Vehicle leasing and customer credit rehabilitation system and method

A method for leasing a vehicle owned by a seller to a lessee by establishing a lease agreement between the lessee and a lessor, comprising the steps of:

• (a) obtaining lessee information including place of employment and place of residence;
• (b) requiring the seller to certify to the lessor that the seller has verified the place of employment information and place of residence information obtained in step (a);
• (c) selecting at least one vehicle lease product for the lessee, the vehicle lease product identifying the vehicle to be leased and a plurality of lease terms including vehicle selling price and down payment amount;
• (d) submitting information for the selected vehicle lease product as an application for lease to the lessor, the submitted information including vehicle identification information and lease term information;
• (e) rating the lessee into one of a plurality of risk categories;
• (f) determining a lessee security deposit required to establish the lease agreement based at least in part upon the rating made in step (e);
• (g) entering into the lease agreement between the lessee and the lessor, including transferring the lessee security deposit of step (h) from the lessee to the lessor;
• and
• (h) transferring a monetary amount from the lessor to the seller, the transferred monetary amount being the lower of at least two possible amounts.

A computer-implemented method for leasing a vehicle owned by a seller to a lessee, where the lessee has a poor credit history, comprising the steps of:

• (a) utilizing a software module which calculates a monetary amount payable from a lessor to the seller upon entry into the lease agreement between the lessee and the lessor and limits such calculated monetary amount to the lesser of:
• (i) a maximum wholesale value of the vehicle established by the lessor;
• or
• (ii) the vehicle selling price less both (1) a predetermined monetary amount and (2) a down payment amount to be paid by the lessee to the seller.

A computer based leasing system for establishing vehicle lease terms between a lessor and a lessee, a vehicle to be leased being owned by a seller, comprising:

• a seller computer system including a lease development software engine operable therewith, a vehicle inventory database stored in memory, a display device, and a user interface device;
• wherein the lease development software engine includes at least one input module operable to generate at least one lessee information input display screen enabling a user to input lessee identifying information, lessee financial information, lessee desired vehicle information, and lessee desired lease term information;
• wherein the lease development software engine includes a lease identification module operable to identify a plurality of vehicle lease products for the lessee by comparing entered lessee desired vehicle information with records within the vehicle inventory database;
• wherein the lease identification module is further operable to categorize each of the identified vehicle lease products into one of at least two likelihood of lease success classes based at least in part upon entered lessee financial information, and to generate a display of the identified vehicle lease products where each displayed vehicle lease product includes an associated visible display feature which identifies its associated likelihood of success class;
• a lessor computer system including a lease evaluation software engine operable therewith and a risk assessment database stored in memory;
• a communications link between the seller computer system and the lessor computer system;
• wherein the lease development software engine includes a lease application submission module for electronically transmitting vehicle lease product information and lessee information to the lessor computer system, the transmitted lease product information including at least vehicle identification information, vehicle selling price information, and down payment information, and the transmitted lessee information including at least lessee financial information and lessee identifying information;
• wherein the lease evaluation software engine includes at least one lessee rating module operable to classify the lessee into one of a plurality of risk categories based at least in part upon comparing lessee financial information to information contained within the risk assessment database;
• and
• wherein the lease evaluation software engine is further operable to establish a required lessee security deposit according to the risk category classification made by the lessee rating module, each risk category including an associated, predetermined lessee security deposit amount.

A computer based leasing system for establishing vehicle lease terms between a lessor and a lessee, the vehicle to be leased being owned by a seller, comprising:

• a lessor computer system including a lease evaluation software engine operable therewith and a risk assessment database stored in memory;
• wherein the lease evaluation software engine includes at least one lessee rating module operable to classify the lessee into one of a plurality of risk categories based at least in part upon comparing lessee financial information to information contained within the risk assessment database;
• and
• wherein the lease evaluation software engine is further operable to establish a required lessee security deposit according to the risk category classification made by the lessee rating module, each risk category including an associated, predetermined lessee security deposit amount.

A computer-based leasing system for establishing vehicle lease terms between a lessor and a lessee, the vehicle to be leased being owned by a seller, comprising:

• means for storing a seller vehicle inventory database;
• means for inputting lessee identifying information, lessee financial information, lessee desired vehicle information, and lessee desired lease term information;
• means for identifying a plurality of vehicle lease products for the lessee by comparing entered lessee desired vehicle information with records within the seller vehicle inventory database;
• means for categorizing each of the identified vehicle lease products into one of at least two likelihood of lease success classes based at least in part upon entered lessee financial information;
• means for generating a display of the identified vehicle lease products where each displayed vehicle lease product includes an associated visible display feature which identifies its associated likelihood of success class;
• means for storing a lessor a risk assessment database;
• means for retrieving a lessee credit history report from an accessible credit history database;
• means for classifying the lessee into one of a plurality of risk categories based at least in part upon a comparison of both lessee financial information and lessee credit history information to information contained within the lessor risk assessment database;
• and
• means for establishing a required lessee security deposit according to the classified risk category, each risk category including an associated, predetermined lessee security deposit amount.