Inventors:
Stuart Crawford - Piedmont CA, US
Andrew Flint - Berkeley CA, US
Sharon Hatcher - Larkspur CA, US
Keith Hillestad - White Bear Lake MN, US
Thomas Quinn - San Francisco CA, US
Michael Rapaport - Houston TX, US
Sue Simon - Sonoma CA, US
Michael Steele - Berkeley CA, US
Cheryl St. John - Petaluma CA, US
International Classification:
G06F017/60
Abstract:
The invention comprises a method and apparatus for explaining credit scores, for example in connection with a credit score explanation service, in which consumers can identify the sources of information used to establish their credit score, supply their credit report and credit score information in connection with their application for credit-related products and services, such as loans, and determine the effect on their credit score and cost for credit-related products and services based upon various hypothetical changes in their credit behavior. The invention also provides enhancements to an on-line consumer credit score explanation service, such as the linking of consumer credit reports and scoring information to the vendors of consumer credit products and services and/or information sources via the consumer credit score explanation service; linking the vendors of consumer credit products and services and/or information services to the consumer credit score explanation service; the provision of various offers and/or information in connection with credit-related goods and services and a mechanism by which consumers may opt-in to receive such offers when they are using the consumer credit score explanation service; the processing of consumer scores inside a decision engine; the provision of various offers from vendors of credit-related products and services, conditioned upon thresholds established by such vendors, in which interested consumers are linked back, e.g. in a new browser window, to the vendor's site where their request for credit-related products or services (or whatever the offer) is processed by that vendor.
