Patent ID: 8355935

Claim:
A method for transferring a data item from a financial entity to a professional service provider, comprising: obtaining authorization from a service recipient to transfer the data item from the financial entity to the professional service provider, wherein the data item is stored in an online account held by the financial entity for the service recipient, wherein the online account exists prior to obtaining authorization from the service recipient; creating, using a processor of a server computer, an information transfer registration record in response to obtaining the authorization, wherein the information transfer registration record comprises a service recipient identifier identifying the service recipient and a professional service provider identifier identifying the professional service provider; obtaining, from the service recipient, temporary financial entity credentials required to access the online account held by the financial entity for the service recipient, wherein the temporary financial entity credentials are stored in a data repository coupled to the server computer; retrieving, in response to receiving the temporary financial entity credentials from the service recipient, the data item from the financial entity using the temporary financial entity credentials; deleting, in response to retrieving the data item, the temporary financial entity credentials in the data repository, wherein the online account exists after deleting the temporary financial entity credentials; receiving an access request from the professional service provider to access the retrieved data item; authenticating, using the processor, the access request based on the information transfer registration record; and transmitting, in response to authenticating the access request, the retrieved data item to the professional service provider.