Financial data processing system with distributed data input devices and method of use

Claim 1

A financial data processing system comprising: central processing means, including a data bank into which data is written and from which data is read, said data including financial credit transaction information representing the balance outstanding for each credit transaction, the finance charge payable for each credit transaction, the amount due and payable for each periodic payment on said credit transaction, the identity of each obligor of said credit transaction, and the delinquency of payment, if any, on each credit transaction; a first level of distributed processing means including plural first terminal means coupled to said central processing means selectively operable to write into said data bank updated financial credit transaction information; a second level of distributed processing means including plural second terminal means coupled to the first level of distributed processing means, each second terminal means being operable by an operator to write to said first level of distributed processing means and thence into the data bank updated financial credit transaction information; each second terminal means having means for writing during a single operation to said first level of distributed processing means a batch of credit transaction payment data representing payment amounts and the identities of respective obligors for a batch of credit transaction payments; storage means associated with the first and second levels of distributed processing means, respectively, each of the first and second levels of distributed storage means being operable to store therein the updated financial credit transaction information written from the first or second plural terminal means; and plural display means coupled to the second level of distributed processing means to display data stored in the central data bank and in the storage means associated with the first and second levels of distributed processing means, including credit transaction payment data and credit transaction application data written into the data bank or the respective level of storage means by the operator.

Claim 20

A method of processing financial data comprising the steps of: storing in a central data bank, into which data is written and from which data is read, financial credit transaction data representing the balance for each credit transaction outstanding, the finance charge payable for each credit transaction, the amount due and payable for each periodic payment on said credit transaction, the identity of each obligor of said credit transaction, and the delinquency of payment, if any, on each credit transaction; operating individual ones of plural first terminal means, associated with a first level of distributed processing means which are coupled to the central data bank and to a second level of distributed processing means, to write into and read from the central data bank and to receive batches of input data from the second level of distributed processing means for further processing and entry into the central data bank, updated financial credit transaction data; writing from said second level of distributed processing means to said first level, during a single operation a batch of credit payment data representing payment amounts and the identities of respective obligors for a batch of credit transaction payments; writing from said second level of distributed processing means to said first level credit transaction application data representing the identity of each applicant, the amount, type and duration of the requested credit transaction, the finance charge payable on the requested credit transaction and data representing the applicant's ability to repay the requested credit transaction; subsequently transmitting the credit payment data and application data from the first level of distributed processing means to the central data bank for updating of the central data bank; and displaying data written to and read from the central data bank and read from the second level of distributed processing means on first display means associated with the first level of distributed processing means and displaying data written to and read from the data bank through the first level of distributed processing means. and written to storage means associated with the second level of distributed processing means on second display means associated with the second level of distributed processing means, said data including payment data and credit transaction application data, summary data representing summaries of plural credit transactions outstanding, payment delinquencies of said plural credit transactions outstanding, collection histories, loss of amounts resulting from credit transactions which are not repaid, and summaries of batches of input data entered from the second level of distributed processing means.

Claim 21

A method of processing financial data comprising the steps of: storing in a central data bank, into which data is written and from which data is read, financial credit transaction data representing the balance for each credit transaction outstanding, the finance charge payable for each credit transaction, the amount due and payable for each periodic payment on said credit transaction, the identity of each obligor of said credit transaction, and the delinquency of payment, if any, on each credit transaction; operating individual ones of plural first terminal means, associated with a first level of distributed processing means which are coupled to the central data bank and to a second level of distributed processing means, to write into and read from the central data bank and to receive batches of input data from the second level of distributed processing means for further processing and entry into the central data bank, updated financial credit transaction data; writing from said second level of distributed processing means to said first level, during a single operation a batch of credit payment data representing payment amounts and the identities of respective obligors for a batch of credit transaction payments; writing from said second level of distributed processing means to said first level credit transaction application data representing the identity of each applicant, the amount, type and duration of the requested credit transaction, the finance charge payable on the requested credit transaction and data representing the applicant's ability to repay the requested credit transaction; subsequently transmitting the credit payment data and application data from the first level of distributed processing means to the central data bank for updating of the central data bank; and displaying data written to and read from the central data bank and read from the second level of distributed processing means on first display means associated with the first level of distributed processing means and displaying data written to and read from the data bank through the first level of distributed processing means. and written to storage means associated with the second level of distributed processing means on second display means associated with the second level of distributed processing means, said data including payment data and credit transaction application data, summary data representing summaries of plural credit transactions outstanding, payment delinquencies of said plural credit transactions outstanding, collection histories, loss of amounts resulting from credit transactions which are not repaid, and summaries of batches of input data entered from the second level of distributed processing means.