Patent Issued for Methods and systems for managing delegates for secure account fund transfers (USPTO 11968216): United Services Automobile Association

2024 MAY 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Russell, Ryan Thomas (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on August 29, 2022, was published online on April 23, 2024.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11968216 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Financial account management tools have become an increasingly important resource for the average consumer. Financial services, particularly those now available for use via computing devices, can provide consumers the versatility and freedom to control their assets and credit. However, consumers with many different financial accounts, such as credit card accounts, utility accounts, mortgage accounts, etc., may have trouble keeping current with account balances, payments and other transactions. The consequences of mis-management may result in penalties being assessed against the consumer by the providing the accounts. For example, penalties may be associated with late payments or balance thresholds that are exceeded by a consumer. This type of issue is exacerbated when the account is co-held (e.g., a joint banking account) and one account holder incurs expenses that the other account holder is unaware of, at least until some time has passed following the transaction. For example, couples or parent-child account members may use a joint bank account and have joint credit or debit card accounts, whereby each person in the group individually draws on the same account and independently charges purchases to the joint account. If prompt communication regarding each purchase is not provided to the other members of the group, the charges may reach the credit card limit and/or the account may become overdrawn.

“Thus, the costs associated with failures to communicate these payments to all account holders can be significant. Furthermore, in cases of a joint account in which one person is a guardian or the “primary owner” (such as a parent) and the other is a dependent or a “secondary owner” (such as a child), the primary owner can have a strong interest in reviewing some or all financial transactions related to the joint financial transactions in order to monitor expenditures and ensure that money is spent according to a proposed budget or other their personal expectations. Conventional methods of managing financial activities of other account holders (e.g., a joint bank account) do not provide a fine level of control or granularity for the primary owner to customize and personalize their expectations and limits of account-related financial activities. Additionally, conventional methods do not provide a secure method to manage third parties that may be able to control access to funds on behalf of the primary account holder. Additionally, conventional methods do not provide ways to authorize transactions when the primary account owner is unavailable to approve the transaction.

“There is a need in the art for a system and method that addresses the shortcomings discussed above.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, a method for securely enrolling a delegate in a service that allows the delegate to manage access to funds held in a bank account includes steps of establishing communication with a banking application running on a user device through an account management service, receiving information indicating that a user of the banking application wants to enroll a new delegate for approving access to funds held in the bank account by a secondary user, receiving information about the new delegate, where the information includes a phone number, and automatically generating a message for the new delegate on the user device. The message includes a name of the user, an authentication token, and an authenticating web address. The method also includes steps of automatically sending the generated message using a messaging service, and enrolling the new delegate so that the new delegate can manage access to funds held in the bank account by the secondary user.

“In another aspect, a method for securely enrolling a delegate in a service that allows the delegate to manage access to funds held in a bank account includes the steps of establishing communication with a banking application running on a user device through an account management service, receiving information indicating that a user of the banking application wants to enroll a new delegate for approving access to funds held in the bank account by a secondary user, receiving information about the new delegate, receiving a delegate approval policy for the new delegate, determining an authorization level based on the delegate approval policy, and automatically generating a message for the new delegate on the user device and sending the message to the new delegate using a messaging service. The message includes a request to provide identification information. The method also includes steps of receiving identification information from the new delegate, and enrolling the new delegate so that the new delegate can manage access to funds held in the bank account by the secondary user.

“In another aspect, a system for securely enrolling a delegate in a service that allows the delegate to manage access to funds held in a bank account includes a primary approver interface for communicating with a user device, where the user device is associated with a primary account holder of the bank account. The system also includes a delegate enrollment module for enrolling delegates that can manage access to funds held in the bank account on behalf of the primary account holder and a delegate communication module for communicating with delegates.

“Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the disclosure will be, or will become, apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description and this summary, be within the scope of the disclosure, and be protected by the following claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A mobile computing device configured to: receive a delegate enrollment initiation input from a primary user associated with the mobile computing device, the delegate enrollment initiation input including data descriptive of a intention by the primary user to enroll a new delegate for approving transactions that access funds held in a bank account that is associated with a secondary user; display on a screen associated with the mobile computing device one or more delegate information prompts; receive a new delegate information input, the new delegate information input including a phone number associated with the new delegate; generate a message for the new delegate and display the message on the screen associated with the mobile computing device, wherein the message includes: a name of the user; an authentication token; and an authenticating web address; send the generated message to the new delegate using a messaging service; enroll the new delegate so that the new delegate can manage access to funds held in the bank account associated with the secondary user; determine a relational depth for the new delegate, the relational depth being a measure of interpersonal relationship distance between either the primary account holder or the secondary user and the new delegate; and suggesting that the primary user add at least one additional delegate based on the relational depth of the new delegate; thereby improving a probability that the transaction will be approved if the new delegate is unavailable and the transaction must be approved by one or more of the additional delegates.

“2. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein mobile computing device is further configured to: receive an input from the primary user setting one or more delegate approval policies, the delegate approval policies including rules regarding what transactions the delegate is allowed to approve.

“3. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to: receive an input from the primary user setting one or more spending policies, the spending policies including rules regarding what may or may not be purchased by the secondary user in the transaction that accesses funds held in the bank account associated with the secondary user.

“4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the messaging service is a short messaging service and the message is a text message.

“5. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to: prompt the primary user to add a financial institution associated with the bank account as a delegate.

“6. A mobile computing device configured to: receive a delegate enrollment initiation input via a touchscreen associated with the mobile computing device from a primary user associated with the mobile computing device, the delegate enrollment initiation input including data descriptive of a intention by the primary user to enroll a new delegate for approving transactions that access funds held in a bank account that is associated with a secondary user; display on the touchscreen associated with the mobile computing device one or more delegate information prompts; receive a new delegate information input via the touchscreen, the new delegate information input including contact information for the new delegate; automatically generate a message for the new delegate and send the message to the new delegate using the contact information, wherein the message includes a request to provide identification information; receive identification information from the new delegate; determine a relational depth for the new delegate, the relational depth being a measure of interpersonal relationship distance between the primary account holder and the new delegate; suggest that the primary user add at least one additional delegate having a different relational depth as the new delegate, thereby improving a probability that the transaction will be approved if the new delegate is unavailable and the transaction must be approved by one or more of the additional delegates; and enroll the new delegate so that the new delegate can manage access to funds held in the bank account associated with the secondary user.

“7. The mobile computing device of claim 6, wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to: determine an authorization level based on a delegate approval policy inputted by the primary user, the authorization level being associated with a maximum transaction dollar amount that can be approved by the new delegate; and a type of identification information requested in the message depends on the authorization level.

“8. The mobile computing device of claim 6, wherein the message includes a request to provide identification information in the form of a photo ID, and the identification information received from the new delegate includes a copy of a photo ID.

“9. The mobile computing device of claim 6, wherein the message includes a request to provide identification information in the form of a photo of the new delegate, and the identification information received from the new delegate includes a photo of the new delegate.

“10. The mobile computing device of claim 6, where the message includes a request to provide identification information in the form of a three-way call with the user and a representative of an institution holding the bank account.

“11. The mobile computing device of claim 6, wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to: prompt the primary user to add a financial institution associated with the bank account as an additional delegate.

“12. A mobile computing device configured to: receive a delegate enrollment initiation input via a touchscreen associated with the mobile computing device from a primary user associated with the mobile computing device, the delegate enrollment initiation input including data descriptive of a intention by the primary user to enroll a new delegate for approving transactions that access funds held in a bank account that is associated with a secondary user; display on the touchscreen associated with the mobile computing device one or more delegate information prompts; receive a new delegate information input via the touchscreen, the new delegate information input including contact information associated with the new delegate; generate a message for the new delegate, wherein the message includes an enrollment link that can be used by the new delegate to sign up: send the generated message to the new delegate using a messaging service; receive a delegate relation input from the primary user, the delegate relation input including information descriptive of an interpersonal relationship between the primary user and the new delegate; determine a relational depth for the new delegate based on the delegate relation input, the relational depth being a measure of interpersonal relationship distance between the primary account holder and the new delegate; suggest that the primary user add at least one additional delegate having a different relational depth as the new delegate, thereby improving a probability that the transaction will be approved if the new delegate is unavailable and the transaction must be approved by one or more of the additional delegates; and enroll the new delegate so that the new delegate can manage access to funds held in the bank account associated with the secondary user.

“13. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to: receive an input from the primary user setting one or more delegate approval policies, the delegate approval policies including rules regarding what transactions the delegate is allowed to approve.

“14. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to: automatically approve or deny fund requests when no delegates are available, by a transaction history for the bank account to determine if a fund request should be approved or denied.

“15. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the messaging service is a short messaging service and the message is a text message.

“16. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the message further includes a request to provide identification information.

“17. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to: receive an input from the primary user setting one or more delegate approval policies, the delegate approval policies including rules regarding what transactions the delegate is allowed to approve; and receive an input from the primary user setting one or more spending policies, the spending policies including rules regarding what may or may not be purchased by the secondary user in the transaction that accesses funds held in the bank account associated with the secondary user.

“18. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein: the messaging service is a short messaging service and the message is a text message; the message further includes a request to provide identification information; and the mobile computing device is further configured to receive the identification information from the new delegate in response to the text message.

“19. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to: prompt the primary user to add a financial institution associated with the bank account as a final delegate, the final delegate being in addition to the new delegate and the one or more additional delegates.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Russell, Ryan Thomas. Methods and systems for managing delegates for secure account fund transfers. U.S. Patent Number 11968216, filed August 29, 2022, and published online on April 23, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11968216)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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