Patent ID: 7275046

Claim:
A method of accessing substantially real-time financial information of account holders in a computerized system, the substantially real-time financial information describing a first account of a first account holder being stored on a first record keeping system, a second account of the first account holder being stored on a second record keeping system, a third account of a second account holder being stored on a third record keeping system, and a fourth account of the second account holder being stored on a fourth record keeping system, the first record keeping system being different from the second record keeping system and the third record keeping system being different from the fourth record keeping system, the first account holder being different from the second account holder, the method comprising: (a) receiving an identifier of a financial intermediary by a first device from a user; (b) receiving identification of a selected account holder by the first device, the selected account holder identification being indicative of at least one the first account holder, the second account holder, or a combination thereof, the selected account holder identification being associated with the first account stored on the first record keeping system and the second account on the second record keeping system if the selected account holder identification is indicative of the first account holder, the selected account holder identification being associated with the third account stored on the third record keeping system and the fourth account on the fourth record keeping system if the selected account holder identification is indicative of the second account holder; (c) receiving a command by the first device from the user to obtain information associated with the selected account holder identification; (d) transmitting requests by the first device to each of the respective record keeping systems associated with each of the selected account holder identification substantially simultaneously, the first and second requests requesting information associated with the selected account holder identification; and (e) receiving responses by the first device from the respective record keeping systems associated with the selected account holder identification, the responses including substantially real-time financial information associated with the selected account holder identification.