SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBTAINING PREQUALIFICATION INFORMATION

Abstract

The system described herein provides a secure unified system for users to get prequalified for a loan based on a link provided by a seller. The link may include seller identification information. A user can use a user device to launch a website by actuating a link. The user device may receive input corresponding to the user's personal information on the website. The user may transmit a prequalification request using the website, to a central system. The central system may generate prequalification results. The central system may ensure the pricing structures generated for a given product are consistent with the generated prequalification results within a specified time period.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Provisional Application No. 62/852,202, filed on May 23, 2019, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Users often use web-based applications to apply for applying for loans. The web-based applications may provide results of their loan application to the user. However, it may be difficult for users to share the results with a person who is using a different web-based application in real-time. In the event, a user needs to share such information with a different user who does not have access to the same web-based application, the user may have to provide sensitive information about themselves or may have to re-apply for the loan using the web-based application used by the different user. This can create an added burden on computer resources as well as a security risk of having to share sensitive information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure, and together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the embodiments and enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the embodiments, individually, or as a combination thereof.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example network environment according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example architecture according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an expanded view of example micro-services according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate screens displayed on a graphical user interface of a user device to obtain prequalification results according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a screen displayed on a graphical user interface of a seller device according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the process of obtaining prequalification results according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of example components of a computing system according to an embodiment.

In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical or similar elements. Additionally, generally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Provided herein are system, apparatus, device, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, obtaining prequalification information using a provided link.

The system described herein provides a secure unified system for users to get prequalified for a loan with one or more financial institutions based on a link provided by a seller at a seller location. The link may include seller identification information. A user can use a personal user device to launch a website or web application associated with the financial institution by actuating the link. The link may be actuated based on a scan of a computer-readable indicia, such as a barcode or QR code, for example. The user device may receive input corresponding to the user's personal information on the website. The user may transmit a prequalification request using the website, to a central system associated with a financial institution or a platform that may be configured to provide pre-qualification results for a plurality of financial institutions. The prequalification request may include the user information and seller identification information. The central system may identify the seller based on the seller identification information. The central system may process the prequalification request, generate prequalification results for one or more financial institutions, and route the prequalification results to a seller device based on identifying the seller, or otherwise enable the seller to access the prequalification results via a seller portal. The prequalification results may also be provided to the user in an interface of the user's device. The central system may store the prequalification results in a prequalification database.

The seller device may transmit pricing requests for various products for the user, to the central system. The central system may retrieve the prequalification requests from the prequalification database and process the pricing requests based on the prequalification requests. The central system may generate pricing structures for each of the various products and transmit the pricing structures to the seller device. The central system may store the pricing structures in a pricing database. The pricing structures may be correlated to the user in the pricing database. The seller device may transmit a purchase request of a particular product for the user to the central system. The central system may determine whether the particular product has been priced at a prior time by querying the pricing database. In response to determining the particular product has been priced at a prior time, the central system may retrieve the pricing structure generated for the particular product and generate a new pricing structure for the product to be purchased by the user, based on the previously generated pricing structure.

This configuration allows for a user to use their personal user device to input sensitive personal information to receive prequalification results rather than using a dealer's device. In this regard, this avoids any security risks of providing sensitive information on a third-party device. Furthermore, the system uses previously generated prequalification results or pricing structures for a particular user or product to generate a subsequent pricing structure. By doing so, the system does not re-process data repeatedly and thusly, saves computational resources.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example environment in which systems and/or methods described herein may be implemented. The environment may include a central system 100, a seller device 110, a backend platform 125, a cloud computing environment 132, a user device 140, a pricing database 148, an applications database 146, and a network 130. The devices of the environment may be connected through wired connections, wireless connections, or a combination of wired and wireless connections.

In an example embodiment, one or more portions of the network 130 may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a WiFi network, a WiMax network, any other type of network, or a combination of two or more such networks.

The backend platform 125 may include one or more devices configured to host an architecture (e.g., architecture as shown in FIGS. 1-2) that is configured to provide prequalification results and financing options based on decision-making policies of one or more lenders or financial institutions. The backend platform 125 may include a server or a group of servers. In an embodiment, the backend platform 125 may be hosted in a cloud computing environment 132. It may be appreciated that the backend platform 125 may not be cloud-based, or may be partially cloud-based.

The central system 100, seller device 110, user device 140, pricing database 148, and applications database 146 may include one or more devices configured to interface with the backend platform 125. The central system 100 may include a pre-qualification micro-service 102, eligibility micro-service 104, and pricing micro-service 106. The user device 140 may include a display 142 and a buyer application 144. The dealer device 110 may include a seller application 118 and a display 120. The buyer application 144 and seller application 118 may interface with the central system 100 to obtain loan offers for products that are intended to be purchased.

In an embodiment, the prequalification micro-service 102 may process, in parallel, the user's pre-qualification request with different lenders using the user's personal information and the pre-qualification information associated with each respective lender. The pre-qualification information may be different for each lender. For example, each lender may require different thresholds of employment information, salary, and/or credit scores.

In an embodiment, the eligibility micro-service 104 may generate product eligibility results. The product eligibility results may determine whether a product is eligible for financing for a given lender and user.

In an embodiment, the pricing micro-service 106 may generate pricing offers for loans for a given product based on the pre-qualification and product eligibility results.

In an embodiment, applications database 146 can store pre-qualification information for users. The pre-qualification information may include decisions on loan requests from various lenders. The pricing database 148 may store information about loan offers for products based on financing information and information about the product.

The cloud computing environment 132 includes an environment that delivers computing as a service, whereby shared resources, services, etc. may be provided to the device 100 and/or the backend platform 125. The cloud computing environment 132 may provide computation, software, data access, storage, and/or other services that do not require end-user knowledge of a physical location and configuration of a system and/or a device that delivers the services. The cloud computing system 132 may include computing resources 126a-d.

Each computing resource 126a-d includes one or more personal computers, workstations, computers, server devices, or other types of computation and/or communication devices. The computing resource(s) 126a-d may host the backend platform 125. The cloud resources may include compute instances executing in the computing resources 126a-d. The computing resources 126a-d may communicate with other computing resources 126a-d via wired connections, wireless connections, or a combination of wired or wireless connections.

Computing resources 126a-d may include a group of cloud resources, such as one or more applications (“APPs”) 126-1, one or more virtual machines (“VMs”) 126-2, virtualized storage (“VS”) 126-3, and one or more hypervisors (“HYPs”) 126-4.

Application 126-1 may include one or more software applications that may be provided to or accessed by the user device 140 and seller device 110. In an embodiment, the buyer application 144 may execute locally on the user device 140 and the seller application 118 may execute locally on the seller device 110. Alternatively, the application 126-1 may eliminate a need to install and execute software applications on the user device 140 and seller device 110. The application 126-1 may include software associated with backend platform 125 and/or any other software configured to be provided across the cloud computing environment 132. The application 126-1 may send/receive information from one or more other applications 126-1, via the virtual machine 126-2.

Virtual machine 126-2 may include a software implementation of a machine (e.g., a computer) that executes programs like a physical machine. Virtual machine 126-2 may be either a system virtual machine or a process virtual machine, depending upon the use and degree of correspondence to any real machine by virtual machine 126-2. A system virtual machine may provide a complete system platform that supports the execution of a complete operating system (OS). A process virtual machine may execute a single program and may support a single process. The virtual machine 126-2 may execute on behalf of a user (e.g., the user device 140 and seller device 110) and/or on behalf of one or more other backend platforms, and may manage the infrastructure of the cloud computing environment 132, such as data management, synchronization, or long-duration data transfers.

Virtualized storage 126-3 may include one or more storage systems and/or one or more devices that use virtualization techniques within the storage systems or devices of computing resource 126a-d. With respect to a storage system, types of virtualizations may include block virtualization and file virtualization. Block virtualization may refer to abstraction (or separation) of logical storage from physical storage so that the storage system may be accessed without regard to physical storage or heterogeneous structure. The separation may permit administrators of the storage system flexibility in how administrators manage storage for end users. File virtualization may eliminate dependencies between data accessed at a file-level and location where files are physically stored. This may enable optimization of storage use, server consolidation, and/or performance of non-disruptive file migrations.

Hypervisor 126-4 may provide hardware virtualization techniques that allow multiple operations systems (e.g., “guest operating systems”) to execute concurrently on a host computer, such as computing resource 126a-d. Hypervisor 126-4 may present a virtual operating platform to the guest operating systems and may manage the execution of the guest operating systems multiple instances of a variety of operating systems and may share virtualized hardware resources.

In an embodiment, a user of a user device 140 may desire to request pre-qualification for a loan from one or more lenders for purchasing a product, while interacting with the seller. The user device 140 may receive an input to actuate a link. The link may be a hyperlink received by a messaging service or e-mail. Alternatively, the link may be embedded in a QR code in which user device 140 may actuate by extracting the link embedded in the QR code, using a camera coupled to the user device 140. The link may be provided to the user by the seller. For example, the seller device 110 may transmit the link to the user device 140 using a messaging service or through the seller application 118 to the buyer application 144. In some embodiments, the user may be at a seller location and the seller may provide the user with a QR code or provide the QR code for display at one or more locations or on one or more mediums at the seller location. The link may include the seller's identifying information, such as a seller ID.

In response to actuating the link, a website may be launched on the display 142 of the user device 140. In an embodiment, the website can be launched within the buyer application 144. The user device 140 may receive input from a user for requesting prequalification for a loan for purchasing a product. The input may be user information needed to process the prequalification request. For example, the user information may include full name, address, social security number, employment information, salary, and/or the like. The user device 140 may transmit the prequalification request including received user information and the seller ID included in the link, to the central system 100. This configuration allows for a user to use their personal user device 140 to input sensitive personal information rather than using the seller's device 110. This eliminates a security risk of the user inputting sensitive information in using the seller's device 110.

In an embodiment, the user may have in login information associated with the website. The user may be authenticated using their login and password information. Furthermore, in response to being authenticated, a portion of the user's information needed for the prequalification request may be automatically populated on the website. For example, the user's name and address may be automatically populated on the website upon the authentication of the user.

The central system 100 may receive the prequalification request including received user information and the seller ID included in the link. The central system 100 may transmit the user information and seller ID to the prequalification micro-service 102. The prequalification micro-service 102 may identify the seller based on the seller ID. The prequalification micro-service 102 may process, in parallel, the user's pre-qualification request with one or more different lenders using the user's personal information, the identified seller, and the pre-qualification information/policies associated with each respective lender. The prequalification micro-service 102 may process the prequalification request. Initially, the prequalification micro-service 102 may interface with one or more third-party credit bureaus to execute a soft pull of the user's credit score or credit profile, using the user's personal information. Soft pulls are soft credit inquires that do not affect the user's credit score. The prequalification micro-service 102 may generate prequalification results including decisions of prequalification of the user for one or more loan characteristics from various lenders and the loan details or characteristics offered by each of the lenders, based on the user's personal information, soft pull, and methodologies/policies specific to each lender. For example, the loan details may include the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) or an interest rate stated as a yearly rate for a particular loan duration and/or loan amount, or a maximum loan amount available to the user by the lender.

In an embodiment, the prequalification results may be generated specific to the current products/inventory being sold by the seller. For example, the prequalification microservice 102 may retrieve a seller's inventory of products using the seller ID. The prequalification microservice 102 may generate prequalification results for the user for the specific seller inventory of products.

In another embodiment, the prequalification results may be generated based on user preferences. For example, the prequalification microservice 102 may retrieve user preferences regarding products. The prequalification microservice 102 can generate prequalification results based on the retrieved user preferences.

The central system 100 may route the prequalification results to the user device 140. In an embodiment, the central system 100 may transmit the prequalification results to the user device 140 be rendered on the buyer application 144. In another embodiment, the central system 100 may transmit the prequalification results to the user device 140 to be rendered on the same website or web application on which the user transmitted the prequalification request. The central system 100 may also transmit the prequalification results to the seller application 118, based on the identified seller. For example, the central application 100 may identify authentication details of a seller's ID. The central application 100 may transmit the prequalification results to the seller application 118 only viewable to the seller using the appropriate authentication details. The prequalification results may serve as a notification to the seller that the user is currently at the seller's location. The central application 100 may also store the prequalification results in the applications database 146.

The seller may execute the seller application 118 on the seller device 110. The seller application 118 may receive user preferences for specific products available for purchase by the seller and loan qualification status and details specific to the user for the specific products. For example, the seller application 118 may receive an indication regarding the first product which the user intends to purchase. The first product information may have been determined based on user interaction with the buyer application 144 by receiving inputs associated with one or more particular products or preferred product features. In some embodiments, the user may have selected a particular first product associated with the seller (e.g. available in the inventory of a seller). The seller application may also receive input for a request for a pricing a first product based on user activity at the seller location. The seller application 118 may transmit a request for pricing the first product including information regarding the first product and the user to the central application 100. The request may be an HTTP request. The central system 100 may retrieve the user's prequalification results from the applications database 146. The central system 100 may transmit the information regarding the first product and the user's prequalification results to the eligibility micro-service 104. The eligibility micro-service 104 may determine whether the first product is eligible for financing for one or more lenders, or each lender which prequalified the user for a loan in the prequalification results.

The central system 100 may transmit information regarding the lenders which prequalified the user for a loan, and information regarding lenders which deem the first product eligible for a loan, to the pricing micro-service 106. The pricing micro-service 106 may generate pricing structure(s) based on the information regarding the first product, the user's prequalification results, and information regarding lenders that deem the first product eligible for a loan. The pricing micro-service 106 may ensure that the loan details provided to the user in the prequalification results are the same loan details applied for generating the one or more pricing structures. Each pricing structure may include loan details for the first product, for each lender. The loan details may include APRs, expected monthly payments, loan amounts, loan terms, and/or the like. The central system 100 may store each pricing structure in the pricing database 148. The central system 100 may transmit the pricing results to the seller application 118. The seller may repeat this process for any other product available for purchase.

Once a user has determined to initiate a purchase process for a product, the seller may use the seller application 118 to transmit a purchase request for a specified product for a user. The seller application 118 may transmit the purchase request of the specified product for a user to the central system 100. The central system 100 may determine whether the specified product was priced at a previous time by querying the pricing database 148. The central system 100 may retrieve a pricing structure (for each of one or more lenders) for the specified product and user from the pricing database 148. The central system 100 may determine whether the pricing structure was generated within a given time period. In response to determining the pricing structure was generated within the given time period, the central system 100 may transmit the purchase request for the specified product and previously generated pricing structure to the pricing micro-service. The pricing micro-service 106 may interface with third-party credit bureaus to execute a hard credit pull for the user. The pricing micro-service 106 may use the previously generated pricing structure to build a loan offer (for each of one or more lenders) in a final pricing structure for the user for the specified product. The pricing micro-service 106 may ensure the pricing details provided in the previously generated pricing structure are the same as the final pricing structure. The pricing micro-service 106 may use each of the one or more lenders' methodologies in generating the loan offer. In the event the specified product has not been priced for the user or was not priced within the given time period, the central system 100 may transmit the purchase request without any previously generated pricing structure. In an embodiment, the purchase request may also include a desired lender which prequalified the user. The loan offer may be generated for the desired lender. Alternatively, multiple loan offers may be generated for various lenders.

As a non-limiting example, the seller may be an automobile dealership, the products may be automobiles and the type of loan may be auto-financing.

FIG. 2 is block diagrams illustrating an architecture implementing the system described herein, according to an embodiment. The architecture may include a buyer application 144, a seller application 118, a Digital Retailer 204, Buy/Sell API 210, and a multi-lender layer 212. The Buy/Sell API 210 may reside in an experience layer 208. The Buy/Sell API 210 may facilitate communication between the buyer application 144, seller application 118, and/or Digital Retailer 204 and the multi-lender layer 212. The buyer application 144 may be used by a user to obtain prequalification results as described with respect to FIG. 1. For example, in response to actuating the link or QR code, the seller application 118 may interface with the multi-lender layer 212 to obtain prequalification results. The seller application 118 may be used to view prequalified users as described with respect to FIG. 1. The Digital Retailer 204 may be a seller's website including a link to interface with the multi-lender layer to generate prequalification results and obtain loan pricing information. The architecture may further include a lender portal 220 through which lenders may access the multi-lender layer.

The multi-lender layer 212 may include an API Passthru 214 and a vault 216. The API Passthru 214 may be an API Gateway. The API Passthru 214 may be responsible for request routing, composition, and protocol translation. The lender portal 220 may also reside in the multi-lender layer 212. The vault 216 may include micro-processes such as prequalification 102, product eligibility 104, and pricing 106. The vault 216 may also include an encrypted logs 222 and a lender confidential repository 221. The encrypted logs 222 may be a data repository.

In an embodiment, a plurality of lenders 226 may interface with the lender portal 220 to upload and/or communicate information or policies associated with their prequalification, product eligibility, and pricing, to the vault 216. The information may include rules, algorithms, equations, restrictions, and/or the like, which govern the process of offering users loans for automobiles at determined prices. The information may be stored in the lender confidential repository 221. In an embodiment, the information received and stored in an encrypted format. Alternatively, the information may be received in an encrypted format. The vault 216 may decrypt the information using the encryption service 218 and store the information in a decrypted format.

As lenders 226 may upload proprietary information into the vault 216, the vault 216 may provide a secure environment in which the proprietary information may not be visible to anyone else (including the administrator of the multi-lender architecture) other than the lender. The vault 216 may reside in a jailed, self-contained network, configured to receive and transmit data in an encrypted format. In this self-contained network, lenders may manage their separate accounts. Each lender can securely manage its loan eligibility criteria, rules, filing policies, and/or the like. Lenders 226 may view their data inside the vault 216 and may not view data associated with other lenders 226. The data inside the vault 216 may not be visible to users through the buyer application 144, seller application 118, or Digital retailer 204.

In an embodiment, buyer application 144 may be an application configured to search for products and procure pricing structure for a loan from various lenders, executing on a customer's device. Seller application 118 may be an application configured for procuring pricing structure for a loan for a particular user from one or more of various lenders, executing on a seller's device. The loan can be one or more of: an automobile loan, a mortgage, unsecured personal loans, secured personal loans, debt consolidation loans, or variable-interest loans. The product for sale can be a house, car, motorcycle, recreational vehicle (RV), aircraft, boat, and/or the like.

As an example, a user may interface with buyer application 144 or seller application 118 in an attempt to obtain a pricing structure for a loan for an automobile. In one embodiment, the buyer application 144 or seller application 118 application may each render different graphical user interfaces (GUIs) configured to receive input from the user which may be transmitted to the multi-lender layer for further processing, to obtain pricing structure for a loan for an automobile. The input information may be transmitted to the multi-lender layer 212 through the Buy/Sell API 210. Information may be communicated from the multi-lender layer 212 to buyer application 144, seller application 118, or Digital retailer 204 through the Buy/Sell API 210, to be rendered in the respective GUI.

The vault 216 may process the prequalification, product eligibility, and pricing structure associated with building a loan offer for one or more of multiple lenders, in parallel, using proprietary information provided by each lender. As described above, the vault 216 may be a jailed environment, such that, while the lenders 226 may provide their proprietary information for building a loan offer to be stored in the vault 216, the lenders or users may not access or view other lenders' proprietary information for building a loan offer. This configuration provides a technical advantage over conventional systems because this configuration can generate multiple loan offers from various lenders in parallel using each lender's proprietary information while maintaining a secure jailed environment restricting access or visibility to the lenders' proprietary information.

As an example, in response to actuating the link, a website for obtaining prequalification results may be launched within the buyer application 144. Alternatively, the website may be launched in a separate browser or web application. Furthermore, the user may interface with the buyer application 144 to obtain a pricing structure for a loan for an automobile. The buyer application 144 may present a selection for requesting to get pre-qualified. In response to the user selecting the request for getting pre-qualified, the buyer application 144 may receive input associated with personal information of the user (e.g., name, address, asset information, salary, employment information, social security number, and/or the like). In one embodiment, the buyer application 144 transmits the encrypted personal information and prequalification request to the multi-lender layer 212, via the Buy/Sell API 210, using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). In an embodiment, the buyer application 144 may encrypt the personal information and prequalification request and transmit the encrypted personal information and prequalification request to the multi-lender layer 212, via the Buy/Sell API 210. In another embodiment, portions of the personal information may be encrypted by the buyer application 144, such as the social security number (SSN).

The Buy/Sell API 210 can determine which lenders can provide automobile loans based on the personal information. For example, the Buy/Sell API 210 may determine a set of lenders that can provide automobile loans based on the personal information provided by the user and based on one or more rules specific to each of one or more lenders. The Buy/Sell API 210 can generate a prequalification request for each lender in the set of lenders and transmit each request to the multi-lender layer 212.

The API Passthru 214 may receive the input from the Buy/Sell API 210, in the multi-lender layer 212. In some embodiments, the input may be encrypted. The API Passthru 214 may forward the personal information along with the prequalification requests for each lender of the set of lenders to the vault 216. The vault 216 may execute the prequalification micro-service 102. The prequalification micro-service 102 may interface with one or more third-party credit bureaus to retrieve user credit information using the decrypted personal information associated with the user. The prequalification micro-service 102 may request the third party credit bureaus to initiate a soft pull. A single soft pull may be requested regardless of the number of lenders in the set of lenders. Soft pulls are soft credit inquires that do not affect the user's credit score. The prequalification micro-service 102 may retrieve prequalification information associated with each of the set of lenders from the lender confidential repository 221. The lender confidential information may include rules on how each lender processes prequalification.

The prequalification micro-service 102 may process, in parallel, the user's prequalification request for each of the set of lenders using the user's personal information and the prequalification information associated with each respective lender. As described above, the prequalification may be different for each lender. For example, each lender may require different thresholds of employment information, salary, and/or credit scores.

The prequalification micro-service 102 may generate prequalification results, in response to processing the user's prequalification request for each of the multiple lenders. The prequalification results may include a subset of lenders from the set of lenders which have pre-qualified the user for an automobile loan based on the personal information of the user and the prequalification information associated with the respective lender. The prequalification results can include a decision on whether the lender has pre-qualified a user for an automobile loan. In an embodiment, the prequalification results may also include information associated with the loan such as a range of possible Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) and terms and conditions of the loans or a maximum amount of a loan. In an embodiment, the vault 216 may transmit the prequalification results to the buyer application 144 unencrypted. Alternatively, the vault 216 may encrypt the prequalification results using the encryption service 201 and transmit the encrypted prequalification results to the API Passthru 214 The API Passthru 214 may forward the prequalification results to the Buy/Sell API 210. The Buy/Sell API 210 may transmit the prequalification results to the buyer application 144. In the event the prequalification results are encrypted, the buyer application 144 can decrypt the encrypted prequalification results. The buyer application 144 can render the prequalification results on the buyer application 144 GUI.

As described above, a user can use obtain prequalification results by actuating a link or QR code or through the buyer application 114. In the event, the user actuates the link or QR code to obtain prequalification results through a website and the user has already generated prequalification results using the buyer application 114, the prequalification micro-service 102 can retrieve the prequalification results for the user based on their login and password information for products sold by the seller where the user actuated the link or QR code. The retrieved prequalification results can be rendered in the buyer application 144.

Continuing from the earlier example, subsequent to the prequalification results being rendered on the GUI of the buyer application 144, the buyer application 144 may receive a selection of a vehicle intended for purchase, from a user. The buyer application 144 may transmit the information associated with the selected vehicle (e.g., make, model, mileage, year, dealership, and/or the like) to the multi-lender layer 212, via the Buy/Sell API 210.

The API Passthru 214 may receive the information associated with the selected vehicle of the user from the Buy/Sell API 210, in the multi-lender layer 212. The API Passthru 214 may forward the information associated with the selected vehicle to the vault 216. The vault 216 may decrypt the encrypted information associated with the selected vehicle, using the encryption service 218. The vault 216 may execute the product eligibility micro-service 104. The product eligibility micro-service 104 may retrieve product eligibility information associated with the lenders included in the subset of lenders, from the lender confidential repository 221. The product eligibility micro-service 104 may determine, in parallel, whether the selected vehicle is eligible for an automobile loan from a given lender based on the information associated with the selected vehicle and information associated with product eligibility for each of the respective lenders. The information associated with product eligibility may be different for each lender. For example, each lender may have different requirements for make, model, year, mileage, price, and/or the like. In this regard, the product eligibility 104 may determine certain vehicles are not eligible for automobile loans from given lenders.

The product eligibility micro-service 104 may generate product eligibility results. The product eligibility results may include one or more lenders from the subset of lenders, for which the product eligibility micro-service 104 determined the selected vehicle is eligible for an automobile loan. The API Passthru 214 may forward the product eligibility results to the Buy/Sell API 210. The buyer application 144 may render the decrypted product eligibility results on the buyer application 144 GUI.

Continuing with the earlier example, subsequent to the product eligibility results being rendered on the GUI of the buyer application 144, the buyer application 144 may receive a request to build a loan offer for a selected vehicle, from a user. The request may include information associated with the desired loan, such as the price of a selected vehicle, down payment amount, loan amount, tax amount, dealer fees, service contract, GAP, and/or the like. The buyer application 144 may encrypt the information associated with the request for building an offer and transmit the information associated with the request for building an offer to the multi-lender layer 212, via the Buy/Sell API 210. Alternatively, the Buy/Sell API 210 may encrypt the information associated with the request for building an offer and transmit the encrypted information associated with the request for building an offer to the multi-lender layer 212. In yet another example, the buyer application 144 may transmit the request including the information to the multi-lender layer 212, using the Buy/Sell API 210. The Buy/Sell API 210 may determine that the user is eligible for a loan from one or more lenders, based on the prequalification results and the product eligibility results. The Buy/Sell API 210 can generate pricing offer requests for each of the one or more lenders and transmit the requests to the multi-lender layer 212.

The API Passthru 214 may receive the information associated with the request for building an offer from the Buy/Sell API 210 and the requests for each of the one or more lenders, in the multi-lender layer 212. The API Passthru 214 may forward the information associated with the requests for each of the or more lenders for building an offer to the vault 216. The vault 216 may execute the pricing micro-service 106. The pricing micro-service 106 may retrieve pricing structure information associated with each lender of the one or more lenders, from the lender confidential repository 221. The pricing micro-service 106 may use Bayesian regression algorithms, decision trees, pricing girds or various equations for pricing for a loan offer. The pricing structure may also provide sources for retrieving certain information. For example, a lender may need to use the prequalification results and/or product eligibility results. The lender may indicate to the pricing micro-service to retrieve the prequalification results and/or product eligibility results. Alternatively, or in addition to, the pricing structure may include instructions to retrieve information from third-party vendors. Accordingly, the pricing micro-service 106 may retrieve the information using the third-party vendors. The pricing micro-service 106 may process and build, in parallel, a loan offer based on the information associated with the request for building an offer, for each of the one or more lenders using information associated with pricing for each of the respective lenders. Additionally, each lender may use a different methodology for calculating pricing for a loan offer.

The pricing micro-service 106 may generate pricing structures for automobile loans from various lenders. The pricing structures may include loan amounts, interest rates, and terms and conditions of the automobile loan. The vault 216 may encrypt the offers using the encryption service 218 and transmit the encrypted vehicle offers to the API Passthru 214. The API Passthru 214 may forward the encrypted offers to the Buy/Sell API 210. In an example, the Buy/Sell API 210 may decrypt the encrypted offers and interface with the buyer application 144 to render the decrypted offers on the buyer application 144 GUI. Alternatively, the Buy/Sell API 210 may transmit the encrypted offers to the buyer application 144. Buyer application 144 can decrypt the encrypted offers and render the decrypted offers on the buyer application 144 GUI.

The architecture may also include an analytic aggregator 224. The analytic aggregator may be embodied as a micro-service residing in the vault 216. The analytic aggregator 224 may capture all of the data generated in the vault 216 for each user (e.g., prequalification results, product eligibility results, and offers) for each lender and store the captured data in the encrypted logs 222. The captured data may be encrypted in a format specific to a given lender, such that, a lender may only decrypt data from the encrypted logs 222. A lender may download data logs from the encrypted logs 222 specific to the lender itself.

In an embodiment, the architecture may be associated with a financial institution (e.g., bank or lender). As an example, the administrator of the architecture may be a financial institution. The financial institution may use its own lending platform 232. The lending platform 232 may include a loan origination system 234. Buyer application 144 may communicate back and forth with the loan origination system 234 of the lending platform 232 to generate a loan offer from the financial institution, via the Buy/Sell API 210 and the API Passthru 214 in the multi-lender layer 212. Buyer application 144 may communicate back and forth with the loan origination system 234 to generate a loan offer from the financial institution, in parallel with the micro-processes (e.g., prequalification 102, product eligibility 104, and pricing 106) generating loan offers from various lenders in the vault 216. The loan offers from the financial institution may be presented alongside the loan offers from the other lenders on the GUI of the buyer application 144.

In an embodiment, the architecture may include one or more third-party API 228 including a third-party loan origination system 230. In the event, a lender does not upload information associated with prequalification, product eligibility, and pricing for processing within vault 216 as described above, the vault 216 is bypassed and the third-party loan origination system 230 may generate a loan offer for the lender. The third-party loan origination system 230 may be an API provided by a lender for generating the loan offer using the lender's API. The third-party loan origination system 230 may communicate back and forth with the buyer application 144, via the Buy/Sell API 210 and the API Passthru 214 in the multi-lender layer 212, to generate a loan offer. Buyer application 144 may communicate back and forth with the third-party loan origination system 230 of the third-party API 228 to generate a loan offer from the third-party lender, in parallel with the micro-processes (e.g., prequalification 102, product eligibility 104, and pricing 106) generating loan offers from various lenders in the vault 216 and/or lending platform 232.

In one embodiment, a Digital retailer 204 (i.e., a third-party system) may be embodied as a web domain associated with an automobile dealership. The Digital retailer 204 may render a hyperlink. The hyperlink is different than the link or QR code discussed above. This hyperlink may generate an interface embedded in the web domain. The interface may be used to communicate with the multi-lender layer 212. The interface may be used to receive prequalification results. The Digital retailer 204 may interface with the multi-lender layer 212 using the hyperlink.

In an embodiment, the seller application 118 may be executable on a device of an automobile dealership (i.e., dealer device). The seller application 118 may interface with the multi-lender layer 212 to determine prequalification, product eligibility, and pricing as described with respect to buyer application 144. The seller application 118 may transmit a link directed to the multi-layer lender to initiate a prequalification request to a user device. As an example, the seller application 118 may transmit the link via Short Messaging Service (SMS) or e-mail message to the user device. The user may transmit a prequalification request using the link as described above.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an expanded view of the Buy/Sell API 210 according to some embodiments. The Buy/Sell API 210 may reside in the experience layer of the multi-lender architecture. The Buy/Sell API 210 may be used to interface between clients such as buyer application 144, seller application 118, and Digital retailer 204, and the multi-lender layer.

The experience layer 208 may further include a marketplace module 301, pricing module 302, an application module 303, an offer module 304, a dealer module 305, and a pricing cache 306. The experience layer 208 may use the market place module 301, pricing module 302, the application module 303, offer module 304, dealer module 305, and pricing cache 306 to provide consistent and reliable pricing structure to a user by storing the pricing, prequalification, and applications submitted by a user for a specified period of time.

The application module 303 may route prequalification requests to the prequalification micro-service and may receive the prequalification results. The application module 303 may store prequalification results in the prequalification database 146. The prequalification results may be correlated to various users. The pricing module 302 may route the pricing request to the pricing micro-service and receive the pricing structures from the pricing micro-service. The pricing module 304 may store pricing structures generated for a given product in the pricing database 148. The pricing structures can be correlated to a user. In an embodiment, the pricing cache 306 may store pricing structures generated for a given product for a particular user for a short period of time (e.g., single session). The offers module 304 may route a purchase request for a given product for a user to the pricing micro-service. The offers module 304 may store final pricing structures offered to a user in the offers database 308.

The marketplace module 301 may store information associated with lenders and products. The information the marketplace module 301 may update in (near) real-time. The market place module 301 may include a repository 310. For example, a user may apply for a loan for a product. The Buy/Sell API 210 may filter out lenders from the marketplace which may not provide loans for the product based on the personal information of the user or the product itself as the user provides information. If the user is attempting to generate a price for a loan for a luxury car and a given lender does not provide loans for luxury cars, the lender is filtered out from the marketplace. Additionally, as the application for the loan is processed, each time a lender rejects or approves the loan, the marketplace module 301 may update the repository 310. Furthermore, based on the lenders for which the loans are being processed, the Buy/Sell API 210 can filter out the ineligible products from the marketplace module 301 which may not be eligible for a loan.

The seller module 305 may manage the information associated with different dealers. For example, seller application 118 may communicate with the dealer module 305 to retrieve dealer specific information from module 305. The dealer specific information may include dealer requirements for purchasing automobiles, partnerships with lenders and vendors, dealer inventory, and/or the like.

FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate screens displayed on a graphical user interface of a user device to obtain prequalification results according to some embodiments. With reference to FIG. 4A, a user device 140 may scan QR code 400 using a camera or scanning device. The QR code 400 may be located at a seller's location. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the QR code is located on a badge of an employee at the seller's location. A link may be embedded in the QR code 400. In response to actuating the link, the user device may be routed to a website rendering screen 402. The screen 402 may be a welcome screen for initiating a prequalification request for the user.

With reference to FIG. 4B, in response to the user proceeding from screen 402, screen 404 may be rendered on the user device 140. Screen 404 may include an option to input login information if the user already has login information. Alternatively, screen 404 also displays an option to continue as a guest. In response to either logging in or continuing as a guest, screen 406 may be rendered on the user device 140.

Screen 406 may include input boxes for inputting the user's personal information. The information may include the name and address information. In an embodiment, in response to logging in, the name and address information may be automatically populated on screen 406.

With reference to FIG. 4C, in response to inputting personal information, screen 408 may be rendered on the user device 140. Screen 408 may include further questions about the user. For example, if the user is at a dealership, screen 408 may include questions whether the user wants to trade-in a vehicle. Once the user has input all the necessary information, the user may select a button rendered on the user device 140 to transmit the prequalification request. The prequalification result may be processed for the user as described above, with respect to FIG. 1.

With reference to FIG. 4D, in response to processing the prequalification request, a prequalification result may be generated. The prequalification result may be rendered on screen 410. Screen 410 may render the lenders which prequalified the user for a loan as well as information about the seller. Screen 410 may also include a message that the prequalification results have also been routed to the seller.

FIG. 5 is a screen 500 displayed on a graphical user interface of a seller device 110 according to some embodiments. As indicated above, the prequalification result of a user may be routed to the seller device 110. Screen 500 may include prequalification results for different users. Screen 500 may include when the prequalification result was received, a reference id, user name, user type, lead source, status, and action. The user type may be a lead (e.g., sales lead). The lead source may be walk-in, pre-approval, auto navigator, or the like. The status may indicate the prequalification status of the user. If the user has been prequalified for a loan, the status may be prequalification approved. The action may be an open deal jacket action, view credit report action, or the like. In the event, the user has been prequalified for a loan, the action may be the open deal jacket action. The open deal jacket action may be a link to start a deal on a product for the user. In the event, the user has not been able to prequalify for a loan, the action may be view credit report. The open deal jacket and view credit report may be links that may direct the seller's device 110 to another website.

FIG. 6 is an example flow for obtaining prequalification results according to some embodiments. Method 600 can be performed by processing logic that can comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or a combination thereof. It is to be appreciated that not all steps can be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein. Further, some of the steps can be performed simultaneously, or in a different order than shown in FIG. 6, as will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method 600 shall be described with reference to FIG. 1. However, method 600 is not limited to that example embodiment

In operation 602, a central system may launch a website on a user device in response to the actuation of a link associated with a seller. The link may be a hyperlink to a website or a QR code. The seller may provide this link through email or text message. Alternatively, the QR code may be displayed at a seller's location (e.g., retail store, car dealership, or the like). The link may include the seller's ID. The website may include a request for user information. The website may receive user input associated with the user information. The website link may include a seller identification information. The website may transmit a prequalification request for a loan for the user including the user information and the seller identification information.

In operation 604, the central system may receive the prequalification request including the user information. As described above, the prequalification request may include information about and the seller's identification information.

In operation 606, the central system may identify the seller using the seller's identification information. As described above, the seller's ID may be included in the actuated link. The central system may retrieve seller information using the seller ID. For example, the central system may retrieve the seller's inventory and the seller's preference regarding financing their products. The preferences may include certain lenders that the seller does not work with or does not prefer. The preferences may also include information that the seller is likely to be open to adjusting the final price of a product with the purchase of backend services.

In operation 608, the central system may interface with third-party credit systems to execute a soft credit inquiry to generate the prequalification requests, using the user information.

In operation 610, the central system may generate a prequalification result for the user, specific to the identified seller. The prequalification result is generated by the prequalification microservice. The prequalification result may generate the prequalification result specific to the inventory of the seller as well as the seller's preferences.

In operation 612, the central system may route the prequalification result to a seller device based on the seller identification information. The prequalification result may also be transmitted to the website. The website may render the prequalification result and the seller's current inventory.

In operation 614, the central system may receive information about a specified product embedded in a request protocol. The information may be received from the seller device or the user device. The eligibility microservice may determine whether the product is eligible for purchase.

In operation 616, the central system may generate a pricing structure for the specified product based on the prequalification results. The pricing structure is generated by the pricing microservice for the specified product.

In operation 618, the central system may receive a purchase request for the specified product. The purchase request may be received from the seller device.

In operation 620, the central system may confirm that the purchase request was received within a specified time period of the prequalification request or a previous pricing request.

In operation 622, the central system may correlate the purchase request with the prequalification request based on the purchase request being for the user for which the prequalification request was processed.

In operation 624, the central system may interface with a third party credit system to execute a hard credit inquiry.

In operation 626, the central system may generate a second pricing structure for the specified product. The data included in the second pricing structure based on the purchase request may be the same as data included in the first pricing structure generated based on the prequalification result.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of example components of device 700. One or more computer systems 700 may be used, for example, to implement any of the embodiments discussed herein, as well as combinations and sub-combinations thereof. Computer system 700 may include one or more processors (also called central processing units, or CPUs), such as a processor 704. Processor 704 may be connected to a communication infrastructure or bus 706.

Computer system 700 may also include user input/output device(s) 703, such as monitors, keyboards, pointing devices, etc., which may communicate with communication infrastructure 706 through user input/output interface(s) 702.

One or more processors 704 may be a graphics processing unit (GPU). In an embodiment, a GPU may be a processor that is a specialized electronic circuit designed to process mathematically intensive applications. The GPU may have a parallel structure that is efficient for parallel processing of large blocks of data, such as mathematically intensive data common to computer graphics applications, images, videos, etc.

Computer system 700 may also include a main or primary memory 308, such as random access memory (RAM). Main memory 308 may include one or more levels of cache. Main memory 308 may have stored therein control logic (i.e., computer software) and/or data.

Computer system 700 may also include one or more secondary storage devices or memory 710. Secondary memory 710 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 712 and/or a removable storage device or drive 714.

Removable storage drive 714 may interact with a removable storage unit 718. Removable storage unit 718 may include a computer-usable or readable storage device having stored thereon computer software (control logic) and/or data. Removable storage unit 718 may be program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROM or PROM) and associated socket, a memory stick and USB port, a memory card and associated memory card slot, and/or any other removable storage unit and associated interface. Removable storage drive 714 may read from and/or write to removable storage unit 718.

Secondary memory 710 may include other means, devices, components, instrumentalities or other approaches for allowing computer programs and/or other instructions and/or data to be accessed by computer system 700. Such means, devices, components, instrumentalities or other approaches may include, for example, a removable storage unit 722 and an interface 720. Examples of the removable storage unit 722 and the interface 720 may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROM or PROM) and associated socket, a memory stick and USB port, a memory card and associated memory card slot, and/or any other removable storage unit and associated interface.

Computer system 700 may further include a communication or network interface 724. Communication interface 724 may enable computer system 700 to communicate and interact with any combination of external devices, external networks, external entities, etc. (individually and collectively referenced by reference number 728). For example, communication interface 724 may allow computer system 700 to communicate with external or remote devices 728 over communications path 726, which may be wired and/or wireless (or a combination thereof), and which may include any combination of LANs, WANs, the Internet, etc. Control logic and/or data may be transmitted to and from computer system 700 via communication path 726.

Computer system 700 may also be any of a personal digital assistant (PDA), desktop workstation, laptop or notebook computer, netbook, tablet, smartphone, smartwatch or other wearables, appliance, part of the Internet-of-Things, and/or embedded system, to name a few non-limiting examples, or any combination thereof.

Computer system 700 may be a client or server, accessing or hosting any applications and/or data through any delivery paradigm, including but not limited to remote or distributed cloud computing solutions; local or on-premises software (“on-premise” cloud-based solutions); “as a service” models (e.g., content as a service (CaaS), digital content as a service (DCaaS), software as a service (SaaS), managed software as a service (MSaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), desktop as a service (DaaS), framework as a service (FaaS), backend as a service (BaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), etc.); and/or a hybrid model including any combination of the foregoing examples or other services or delivery paradigms.

Any applicable data structures, file formats, and schemas in computer system 700 may be derived from standards including but not limited to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Yet Another Markup Language (YAML), Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), Wireless Markup Language (WML), MessagePack, XML User Interface Language (XUL), or any other functionally similar representations alone or in combination. Alternatively, proprietary data structures, formats or schemas may be used, either exclusively or in combination with known or open standards.

In some embodiments, a tangible, non-transitory apparatus or article of manufacture comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer useable or readable medium having control logic (software) stored thereon may also be referred to herein as a computer program product or program storage device. This includes, but is not limited to, computer system 700, main memory 308, secondary memory 710, and removable storage units 718 and 722, as well as tangible articles of manufacture embodying any combination of the foregoing. Such control logic, when executed by one or more data processing devices (such as computer system 700), may cause such data processing devices to operate as described herein.

Embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternate boundaries may be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the disclosure that others may, by applying knowledge within the skill of the art, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from the general concept of the present disclosure. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications are intended to be within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching and guidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light of the teachings and guidance.

The breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for retrieving prequalification information, the method comprising:

launching, by one or more computing devices, a website for display on a user device in response to the user device actuating a link associated with a seller, the website including a request for user information;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a prequalification request including the user information from the user device;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, the seller based on seller identifying information embedded in the actuated link;

generating, by the one or more computing devices, a prequalification result for the user, specific to the seller using a decisioning service independent of the seller;

routing, by the one or more computing devices, the prequalification result from the decisioning service to the user device and a seller device based on the seller identifying information;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, information about a specified product embedded in a request protocol;

generating, by the one or more computing devices, a first pricing structure for the specified product based on the prequalification results;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a purchase request for the specified product;

correlating, by the one or more computing devices, the purchase request with the prequalification request based on the purchase request being for the user for which the prequalification request was processed; and

generating, by the one or more computing devices, a second pricing structure for the specified product, wherein data included in the second pricing structure is the same as data included in the first pricing structure.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising confirming, by the one or more computing devices, the purchase request was received within a specified time period of the prequalification request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising interfacing, by the one or more computing devices, with a third-party credit system to execute a soft credit inquiry to generate the prequalification results, using the user information.

4. (canceled)

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the purchase request is received from the seller device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the one or more computing devices, the seller device by using the seller identification information to retrieve the seller's authentication details of a seller application executing on the seller device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising interfacing, by the one or more computing devices, with a third party credit system to execute a hard credit inquiry in response to the purchase request.

8. A system for retrieving prequalification information, the system comprising:

a memory;

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor configured to: launch a website for display on a user device in response to the user device actuating a link associated with a seller, the website including a request for user information; receive a prequalification request including the user information from the user device; identify the seller based on seller identifying information embedded in the actuated link; generate a prequalification result for the user, specific to the seller using a decisioning service independent of the seller; route the prequalification result from the decisioning service to the user device and a seller device based on the seller identifying information; receive information about a specified product embedded in a request protocol; generate a first pricing structure for a specified product based on the prequalification results; receive a purchase request for the specified product; correlate the purchase request with the prequalification request based on the purchase request being for the user for which the prequalification request was processed; and generate a second pricing structure for the specified product, wherein data included in the second pricing structure is the same as data included in the first pricing structure.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor further configured to confirm the purchase request was received within a specified time period of the prequalification request.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor further configured to interface with a third-party credit system to execute a soft credit inquiry to generate the prequalification results, using the user information.

11. (canceled)

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the purchase request is received from the seller device.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor further configured to identify the seller device by using the seller identification information to retrieve the seller's authentication details of a seller application executing on the seller device.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor further configured to interface with a third party credit system to execute a hard credit inquiry in response to the purchase request.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a device cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

launching a website for display on a user device in response to the user device actuating a link associated with a seller, the website including a request for user information;

a prequalification request including the user information from the user device;

identifying the seller based on seller identifying information embedded in the actuated link;

generating a prequalification result for the user, specific to the seller using a decisioning service independent of the seller;

routing the prequalification result from the decisioning service to the user device and a seller device based on the seller identifying information;

receiving information about a specified product embedded in a request protocol;

generating a first pricing structure for a specified product based on the prequalification results;

receiving a purchase request for the specified product;

correlating the purchase request with the prequalification request based on the purchase request being for the user for which the prequalification request was processed; and

generating a second pricing structure for the specified product, wherein data included in the second pricing structure is the same as data included in the first pricing structure.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising confirming the purchase request was received within a specified time period of the prequalification request.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising interfacing with a third-party credit system to execute a soft credit inquiry to generate the prequalification results, using the user information.

18. (canceled)

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the purchase request is received from the seller device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising the seller device by using the seller identification information to retrieve the seller's authentication details of a seller application executing on the seller device.