User Managed Spending Plan Category Limits
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers often struggle to manage their credit card spending effectively, as they may overspend due to available credit limits, and need tools to control expenses in specific areas while maintaining budget flexibility for varying expenses.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for managing credit card spending by allowing users to set a managed spending limit within their credit card account's overall limit, applied to specific purchase categories, which allocates purchases and generates spending reports, enabling users to track and control their spending.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If consumers use the full credit limit available, then they have maximum purchasing flexibility, but they cannot effectively control spending in specific categories
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the overall credit limit into separate sub-limits for different spending categories (e.g., groceries, entertainment, dining). This segmentation allows consumers to control spending in specific categories while maintaining the ability to make purchases across multiple categories, resolving the contradiction between overall flexibility and category-specific control.
2Ease of operation
If consumers set strict budget limits, then they can control spending, but they lack flexibility for necessary expenses that exceed the budget
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic budget limits that can be adjusted in real-time based on user actions. When a consumer encounters a necessary expense that exceeds their category limit, they can temporarily increase the limit for that specific transaction or category. This dynamic adjustment maintains spending control for routine expenses while providing flexibility for unexpected necessary expenses.
3Loss of information
If consumers manually track every expense, then they can identify problem areas, but it requires significant time and effort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs automated tracking systems that monitor and categorize expenses without requiring manual consumer intervention. The system automatically tracks purchases, categorizes them according to predefined categories, and updates spending limits accordingly. This self-service approach provides accurate spending information while eliminating the time and effort consumers would otherwise spend on manual tracking.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for managing credit card spending, including receiving a managed spending limit for a credit card account set by a user, where the managed spending limit does not exceed a credit limit for the credit card account, and where the managed spending limit is applied to a purchase category to obtain a managed spending plan, receiving an authorization query for a purchase associated with the credit card account, allocating the authorization query based on the purchase category to obtain an allocated purchase, responding to the authorization query based on the allocated purchase and the managed spending plan, and generating a spending report for the credit card account based on the allocated purchase and the managed spending plan.