Systems and methods for data verification

[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/302,414, filed Nov. 22, 2011, which claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/416,259, filed Nov. 22, 2010 and titled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this application.

[0002] Various service providers including, for example, lenders and insurance carriers wish to verify data provided to them by applicants to their services. The data to be verified may include income and employment, assets, healthcare claims, clinical data, and the like. Often, the data being verified may be subject to contractual, regulatory and/or privacy restrictions making it difficult or impossible for the owners of the data (including for example payroll processors and other entities possessing data with personally identifying information of individuals and businesses) to share or communicate the data with third parties such as the service providers.

[0003] Embodiments of the invention are directed to methods and systems for verifying data including income and employment, assets, healthcare claims, clinical data, and other types of data that may be subject to various regulatory and/or privacy restrictions.

[0013] Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals refer to like elements throughout. The terminology used in the description presented herein is not intended to be interpreted in any limited or restrictive manner, simply because it is being utilized in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the invention. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may include several novel features, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes or which is essential to practicing the inventions described herein.

[0014] In one embodiment, the data verification system described herein is designed to verify consumers' data without the data, nor the consumer's personally identifying information ever leaving the data owning entity (such as, for example, a payroll processor having payroll data, a brokerage processing provider having asset holdings data or a bank having data regarding deposits and balances). The data verification system may include a verification engine and a decision system. The verification engine may send a series of inquiries to the data owning entities, and the entities may simply provide affirmative or negative responses to each of the inquiries without providing personal data or identifying information regarding the consumer. The decision system may be used to process data transmitted to and received from the data owning entities. The decision system may include various modules to (1) assign a personal identification number (PIN) to individual files on the data owning entity databases, (2) match requests received at the data verification system regarding consumers to specific files on the data owning entity databases using the PINs, (3) apply rules to respond to the requests received in the form of a series of inquiries. In some embodiments, some or all of the decision system could be a hardware module installed on the data owner entity's location. In other embodiments, some or all of the decision system could be software that is distributed to the data owning entities.

Example System Implementation

[0015] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment in which a computing system 100 is in communication with a network 160 and various systems are also in communication with the network 160. The computing system 100 may be used to implement systems and methods described herein. For example, the computing system 100 may be a data verification system configured to provide data verification for service providers, or other entities interested in verifying data provided by consumers. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the verification engine and the decision system 150 are shown to be local to one another. In other embodiments, the decision system 150 may be remote to the verification engine. In such embodiments, the decision system 150 may include the same hardware and software components as the computing system 100 described herein.

[0016] Although the description provided herein refers to individuals, consumers, applicants or customers, the terms “user,” “individual,” “consumer,” “applicant” and “customer” should be interpreted to include groups of individuals, such as, for example, married couples or domestic partners, organizations, groups, and business entities.

[0017] The computing system 100 includes, for example, a personal computer that is IBM, Macintosh, or Linux/Unix compatible or a server or workstation. In one embodiment, the computing system 100 comprises a server, a laptop computer, a cell phone, a personal digital assistant, a kiosk, or an audio player, for example. In one embodiment, the exemplary computing system 100 includes one or more central processing unit (“CPU”) 105, which may each include a conventional or proprietary microprocessor. The computing system 100 further includes one or more memory 130, such as random access memory (“RAM”) for temporary storage of information, one or more read only memory (“ROM”) for permanent storage of information, and one or more mass storage device 120, such as a hard drive, diskette, solid state drive, or optical media storage device. Typically, the modules of the computing system 100 are connected using a standard based bus system. In different embodiments, the standard based bus system could be implemented in Peripheral Component Interconnect (“PCP”), Microchannel, Small Computer System Interface (“SCSI”), Industrial Standard Architecture (“ISA”) and Extended ISA (“EISA”) architectures, for example. In addition, the functionality provided for in the components and modules of computing system 100 may be combined into fewer components and modules or further separated into additional components and modules.

[0018] The computing system 100 is generally controlled and coordinated by operating system software, such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server, Unix, Linux, SunOS, Solaris, or other compatible operating systems. In Macintosh systems, the operating system may be any available operating system, such as MAC OS X. In other embodiments, the computing system 100 may be controlled by a proprietary operating system. Conventional operating systems control and schedule computer processes for execution, perform memory management, provide file system, networking, I/O services, and provide a user interface, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), among other things.

[0019] The exemplary computing system 100 may include one or more commonly available input/output (I/O) devices and interfaces 110, such as a keyboard, mouse, touchpad, and printer. In one embodiment, the I/O devices and interfaces 110 include one or more display devices, such as a monitor, that allows the visual presentation of data to a user. More particularly, a display device provides for the presentation of GUIs, application software data, and multimedia presentations, for example. The computing system 100 may also include one or more multimedia devices 140, such as speakers, video cards, graphics accelerators, and microphones, for example.

[0020] In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the I/O devices and interfaces 110 provide a communication interface to various external devices. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the computing system 100 is electronically coupled to a network 160, which comprises one or more networks, such as one or more of a LAN, WAN, and/or the Internet, for example, via a wired, wireless, or combination of wired and wireless, communication link. The network 160 communicates with various computing devices and/or other electronic devices via wired or wireless communication links.

[0021] According to FIG. 1, information is provided to the computing system 100 over the network 160 from one or more data sources 190. The information supplied by the various data sources 190 may include information regarding payroll data, income data, employment data, asset holdings data, deposit data, account balance data, healthcare claims data, clinical data verification data, and/or other types of data, for example. The data on the various data sources 190 may also include personally identifying information. In various embodiments, information supplied by the various data sources 190 does not include the actual data and personally identifying information stored on the data sources, but simply responses to inquiries regarding such data associated with such personally identifying information.

[0022] In addition to the devices that are illustrated in FIG. 1, the network 160 may communicate with other data sources or other computing devices. In addition, the data sources may include one or more internal and/or external data sources. In some embodiments, one or more of the data structures or data sources may be implemented using a relational database, such as Sybase, Oracle, CodeBase and Microsoft® SQL Server as well as other types of data structures such as, for example, a flat file data structure, an entity-relationship data structure, an object-oriented data structure, and/or a record-based data structure.

[0023] A service provider device 102 may be connected to the network 160 and used by a service provider to exchange information with the computing system 100. For example, the service provider device 102 may be used to transmit information related to an individual or business applying for a service offered by the service provider, and the computing system 100 may respond to the information received from the service provider device 102 by providing a report for display to the service provider using the service provider device 102 to facilitate the decision of the service provider on whether to provide the service to the individual or business, for example. The service provider device 102 may be a desktop computer, a mobile computer, or any other mobile device such as a mobile phone or other similar handheld computing devices. The service provider device 102 may include the same or similar components to those discussed above with reference to the computing system 100.

[0024] In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the computing system 100 also includes an inquiry processing and response module 180 that may be stored in the mass storage device 120 as executable software codes that are executed by the CPU 105. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the computing system 100 is configured to execute the inquiry processing and response module 180, among others, in order to handle various aspects for providing requesting entities with information that may be useful to determine whether to extend credit services to individuals and/or businesses, for example.

[0025] In general, the word “module,” as used herein, refers to logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of software instructions, possibly having entry and exit points, written in a programming language, such as, for example, Java, Lua, C or C++. These modules may include, by way of example, components, such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. A software module may be compiled and linked into an executable program, installed in a dynamic link library, or may be written in an interpreted programming language such as, for example, BASIC, Perl, or Python. It will be appreciated that software modules may be callable from other modules or from themselves, and/or may be invoked in response to detected events or interrupts. Software modules configured for execution on computing devices may be provided on a computer readable medium, such as a compact disc, digital video disc, flash drive, or any other tangible medium. Such software code may be stored, partially or fully, on a memory device of the executing computing device, such as the computing system 100, for execution by the computing device. Software instructions may be embedded in firmware, such as an EPROM. It will be further appreciated that hardware modules may be comprised of connected logic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and/or may be comprised of programmable units, such as programmable gate arrays or processors. The modules described herein are preferably implemented as software modules, but may be represented in hardware or firmware. Generally, the modules described herein refer to logical modules that may be combined with other modules or divided into sub-modules despite their physical organization or storage.

[0026] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating various components of the data verification system 100, and their interactions, in accordance with one embodiment. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, a consumer, say Joe Smith, may provide a service provider, consent for verification of information regarding the consumer. As illustrated in step 1 of FIG. 2, the consumer may provide this consent through the service provider device 102. The consumer may also provide personally identifying information (PII), such as his name and address and/or any other PII, such as Social Security Number (SSN), data of birth, etc. The service provider may then wish to verify information regarding Joe Smith. For example, the service provider 102 (e.g., a bank, lender, financial institution, online service provider, etc.) may want to verify an income level, employment status, employer, or any other information of the consumer. As illustrated in step 2, the service provider device 102 may send an information verification request to the verification engine 100. The request from the service provider may include the consumer's PII.

[0027] Upon receipt of the request, the verification engine 100 may determine a personal identification number (PIN) associated with the consumer. In one embodiment, the verification engine 100 develops unique PINs for individuals based on information available to the verification engine 100. For example, the verification engine 100 may be part of a credit bureau that has access to credit data of millions of individuals. In this embodiment, the verification engine 100 may assign unique and persistent identifiers to each individual so that data received and transmitted regarding individuals can be uniquely correlated with an individual without identifying PII of the individual. The verification engine 100 may store the PINs in a data structure so that when a request for a PIN of a consumer is received, the verification engine 100 can initially look up the consumer in the can data structure. In one embodiment, the verification engine 100 requests pins for consumers from a separate entity and/or computing device. For example, the verification engine 100 may send a “find consumer” request to another device that uses the personal information of the consumer to correlate the consumer with a PIN. A PIN data structure may be compiled by the verification engine 100 on a periodic and/or batch basis. In some embodiments, the list may be created and/or updated daily. In some embodiments, the PINs may be encrypted before transmission outside of the verification engine 100 and/or prior to receipt by the verification engine 100 in the embodiment where a separate entity and/or device identifies PINs of consumers.

[0028] Upon receipt of the request, the verification engine 100 may also generate a transaction number for the request. At step 3, the request, including the consumer PIN, the transaction number, and a list of possible response ranges for the information to be verified are sent to the third party device. As discussed further below, the information verification request may include specific information that the third-party device can either confirm or deny regarding the individual, rather than an open ended query regarding the consumer. For example, rather than a request for the yearly income of the consumer, the information verification request may include a specific income range (e.g., the range may have been self-reported by the consumer) with a request for the third-party device to confirm that the consumer's income is within that specific income range. Similarly, in some embodiments the information verification request may include multiple possible ranges of information for verification, such as multiple income ranges.

[0029] In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the decision system 150 is physically located separately from the verification engine 100 (in contrast to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1 where the decision system 150 is part of the verification engine 100). For example, the decision system 150 may be located at the third-party entity that is owner of the data source 190A illustrated in FIG. 2. In one embodiment, the decision system 150 is provided by the entity that controls and/or operates the verification engine 100. In this embodiment, the decision system 150 includes a data structure 152 with depersonalized records from the data source 190A. For example, the decision system 150 may access the consumer records in the data source 190A in order to assign PINs to the consumer records in the same or similar manner as the PINs are identified by the verification engine 100. Thus, the depersonalized records 152 may include a series of PINs each associated with an individual consumer's data from the data source 190A. Accordingly, use of the decision system 150, and the depersonalized records 152, allows the decision system 150 to respond to information verification requests from the verification engine 100 without accessing or providing the actual data from the data source 190A or PII of the consumers. This process will be further illustrated in the following figures.

[0030] Depending on the embodiment, the decision system 150 may associate PINs with the consumer information on the data source 190A in one of various manners. In one embodiment, the decision system 150 may transmit consumer information from the data source 190A (e.g., consumer name, address, Social Security number, etc.) to the verification engine 100 and/or a separate entity or device that associates PINs with consumers. In one embodiment, the verification engine 100 and the decision system 150 each communicate with a common PIN determination entity or device to obtain PINs of consumers. In one embodiment, the decision system 150 accesses the consumer information in the data source 190A periodically, such as hourly, daily, or weekly, and transmits consumer information associated with new data on the data source 190A for assignment of PINs. Thus, a list of consumer information may be transmitted to a separate entity or device, which assigns PINs to the consumer information and returns the list of PINs to the decision system 150. The decision system 150 may then store the PINs with other information regarding the consumer from the data source 190A, without storing the PII of the consumer, in the depersonalized records 152.

[0031] In another embodiment, the decision system 150 may actually have logic to assign PINs to consumers in the same or similar manner as the verification engine 100 and/or the separate entity or device that determines PINs. For example, the provider of the verification engine 100 may encode an algorithm to determine PINs of consumers in the decision system 150 so that the personal information of the consumers (in data source 190A) does not ever need to leave the third-party device.

[0032] As illustrated in step 4, the decision system 150 may respond to the information verification request from the verification engine 100 with a transaction ID and indications of which information requested of the consumer is verified. For example, if the information verification request includes 100 pieces of information for which verification is requested by the third-party device, the response that is sent from the decision system 150 may simply include indications of whether or not each of the 100 pieces of information is verified, such as in the format of a list of 100 yes/no indicators or true/false flags, a list of only the items that are verified (or not verified), or in any other format.

[0033] Next, at step 5, the verification engine 100, using the responses from the decision system 150 at the third party, returns a response to the service provider device 102. For example, the verification engine 100 may parse the results from the decision system 150 in order to determine which information regarding the consumer is verified. Thus, if the response from the decision system 150 is a list of 100 true/false flags, the verification engine 100 may match the flags with the specific information that was requested in order to determine which information was verified by the third party (based on information in the data source 190A). As illustrated in step 5, the response provided to the service provider device 102 may include the consumer's name and the verified information. In one embodiment, the verification engine 100 may incorporate the request for such verification with a credit inquiry response, a scoring model, or any other information that the verification engine 100 can access.

[0034] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating various components of the data verification system 100, and their interactions, in accordance with another embodiment. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, as part of a loan application, a consumer, say Joe Smith, may provide a creditor, such as a lender, a loan application including consent for a credit inquiry and income verification regarding the consumer. As illustrated in step 1 of FIG. 3, the consumer may provide this loan application data to the lender device 102. The loan application may also include Joe Smith's PII, such as his address and/or his Social Security Number (SSN). The lender may then wish to obtain Joe Smith's credit report, and also to verify his income. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the verification engine 100 provides both credit data and verifies income information of consumers. Thus, the lender can advantageously request both the credit report and income verification information in a single request from the verification engine 100. In other embodiments, other information may be provided by the verification engine 100, in addition of verification of information based on data from one or more third party data sources.

[0035] As illustrated in step 2, the lender may send a credit inquiry and income verification request to the verification engine 100. The request from the lender may include Joe Smith's PII. In this embodiment, the income verification request is in conjunction with the credit inquiry. In other embodiments, the requests may be separate.

[0036] Upon receipt of the request, the verification engine 100, based on his PII, determines the PIN associated with Joe Smith, and also generates a transaction number for the request. At step 3, the request, including the PIN, the transaction number, and a number of gross income ranges are sent to the decision system 150. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the third party that is making use of the decision system 150 is a payroll processor that has information regarding payroll data of consumers in data source 190B that is associated with consumer PINs and stored in the depersonalized records 152 of the decision system 150.

[0037] In the example of FIG. 3, the verification engine 100 is requesting that the decision system 150 check whether or not the consumer's income is within each of the provided income ranges and provide back a response to each of the income range requests. In some embodiments, the number of the ranges of gross income may be about 5 to about 30. In other embodiments, the request may include an indication that all available income ranges are checked, or may request that an income range is provided by the decision system 150 without including one or more income ranges in the income verification request. In some embodiments, the decision system 150 may be located on the computing system of a payroll processor.

[0038] In some embodiments, the payroll processor may further comprise a firewall that monitors verification requests coming into the decision system 150 and or communications between the decision system 150 and the data source 190B. As noted above, the decision system 150 may process inquiries in real time or in batch mode. The decision system 150 may also comprise rules management technology, as well as other modules such as strategy management modules for processing the consumer data stored on the data source 190B and provide depersonalized data to the verification engine. For example, the decision system 150 may include logic for combining multiple data records associated with an individual (or group of individuals) in order to determine characteristics of the individuals, such as an annual gross income that is determined based on a series of biweekly payroll data stored in the data source 190B. The decision system 150 may also include match logic and various interfaces to connect to various payroll processor databases. In some embodiments, the data contained by the payroll processor may remain with the payroll processor.

[0039] As illustrated in step 4, the decision system 150 may respond to the income verification request from the verification engine 100 with the transaction ID along with an indication of whether the consumer's income falls within each of the requested income ranges, such as may be determined by the decision system 150 accessing the data sources 190. In some embodiments, the response may be in relation to a year-to-date indication of income and/or a prior year's income. In some embodiments, the response may be based on an estimated income. In other embodiments the response may provide further input. In one embodiment, the request from the verification engine may have a single transaction ID, but request information regarding more than one consumer. In this embodiment, the response may include verification information regarding multiple consumers with multiple PINs. In some embodiments, the response sent from the decision system 150 at the payroll processor does not include the specific income of the consumer, nor any other personally identifying information associated with the consumer. In other embodiments, the response may include an indication of no record found, and/or an indication of a partial match only.

[0040] Next, at step 5, the verification engine 100, using the responses from the decision system 150 at the payroll processor, returns a response to the lender device 102. As illustrated in step 5, the response may include the consumer's name, the credit information requested, as well as the gross income range. The verification engine 100 may incorporate the request for such verification with a credit inquiry response or with a scoring model. The verification engine 100 may also track the requests from the lender device 102 (e.g., in a log of requests and associated responses), for support of consumer dispute and/or other services provided to users of the verification system, for example. In some embodiments, the response from the verification engine 100 to the service provider (e.g., the lender device 102) may simply be that no income verification is required. The response from the verification engine 100 may also be to provide a gross income/taxable earnings estimate (such as employer wages) based on responses received from the decision system 150. The response may also include a report for multiple verification requests for a single consumer, which may have income reported by several payroll processors. The response may also include a report for multiple verification requests for two consumers in a joint application, which may be associated with one or more payroll processors.

[0041] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating various components of a data verification system, and their interactions, in accordance with another embodiment. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, as part of a loan application, a consumer, say Jane Doe, may provide a creditor, such as a lender, a loan application including consent for credit inquiry and asset holdings verification. As illustrated in step 1, the consumer may provide this loan application data to the lender device 102. The loan application may also include Jane Doe's PII such as her name and address, and/or her Social Security Number (SSN). The lender may then wish to verify Jane Doe's asset holdings. As illustrated in step 2, the lender may send an asset holdings verification request to the verification engine 100, which may include Jane Doe's PII. In some embodiments, the asset holdings verification request may be in conjunction with a credit inquiry, scoring model request, or request for other information that may be provided by the verification engine 100.

[0042] Upon receipt of the request, the verification engine 100 may determine Jane Doe's PIN and also generate a transaction number for the request. At step 3, the request, including the PIN, the transaction number, and a list of possible asset holdings are sent to the decision system 150. In some embodiments, the list of possible asset holdings may also include an associated minimum estimated market value for each asset type. In other embodiments, the list may also include an associated estimated market value range for each asset type. In the example of FIG. 4, the decision system 150 is located at a brokerage processing provider, so that the brokerage data (in the data source 190C) may be accessed by the decision system 150 in order to associate PINs with consumer data in the data source 190C and store the depersonalized data in the depersonalized records 152. In this embodiment, because the decision system 150 includes only depersonalized records 152, and the decision system 150 is the device that corresponds with the verification engine 100, personal information of the consumers of the brokerage processing provider does not leave the brokerage processing provider. In some embodiments, the list of types of asset holdings may be about 1 to about 30 types and/or ranges of holdings, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, commodities, and the like.

[0043] In some embodiments, the brokerage processing provider may further comprise a firewall, before and/or after the decision system 150. The decision system 150 may process inquiries in real time or in batch mode. The decision system 150 may also comprise rules management technology, as well as other modules such as strategy management modules. The decision system 150 may also include match logic and various interfaces to connect to various brokerage processing provider databases. In some embodiments, the data contained by the brokerage processing provider may remain with the brokerage processing provider.

[0044] As illustrated in step 4, the decision system 150 may respond to the asset verification request with the transaction ID and indications of which, if any, of the list of asset holdings provided is verified based on data in the data source 190C. In one embodiment, the request from the verification engine may have a single transaction ID, but request information regarding more than one consumer. In this embodiment, the response may include verification information regarding multiple consumers. In some embodiments, the response sent from the decision system 150 at the brokerage processing provider does not include the specific amount of assets held by the consumer, nor any other personally identifying information associated with the consumer.

[0045] Next, at step 5, the verification engine 100, using the responses from the decision system 150 at the brokerage processing provider, returns a response to the lender device 102. As illustrated in step 5, the response may include the consumer's name and the verified asset holding information of the consumer. As noted above, the verification engine 100 may incorporate the request for such verification with a credit inquiry response or with a scoring model, if requested by the lender device 102. The verification engine 100 may also track the requests from the lender device 102 (e.g., in a log of requests and associated responses), for support of consumer dispute and/or other services provided to users of the verification system, for example. The response may also include a report for multiple verification requests for a single consumer, which may have asset holdings reported by several brokerage processing providers. In another example, the service provider may wish to verify both a consumer's income and assets. The response may also include a report for multiple verification requests for two consumers in a joint application, which may be associated with one or more brokerage processing providers.

[0046] In other embodiments, the data verification system may also be used to perform verification of other consumer payroll data, such as for example the consumer's employer. Consumer payroll data may be verified in the context of loan applications, loan account management, employment screening, resident screening, eligibility verification, use of historical date, collections, modeling of anonymized consumer payroll data, generic demonstrations, credit verification, and the like. In some embodiments, a lender may wish to verify the employment of a consumer. In such embodiments, the response from the decision system 150 may include an active or recent termination/severance of the consumer. The response may further comprise an employer's name. The response from the payroll processors may be an indication of no match, or an indication of confirmation on an employer list. In some embodiments, if no match is found on the payroll processor databases, a direct inquiry may be sent to a specific employer. In yet other embodiments, the data verification system may be used by life insurance providers to verify healthcare claims submitted by an applicant. In such embodiments, the data sources 190 may include data sources of third parties having information regarding healthcare records, genome maps, and the like. The system may also be used by health insurance providers to verify clinical data submitted by applicants for the presence of possible preexisting conditions. As illustrated and described above, the data verification system provides responses to the service providers to verify the data they wish to verify, without providing the data residing in the actual data source 190 of the third parties, and without compromising the personally identifying information regarding the applicants as stored on those databases.

[0047] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating various components of a data verification system, and their interactions, in accordance with another embodiment. In the embodiment of FIG. 5, a consumer, say Jack Doe, may provide a bank, consent for verification of his information. The information verified may comprise, for example, the consumer's deposits over a time period, or the consumer's balance at a specific point in time or over a period of time. The period of time may be a day, a week, a month, a year, or another time period. As illustrated in step 1 of FIG. 5, the consumer may provide this consent through the bank device 102. The consumer may also provide personally identifying information (PII), such as his name, address and/or Social Security Number (SSN). The bank may then wish to verify information regarding Jack Doe based on information from multiple other banks. As illustrated in step 2, the bank may send an information verification request to the verification engine 100. The request from the bank may include the consumer's PII.

[0048] Upon receipt of the request, the verification engine 100 may determine a personal identification number (PIN) associated with the consumer, based on the PII associated with the consumer. Upon receipt of the request, the verification engine 100 may also generate a transaction number for the request. At step 3, the request, including the consumer PIN, the transaction number, and a list of possible response ranges for the information to be verified are sent to one or more other banks, each with a decision system 150, such as those discussed above.

[0049] The decision systems 150A-150N at each of the other banks may also include, or be connected to one or more data sources 190D-190N. The decision systems 150A-150N each access data of the respective bank in order to assign PINs to the consumer data and to store depersonalized data for access in response to requests from the verification engine 100. In one embodiment, the request from the verification engine is sent to each of the banks A-N concurrently, so that responses from the multiple banks are deceived at around the same time. In other embodiments, requests may be transmitted to the banks in a serial manner.

[0050] As illustrated in step 4, the decision systems 150-150N respond to the information verification requests from the verification engine 100 with indications of which information is verified by the respective bank, such as which of multiple balance or income ranges are verified.

[0051] Next, at step 5, the verification engine 100, using the responses from the decision systems 150A-150N at the other banks, returns a response to the bank device 102. In one embodiment, the verification engine 100 performs some processing of the data provided by multiple banks in order to provide a combined response to the bank device 102. For example, if balance information is requested of multiple banks, the verification engine 100 may sum the various verified balance ranges from multiple banks in order to provide a total verified balance range to the bank device 102. As illustrated in step 5, the response may include the consumer's name and the verified information.

[0052] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a decision system 150 as used in various embodiments discussed herein. As described above, in some embodiments, the verification engine 100 may on a periodic and/or batch basis receive a list of consumers from the decision systems 150 and return a list of associated PINs to the decision systems 150 at various data owning entities. In some embodiments, the decision system 150 located at various data owning entities may also contain logic to assign the PINs to the consumer records located on the data sources 190 in communication with the decision system 150. The assignment of the PINs (also referred to as “pinning”) may be performed periodically on all records on data sources 190. The pinning may also be performed on a batch basis. The PINs may be stored on a depersonalized records 152 data structure of the decision system 150, or on the data sources 190. The PINs may be updated on a periodic basis, such as daily, weekly, monthly. The updates may include assigning, removing, and/or updating PINs associated with consumer data on the data sources 190. For example, PINs associated with updated consumer information (e.g., updated address) may be associated with consumer data in the data source 190 that was not previously associated with PINs. The updates may also include deleting old PINs for deceased consumers. In some embodiments, the decision system 150 may, after associating the PINs to the consumers, generate a list of depersonalized records 152 and save such a list in a local data structure (e.g., database). The depersonalized records may comprise a list of PINs, and each PIN may have associated with it a portion of a record from the data sources 190. For example, a PIN may be associated with the income range for the consumer associated with that PIN. Such a local list of depersonalized records with pre-matched information may enable faster responses to the verification engine. The decision system 150 may include match logic and various interfaces to connect to a variety of data sources (e.g., payroll processors, brokerage processing provider, healthcare provider, etc.) and to aggregate the information verified from multiple data sources 190.

[0053] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing operational flow of the data verification engine in accordance with one embodiment. Depending on the embodiment, the method of FIG. 7 may include fewer or additional blocks and/or the blocks may be performed in a different order than is illustrated. For ease of explanation, the method will be described herein as performed by the computing system 100 and, more specifically, by various modules executing on system 100; however, the method may be performed by any other suitable computing devices.

[0054] In block 710, the verification engine of the computing system 100 may receive an inquiry regarding a consumer. The inquiry may be received from service providers, such as lenders, insurance providers, and other users of the verification system 100. In various embodiments, the inquiry may include the consumer's name and address. The inquiry may include a credit inquiry, and a request for verification of one or more of the consumer's income, assets, employment, healthcare claims, clinical data, and the like.

[0055] At block 720, the verification engine of the computing system processes the inquiry received to determine the unique PIN associated with the consumer, generate a transaction identification number (ID) as well as a list of possible response ranges associated with the type of inquiry. For example, for an income verification inquiry, the verification engine generates a list of possible income ranges. For an asset holdings verification inquiry, the verification engine generates a list of possible asset holdings types, with or without an associated estimated market value range for each type.

[0056] Next at block 730, the verification engine sends a request including the consumer PIN, the transaction ID, as well as the list of possible response ranges to the decision system 150 of the data verification system. As described above, the decision system 150 may be connected to the verification engine locally, or remotely through a network, with or without a firewall. Then, the data verification system, and more specifically the decision system 150, may perform portions of a method for which an embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 8, which will be described below.

[0057] Then, at block 740, the verification engine receives a response from the decision system. The response includes the transaction ID associated with the request sent at block 730, and verification flags associated with each item in the list of possible ranges provided by the verification engine at block 730. For example, the verification flag may be a yes or no indication associated with each of the items of the list, in the order of the items as sent in block 730, without a repetition of the items. The verification flag may instead include a checkmark or an “X” for each of the items. Any indication may be used as the verification flag to indicate a positive or a negative response corresponding to each of the items in the list.

[0058] At block 750, the verification engine provides a response to the inquiry received from the service provider at block 710. In order to provide the response, the verification engine may apply a variety of rules to process the verification flags received from the decision system at block 740. In some embodiments, the rules may include matching the verification flags to the appropriate inquiry range. In some embodiments, the rules may include finding overlaps between several ranges in order to narrow down the response to a smaller interval than the original ranges provided.

[0059] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing operational flow of the decision system in accordance with one embodiment. Depending on the embodiment, the method of FIG. 8 may include fewer or additional blocks and/or the blocks may be performed in a different order than is illustrated. For ease of explanation, the method will be described herein as performed by the decision system 150; however, the method may be performed by any other suitable computing devices.

[0060] At block 810, the decision system 150, on a periodic and/or batch basis, assign and updates PINs to consumers identified in the data sources 190 with which it communicates. For example, each consumer may be identified by a unique identifier different than the consumer's name, address, SSN and any other personal information that may otherwise be associated with the consumer. For example, the unique identifier may be a random number generated and assigned to each consumer. The decision system 150 may then use this PIN to identify the consumer across all data source(s) with which it communicates. For example, the decision system 150 may use the same identifier for Joe Smith's income information on all payroll processors' databases and for Joe Smith's asset information on all brokerage processing providers' databases. The use of this unique identifier allows the decision system 150 to communicate with the verification engine without transferring any personally identifiable information of the consumer.

[0061] At block 820, a request with a transaction ID, consumer PIN and possible response ranges is received from the verification engine (see block 730 in FIG. 7). In some embodiments, this may be received from the inquiry processing and response module of the verification engine.

[0062] Using the PIN associated with the consumer, at block 830, the decision system 150 queries one or more data sources for information associated with the consumer. For example, the decision system 150 may have a local depersonalized set of data for the consumers based on data received from one or more data source 190. The information associated with one or more of the consumers may include the consumer's income, asset holdings, healthcare claims, clinical data, and/or any other data that may be confirmed by third party information.

[0063] At block 840, the decision system 150 may process the data received from the data sources to aggregate and/or identify data associated with the received PIN. The data may then be compared to the possible response ranges received from the verification engine. The processing may include matching verification flags to each of the list of ranges received. The processing may also include finding overlaps between several ranges in order to narrow the response range if possible. The processing may also include aggregating data from more than one source for the consumer, or aggregating data from the same source for more than one consumer.

[0064] Then, at block 850, the decision system 150 generates response data indicating the verified information to the verification engine. The response data may be in any format, such as verification flags associated with each of the list of ranges. Each of the verification flags may include an indication of the data matching or not matching the range. The verification flag may be a yes/no answer, a checkmark/“X”, a green/red, or any other form of affirmative and negative response to each of the ranges received. In some embodiments, the decision system 150 may not receive any information from the data sources matching the ranges, and may generate a verification flag indicating a no match, or more input needed.

[0065] At block 860, the decision system 150 sends a response back to the verification engine using the transaction ID, and the verification flags associated with each of the ranges.

[0066] Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and from the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or states. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

[0067] While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out novel features as applied to various embodiments, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the logical blocks, modules, and processes illustrated may be made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. As will be recognized, certain embodiments of the inventions described herein may be embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features and benefits set forth herein, as some features may be used or practiced separately from others.