WO 2016/007334 A1 - System And Method For Automed Collections Of Debts For Business - The Lens

System And Method For Automed Collections Of Debts For Business

Published: Jan 14, 2016
Earliest Priority: Jun 30 2014
Family: 6
Cited Works: 1
Cited by: 1
Cites: 4
Additional Info: Full text

Abstract

The present invention consists of an improved Billing and Collections system wherein the company or firm may create an online account and the user may select one or more of the following: language for billing, currency desired for payment, an exchange rate table preferred by the user for foreign currency payments and the amount and manner of late payment reminders, namely, whether by phone, fax, text or email. The system can automatically send out dunning communications after preselected periods of time and by preselected methods chosen by the firm or company. The system may automatically allocate payments to various accounting and tax categories.

Claims

What
1 . An improved billing and collections system comprising a CPU and data storage, a invoice for a client stating an invoice date, a description of work performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising: providing an online account with an ID and password, when logged into the account the System will display a one line list of past invoices and payments viewable by the client; at least one payment reminder to the client; means for electronic payment of at least one client invoice displayed to the client, wherein the user may click on any one line list of past invoices in order to display further details pertaining to that invoice and to make an immediate online bill payment.
An improved billing and collections system according to claim 1 further having means to log payments into the System without a client name being provided on the payment; means to gather information from the payment selected from one or more of the group comprising: client address, client phone, bank name, bank address, bank routing number, bank account number and invoice date.
An improved billing and collections system according to claim 1 further having means to log a payment into the System, means to compare the payment date to the invoice date, and means to select from one or more of the following accounts to log the payment into one of the following accounts, based upon the difference in days between payment and invoicing chosen by a set of predetermined rules: trust account, IOLTA account and a firm account.
The improved billing and collections system of claim 1 wherein after a certain number of days have passed since the billing invoice was generated and sent to the client, the System will automatically generate at least one dunning
communication to the client which is selected from the group consisting of: fax, email, tweet and text.
An improved billing and collections system according to claim 1 further provided with means for the user to select at least one discount payment from the following payment discount preferences: a discount for early payment, a discount for payment within a certain number of invoices from the bill date; a discount for entering to a payment arrangements over a period of time and then making an immediate payment.
An improved billing and collections system comprising a CPU and data storage a billing invoice for a client stating an invoice date, a description of work
performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising: entering a client payment and logging the payment into a plurality of ledger accounts and allocating the payment in the following order: 1 ) taxes; 2) hard costs, 3) soft costs and 4) fees charged to client.
An improved billing and collections system according to claim 1 further having, means to log payments into the System without a client name being provided on the payment; means to gather information from the payment selected from one or more of the group comprising: client address, bank name, bank address, bank routing number, bank account num ber and invoice date.
An improved billing and collections system according to Claim 1 the System being further provided with the following: the System will ask the client for a preferred means for communicating a payment reminder and then the System will check the client's preferred method of communication for payment reminder and the system will automatically generate a payment reminder by the means
preselected by the client.
An improved billing and collections system according to Claim 1 , the System being further provided with the following: The System may provide the user with a one line summary listing of a plurality of client invoices and the System will permit the user to click on one of the summary lines opening at least one pop up window containing detailed information pertaining to the invoice in PDF format.
An improved billing and collections system according to Claim 1 , the System
further being provided with the following: allowing the user to display a one line summary listing of a plurality of client invoices to the user where the user may sort the list by at least one or more of the following fields: payment date, work date, work description, invoice date and total charges to the client.
1 1 . An improved billing and collections system according to Claim 1 , the System
further being provided with the following: the user may display a listing of client invoices according to the security level for viewing invoices according to the name of the user.
An improved billing and collections system according to Claim 1 , the System further being provided with the following: the user may display a listing of client invoices according tot he security level permitted for viewing invoices according to the level of employee selected from one or more of the following: billing attorney, client originating attorney; secretary; paralegal and staff.
An improved billing and collections system comprising a CPU and data storage a billing invoice for a client stating an invoice date, a description of work
performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising: creating an online account with a password and ID for the client and checking a do not call list before calling the client to remind the client to make a past due payment.
An improved billing and collections system comprising a CPU and data storage a billing invoice for a client stating an invoice date, a description of work
performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising:
generating a past due payment reminder communication to the client in one or more languages preselected by the client.
An improved billing and collections method comprising the steps of: providing a CPU and data storage, creating a billing invoice for a client stating an invoice date, a description of work performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising:
-generating a one line list of past invoices showing work date, rate, details, bill amount and payments viewable by the client;
-displaying a payment reminder to the client; -providing means for electronic payment of a least one client invoice displayed to the client, and clicking on any invoice in the one line list of parts of invoices in order to display further details pertaining to that invoice.
An improved billing and collections method comprising the steps of: providing a CPU and data storage, creating a billing invoice for a client by stating a invoice date, a description of work performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising the steps of:
-entering a client payment
-logging the payment into a plurality of ledger accounts and allocating the payment in the following order: 1 ) taxes; 2) hard costs, 3) soft costs and 4) fees charged to client
An improved billing and collections method comprising the steps of: providing a CPU and data storage, creating a billing invoice for a client by stating a invoice date, a description of work performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising the steps of:
-generating an electronic invoice to the client by one or more of the following methods: fax, mail, phone system, email, text, Paypal and Bitcoin, the client making a payment and then automatically logging the payment into the System against at least one invoice selected by the client.
An improved billing and collections method comprising the steps of: providing a CPU and data storage, creating a billing invoice for a client by stating a invoice date, a description of work performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising the steps of:
- automatically providing means for generating according to a predetermined set of rules, an offer to reduce the client's bill by a certain percentage if payment is received immediately and online.
An improved billing and collections system comprising the steps of: providing a CPU and data storage, creating a billing invoice for a client by stating an invoice date, a description of work performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising the steps of:
-requesting the client provide a preferred communication method for payment reminders;
-automatically generating a payment reminder in accordance with the clients preferred payment reminder method.
An improved billing and collections method comprising the steps of: providing a CPU and data storage, creating a billing invoice for a client by stating a invoice date, a description of work performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising steps of:
-displaying to the user a one line summary listing of a plurality of client invoices to the user and allowing the user to click on one of the summary lines opening at least one pop up window containing detailed information pertaining to the invoice in PDF format. An improved billing and collections method comprising the steps of: providing a CPU and data storage, creating a billing invoice for a client by stating a invoice date, a description of work performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising the steps of:
-providing a one line summary listing of a plurality of client invoices to the user then sorting the list by at least one or more of the following fields: payment date, work date, work description, invoice date and total charges to the client.
An improved billing and collections method comprising the steps of: providing a CPU and data storage, creating a billing invoice for a client by stating a invoice date, a description of work performed, a total charge for the invoice, the improvement comprising the steps of:
-providing a security level for viewing invoices according to the name of the user; -allowing only permitted users to view invoices within their permitted security level.