# US 12,008,642 B1 · Electronic payroll funds transfer delay and failed transfer coverage

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- Number: US 12,008,642 B1
- Document ID: US12008642B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 17/845,130
- Filed: 2022-06-21
- Granted: 2024-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2018-05-31
- Assignees: Block, Inc.
- Applicants: Block, Inc.
- Inventors: Linnea Perelli-Minetti; Caroline Hollis; Theodore Kosev; Connor H. Dunn; Emily McLinden
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12008642B1

## CPC

- G06Q 40/03: Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
- G06Q 40/125: {Finance or payroll}
- G06Q 40/02: Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance (credit or loans G06Q40/03)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

One or more processors receive, from a payroll application, payroll data specifying employment and payroll information associated with an employer. The payroll application is associated with a payment service. Transaction data is received specifying payments between one or more customers and the employer. A trained model is used to generate a risk score based at least in part on the payroll data and the transaction data, the model having been trained using past payroll data and past transaction data associated with a plurality of merchants. Based at least in part on determining that the risk score satisfies a threshold, an instruction is sent to cause the payroll application to present an interface element in a user interface of the payroll application, Selection of the interface element triggers a delay of an electronic withdrawal of funds from the employer account from a first date to a later date.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A computer-implemented method for enabling an employer to provide payroll payments to employees of the employer via a payroll service, the computer-implemented method comprising:
generating, via a trained model associated with a capital loan service, a risk score indicating a likelihood that a payroll payment from the employer to the employees will settle, the risk score based at least in part on (i) payroll data received from an instance of a payroll application executing on a computing device associated with the employer, and (ii) transaction data received from an instance of a merchant application executing on the computing device, the merchant application transmitting transaction data to a transaction processing service associated with the payroll service and the capital loan service, wherein the trained model is trained to generate the risk score using, as training data, past payroll data for a plurality of other employers received at least in part via the payroll service, and past transaction data associated with a plurality of other merchants, wherein the past transaction data includes, at least in part, information related to a plurality of transactions processed by the plurality of other merchants through the transaction processing service;
based at least in part on the risk score generated via the trained model, providing instructions to populate, via a user interface of the payroll application, an interface element, selection of which triggers a delay of an electronic withdrawal of funds from the employer account from a first date to a second date after the first date;
based at least in part on receiving an indication that the interface element was activated at the payroll application, initiating an electronic transfer of the funds from an employer account of the employer to employee accounts of the employees on the second date to satisfy the payroll payment;
upon determining that the electronic transfer of the funds failed to settle, generating a capital loan for the employer, the capital loan being available via the capital loan service;
transferring an amount of funds corresponding with the capital loan to one or more employee accounts from a service account associated with the transaction processing service in order to settle the payroll payment;
receiving, after determining that the electronic transfer of the funds failed and via the merchant application, additional transaction data associated with transactions processed by the employer; and
withholding a portion of funds associated with the additional transaction data to repay at least a portion of the capital loan.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing the instructions to populate the interface element is at least partly responsive to determining that the risk score satisfies a threshold risk score, the threshold risk score being based at least in part on payroll data and transaction data associated with merchants in a same merchant category as the employer.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the risk score is based at least in part on an amount of overtime indicated by the payroll application.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the portion of funds withheld corresponds to a predetermined percentage of funds indicated by the additional transaction data.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the portion of funds withheld is based at least in part on at least one of
a number of past failed electronic funds transfers,
an amount of overtime due, or
a remaining amount due for a previous capital loan.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, further comprising providing instructions to populate, via the user interface of the payroll application, another interface element, selection of which alters a percentage of funds indicated by the additional transaction data that is withheld, the selection being bounded between a first percentage and a second percentage determined based at least in part on the risk score.

### Claim 7

A system comprising:
one or more processors;
one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions configure the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a computing device executing a payroll application, payroll data specifying employment and payroll information associated with an employer, the payroll application associated with a payment service;
receiving transaction data specifying payments between one or more customers and the employer;
generating, using a trained model, a risk score based at least in part on the payroll data and the transaction data, the risk score indicating a likelihood that a payroll payment from the employer to employees will settle, the trained model having been trained using, as training data, past payroll data for a plurality of other employers received at least in part via the payroll service, and past transaction data associated with a plurality of other merchants, wherein the past transaction data includes, at least in part, information related to a plurality of transactions processed by the plurality of other merchants through the payment service; and
based at least in part on determining that the risk score satisfies a threshold, sending an instruction to cause the payroll application to present, in a user interface of the payroll application, an interface element, selection of which triggers a delay of an electronic withdrawal of funds from the employer account from a first date to a second date after the first date.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the operation of sending the instruction to cause the payroll application to present the interface element in the user interface of the payroll application is further based at least in part on determining that the electronic withdrawal of funds failed.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The system as recited in claim 7, the operations further comprising:
initiating the electronic withdrawal of funds on the second date based at least in part on receiving a selection of the interface element from the payroll application on or before the second date; and
activating a capital loan based at least in part on receiving an indication that the electronic withdrawal of funds failed or based at least in part on receiving the selection of the interface element from the payroll application after the second date.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The system as recited in claim 9, wherein based at least in part on receiving the selection and activating the capital loan, the operations further comprise:
transferring funds from a service account to employee accounts, the transferred funds being in an amount based on the electronic withdrawal of funds;
receiving subsequent transaction data from the merchant application; and
withholding a portion of funds associated with the subsequent transaction data to repay at least a portion of the capital loan.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the withheld portion of funds is a percentage of a payment amount specified by the subsequent transaction data, the percentage being based at least in part on at least one of a number of previous electronic fund transfer failures, or an amount of overtime specified by the payroll data.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the withheld portion of funds is a percentage of a payment amount specified by the subsequent transaction data, the percentage being based at least in part on a position of a slider interface element presented via a user interface of the payroll application.

### Claim 13 (depends on 7)

The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the operation of sending the instruction to cause the payroll application to present the interface element in the user interface of the payroll application is further based at least in part on determining that a portion of a payroll payment failed and that the portion is less than a threshold percentage of the payroll payment or less than a threshold amount of funds.

### Claim 14

A method comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors and from a computing device executing a payroll application, payroll data specifying employment and payroll information associated with an employer, the payroll application associated with a payment service;
receiving transaction data specifying payments between one or more customers and the employer;
generating, using a trained model, a risk score based at least in part on the payroll data and the transaction data, the risk score indicating a likelihood that a payroll payment from the employer to employees will settle, the trained model having been trained using, as training data, past payroll data for a plurality of other employers received at least in part via the payroll service, and past transaction data associated with a plurality of other merchants, wherein the past transaction data includes, at least in part, information related to a plurality of transactions processed by the plurality of other merchants through the payment service; and
based at least in part on determining that the risk score satisfies a threshold, sending an instruction to cause the payroll application to present, in a user interface of the payroll application, an interface element, selection of which triggers a delay of an electronic withdrawal of funds from the employer account from a first date to a second date after the first date.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method as recited in claim 14, wherein sending the instruction to cause the payroll application to present the interface element in the user interface of the payroll application is further based at least in part on determining that the electronic withdrawal of funds failed.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising:
initiating the electronic withdrawal of funds on the second date based at least in part on receiving a selection of the interface element from the payroll application on or before the second date; and
activating a capital loan based at least in part on receiving an indication that the electronic withdrawal of funds failed or based at least in part on receiving the selection of the interface element from the payroll application after the second date.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method as recited in claim 16, wherein based at least in part on receiving the selection and activating the capital loan, the method further comprises:
transferring funds from a service account to employee accounts, the transferred funds being in an amount based on the electronic withdrawal of funds;
receiving subsequent transaction data from the merchant application; and
withholding a portion of funds associated with the subsequent transaction data to repay at least a portion of the capital loan.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the withheld portion of funds is a percentage of a payment amount specified by the subsequent transaction data, the percentage being based at least in part on at least one of a number of previous electronic fund transfer failures, or an amount of overtime specified by the payroll data.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the withheld portion of funds is a percentage of a payment amount specified by the subsequent transaction data, the percentage being based at least in part on a position of a slider interface element presented via a user interface of the payroll application.

### Claim 20 (depends on 14)

The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the operation of sending the instruction to cause the payroll application to present the interface element in the user interface of the payroll application is further based at least in part on determining that a portion of a payroll payment failed and that the portion is less than a threshold percentage of the payroll payment or less than a threshold amount of funds.