receiving an electronic signature of the customer and a social security number of the customer.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of icons includes at least a copy button, a delete button, and a star button, wherein (i) the copy button allows a payment amount at a payment field to be copied, (ii) the delete button allows the payment amount at the payment field to be deleted, (iii) the star button allows the payment field to be saved as a favorite. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the star button further causes the payment amount at the payment field to be selected and subsequently used for further operations, functions, and/or calculations. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 selecting a rate card from a plurality of rate cards; and   determining a current finance rate based upon the selected rate card.