US 6,385,594 B1Granted

Method and computer network for co-ordinating a loan over the internet

AssigneeLendingTree, Inc.

InventorsDouglas Lebda, Richard Stiegler

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a computer for coordinating an electronic credit qualification form between an Internet user and a plurality of lending institutions via the Internet. This method involves displaying documents in a web site, and receiving credit data forming placed on the web site. After receiving this data a special loan processing computer applies a filter to the data. The filter comprises loan selection criteria provided by lending institutions which allows these institutions to filter out loan applications that they do not want. Next, after the data is filtered, it is transmitted to a plurality of lending institutions. Finally, the computer and the method then controls and coordinates communication between these lending institutions and the Internet user to match borrowers and lenders via the Internet.

Claims36

Dependent claims

A method for coordinating an electronic credit qualification form between an Internet user and a plurality of lending institutions via the Internet, comprising the steps of:

a) receiving selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions;
b) storing the selection criteria in a database;
c) displaying a plurality of documents in a web site;
d) receiving a plurality of credit data sent from the Internet user;
e) applying said credit data to a filter comprising the plurality of selection criteria of the database to select without manual intervention each one of said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data to said selection criteria;
f) determining an appropriate transfer method to transmit said electronic credit qualification form to the lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;
g) transmitting said electronic qualification form comprising said credit data to said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data via said appropriate transfer method, the transmission of said electronic qualification form comprising said credit data occurring without a delay for reception of any credit decisions from said lending institutions;
h) receiving a plurality of positive credit decisions from said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the Internet user;
i) simultaneously displaying the plurality of positive credit decisions to the Internet user on the web site;
j) receiving via the web site at least one decision from the Internet user regarding at least one of the positive credit decisions, the Internet user's decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;
and
k) transmitting the at least one Internet user's decision to at least one lending institution corresponding with a positive credit decision so that said Internet user can obtain credit or a loan from one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data,
whereby said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data compete with each other for business with the Internet user.

10 more elements

A network system for coordinating the submission of a loan qualification form by a borrower to a plurality of lenders, comprising:

a database for storing and receiving lender criteria data from the plurality of lenders;
means for inputting loan qualification form data from a prospective borrower into the network system;
means for inputting lender criteria data into the network system, the lender criteria data associated with each of the lenders and useful for selecting a successful loan qualification form;
computing means for comparing said borrower qualification form data to said lender criteria data of said database, the computing means operative to identify a plurality of lenders associated with a match of the qualification form data to the lender criteria data as a possible candidate for offering credit or a loan to the borrower;
and
communicating means, connecting said means for inputting borrower qualification form data and said means for inputting lender criteria data to said computing means, for allowing said connected components to communicate with each other;
said computing means further operative to transmit said borrower qualification form data to a selected number that is less than said identified lenders or a random number of said identified lenders via said communicating means, said selected number comprising two or more identified lenders when a plurality of lenders exists, said computing means also operative to transmit said borrower qualification form data to said selected number of said identified lenders without a delay for reception of any credit decisions received from said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;
said computing means also operative to receiving and simultaneously displaying a plurality of credit decisions on a web site from said identified lenders that received the credit data regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the borrower, said computing means further operative to determine an appropriate transfer method to transmit said electronic credit qualification form data to lenders associated with a match of said credit data;
said computing means further operative receive from the web site at least one borrower's decision and to transmit the at least one borrower's decision to at least one lender corresponding with a positive credit decision, the borrower's decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive credit decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data,
whereby said selected number of said identified lenders competes with each other for business with said borrower.

7 more elements

A computer-implemented method for coordinating submission of an electronic credit qualification form between a consumer and a plurality of lending institutions via a distributed computer network, comprising the steps of:

receiving selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions;
storing the selection criteria in a database;
receiving credit data for the electronic credit qualification form from the consumer via the distributed computer network;
comparing the credit data to the selection criteria of the database, the selection criteria being useful for selecting a successful credit qualification form and corresponding to each of the plurality of lending institutions;
in response to the credit data satisfying the selection criteria, identifying each lending institution associated with a match of the credit data to the selection criteria as a possible candidate for offering credit or a loan to the consumer;
determining an appropriate transfer method to forward the credit data to the lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;
forwarding the credit data to a selected number of matching lending institutions associated with a match of the credit data to the selection criteria via the determined appropriate transfer method, the forwarding of the credit data occurring without a delay for reception of any credit decisions from said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data, said selected number of matching lending institutions being less than a total number of the identified matching lending institutions and being greater than one when a plurality of identified lending institutions exists;
receiving positive credit decisions from the identified lending institutions that received the credit data regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the consumer;
creating a dynamic personal web site accessible by the consumer via the distributed computer network;
publishing a decision of each identified lending institution that received the credit data on the dynamic personal web site;
receiving at least one decision via the dynamic personal web site from the consumer regarding at least one of the positive credit decisions, the consumer's decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive credit decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;
and
transmitting at least one consumer decision to at least one lending institution corresponding with a positive credit decision via the distributed computer network,
whereby the selected number of lending institutions compete with each other for business with the consumer.

11 more elements

A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for coordinating submission of an electronic credit qualification form between a consumer and a plurality of lending institutions, comprising:

receiving selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions;
storing the selection criteria in a database;
receiving credit data for the electronic credit qualification form from the consumer;
comparing the credit data to the selection criteria of the database, the selection criteria useful for selecting a successful credit qualification form and defined by each of the lending institutions based on their particular lending criteria;
in response to the credit data satisfying the selection criteria, identifying each lending institution associated with a match of the credit data to the selection criteria as a possible candidate for offering credit or a loan to the consumer;
selecting a predetermined number of the matching lending institutions and forwarding the credit data to the selected set of the matching lending institutions, the forwarding of the credit data occurring without a delay for reception of any credit decisions from said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data, said predetermined number being less than a total number of the matching lending institutions previously identified and being greater than one when a plurality of identified lending institutions exists;
receiving a plurality of positive credit decisions from the matching lending institutions of the selected set regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the consumer;
displaying information including each credit decision to the consumer advising that the selected set of the matching lending institutions represents possible candidates for offering credit or a loan to the consumer, thereby providing the consumer with the opportunity to accept the credit or loan offer from one of the selected set of identified lending institutions, such that the selected set of identified lending institutions competes for business with the consumer;
determining an appropriate transfer method to transmit the electronic credit qualification form to each selected one of the matching lending institutions;
sending the electronic credit qualification form to each selected one of the matching lending institutions via the appropriate transfer method;
accepting a consumer's decision via a web site regarding the offer of credit or a loan from the selected ones of the matching lending institutions, the consumer's decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive credit decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;
and
forwarding the consumer's decision to the selected ones of the matching lending institutions.

10 more elements

A method for coordinating an electronic credit qualification form between an Internet user and a plurality of lending institutions via the Internet, comprising the steps of:

generating a first web site for receiving selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions, the first website comprising a secured dynamic website;
obtaining selection criteria from the plurality of lending institutions with said first website;
storing the selection criteria in a database;
displaying an electronic qualification form in a second website;
obtaining credit data from the Internet user with the electronic qualification form;
applying said credit data to a filter comprising the plurality of selection criteria of the database to select without manual intervention each one of said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data to said selection criteria;
determining an appropriate transfer method to forward said credit data to said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;
forwarding said credit data to a selected number of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data, the selected number of lending institutions being less than a total number of identified matching lending institutions, and being greater than one when a plurality of identified lending institutions exists, the forwarding of said credit data occurring without a delay for reception of any credit decisions from said lending institutions and via the appropriate transfer method;
receiving a plurality of positive credit decisions from said plurality of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data regarding an offer of credit or a loan to the Internet user;
displaying the plurality of positive credit decisions to the Internet user;
establishing communication between one or more of the selected number of lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data and the Internet user so that said Internet user can obtain credit or a loan from one of the selected lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data, whereby said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data compete with each other for business with the Internet user;
receiving at least one decision via the second web site from the Internet user regarding at least one of the positive credit decisions, the Internet user's decision comprising an acceptance, denial or request for more information regarding a positive credit decision for one of said lending institutions associated with a match of said credit data;
and
transmitting the at least one Internet user's decision to at least one lending institution corresponding with a positive credit decision.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.