System and method for matching of database records based on similarities to search queries

A system for matching data in a search query to data in a database for determining a subject consumer's credit risk, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory device having a plurality of instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• arrange a search query search engine and a search query matching engine to be in communication with the processor and an Internet accessible database, the database comprising a plurality of unstructured, incomplete and/or inconsistently formatted data about a plurality of consumers from a free form data source, the data being stored in respective database fields in a plurality of database records;
• in response to receiving, via the processor, a search query communicated over the Internet to the search engine by a remote application to search for and retrieve credit-related data corresponding to the subject consumer, retrieve an initial set of search results from the database corresponding to the subject consumer, the step of retrieving being accomplished by
• convert and standard the search query and the plurality of database records via exact and pattern substitutions using regular expressions into a normalized search query and a plurality of normalized database records, based on a normalization rule, wherein the normalized search query comprises a normalized search field and each of the plurality of normalized database records comprises a normalized database field;
• refine the initial set of search results to obtain a final plurality of normalized database records corresponding to the subject consumer by determining by the processor a degree to which fields in the search query match the fields in the plurality of database records, the step of refining comprising the steps of
• compare, by the matching engine via the processor, the normalized search field and the normalized database field of each of the plurality of normalized database records, wherein comparing comprises calculating a difference between a data of the normalized search field and a corresponding data of the normalized database field of each of the plurality of normalized database records, and
• assign a matching strength metric associated with each of the plurality of normalized database records, based on the calculated difference between the data of the normalized search field and the corresponding data of the normalized database field of each of the plurality of normalized database records, using the processor;
• and
• transmit, by the matching engine via the processor to the application over the Internet, a subset of the normalized plurality of database records, wherein the subset meets qualifying criteria that are based on the matching strength metric.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon to match data in a search query to data in a database for determining a subject consumer's credit risk, execution of which, by one or more processing devices, causes one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• arranging a search query search engine and a search query matching engine to be in communication with a processor and an Internet accessible database, the database comprising a plurality of unstructured, incomplete and/or inconsistently formatted data about a plurality of consumers from a free form data source, the data being stored in respective database fields in a plurality of database records;
• in response to receiving, via the processor, a search query communicated over the Internet to the search engine by a remote application to search for and retrieve credit-related data corresponding to the subject consumer, retrieving via the processor an initial set of search results from the database corresponding to the subject consumer, the step of retrieving being accomplished by
• converting and standardizing the search query and the plurality of database records via exact and pattern substitutions using regular expressions into a normalized search query and a plurality of normalized database records, based on a normalization rule, wherein the normalized search query comprises a normalized search field and each of the plurality of normalized database records comprises a normalized database field;
• refining the initial set of search results to obtain a final plurality of normalized database records corresponding to the subject consumer by determining by the processor a degree to which fields in the search query match the fields in the plurality of database records, the step of refining comprising the steps of
• comparing, by the matching engine via the processor, the normalized search field and the normalized database field of each of the plurality of normalized database records, wherein comparing comprises calculating a difference between a data of the normalized search field and a corresponding data of the normalized database field of each of the plurality of normalized database records, and
• assigning a matching strength metric associated with each of the plurality of normalized database records, based on the calculated difference between the data of the normalized search field and the corresponding data of the normalized database field of each of the plurality of normalized database records, using the processor;
• and
• transmitting, by the matching engine via the processor to the application over the Internet, a subset of the normalized plurality of database records, wherein the subset meets qualifying criteria that are based on the matching strength metric.