Patent ID: 7698182

Claim:
A method for evaluating profitability and revenue recovery for telephone call connections in a telecommunication system, said method comprising the steps of: receiving a called telephone number associated with a request to make a collect telephone call from the telecommunication system; retrieving customer information from a local database in real-time, the customer information related to said called telephone number; projecting a profit margin, using a processor in real-time, for making the collect telephone call, the profit margin associated with a cost of providing a call connection to the called telephone number using the telecommunications system; calculating a customer score using the processor, the customer score based upon: said customer information; and said profit margin; wherein real-time approval of said collect telephone call request is a function of at least said customer score; accessing additional information from an external database related to: said called telephone number; refining said customer score using the processor, the refined customer score based on said additional information; wherein approval of one or more subsequent collect telephone call requests associated with said called telephone number is a function of at least said refined customer score; and selectively identifying at least one alternative billing option for calls to the called telephone number when said collect telephone call request is not approved.