Shared Expense Request Tracking With Automated Payment Status Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals often fail to track or remember to pay back shared costs or contributions to a group, leading to missed payments and difficulties in managing shared financial goals or charitable causes.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that provides users with access to an online banking system to track expenses, calculate individual shares, and send payment requests, utilizing account management, notification, and payment processing logic to facilitate payments through various methods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual tracking of shared costs is used, then participants can contribute to group goals, but payments are not tracked reliably and participants forget to pay back
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated feedback mechanisms by sending payment request notifications to participants who have not yet paid their shares. The notification system provides continuous feedback about payment status, reminding participants of their obligations and enabling the initiator to track who has paid and who has not, thereby resolving the unreliability of manual tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by allowing participants to automatically receive and respond to payment requests through the online platform. Participants can view their payment obligations, make payments through integrated payment processors, and update their status without manual intervention from the initiator, reducing information loss about payment status.
2Loss of information
If the initiator manually tracks who owes money, then some payment information can be maintained, but the initiator cannot remember or remind all participants
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces the manual mechanical process of tracking and remembering payment obligations with an automated computer-based system. The online platform automatically calculates each participant's share, tracks payment status, and sends electronic notifications, eliminating the need for the initiator to manually remember and track all payment obligations, thus reducing both information loss and time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary automated notification system that mediates between the initiator and participants regarding payment obligations. Instead of the initiator directly managing all communications, the system automatically sends payment requests and reminders to appropriate participants, preserving payment obligation information while minimizing the initiator's time investment.
3Loss of information
If no systematic tracking is implemented, then the system remains simple, but the initiator does not know who has paid what amount
Solution Approach 1:
The system achieves multi-functionality by integrating multiple features into a single online platform: expense tracking, automatic calculation of participant shares, payment status monitoring, notification sending, and payment processing. This universal system comprehensively captures payment status information without requiring separate complex subsystems for each function, thereby reducing overall system complexity while preventing information loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges previously separate functions (tracking, calculating, notifying, and processing payments) into a single integrated online platform. By combining these functions, the system maintains comprehensive payment status information while avoiding the complexity of multiple separate tracking mechanisms, as the unified system handles all aspects of payment management in one place.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for facilitating participant expense tracking and payment status updates are disclosed. A system can identify an expense corresponding to one or more participants and determine a respective share of the expense for each participant. The system can determine a payment option for each participant and transmit a message to each participant including a request for payment of the respective share. The system can receive data indicative of a payment event and dynamically update, based on the payment event, a status of the expense indicating whether the respective share for each participant has been paid.