Patent ID: 8036984

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for automatically managing a personal financial account of a user maintained at an institution, the method comprising: retrieving, by one or more computers, a first rule based at least in part on a first set of account information received from the user, with the first rule specifying a minimum account balance for the personal financial account; retrieving, by the one or more computers, a second rule based at least in part on a second set of account information received from the user; identifying, by the one or more computers, a conflict between the first rule, which specifies the minimum account balance for the personal financial account, and the second rule, with the conflict corresponding to when execution of the first rule will cause a rules engine to violate the second rule; retrieving, by the one or more computers, a set of conflict resolution rules to resolve the conflict; resolving, by the one or more computers, the conflict based on the set of conflict resolution rules applied by the computer to the conflict between the first rule and the second rule; storing the minimum account balance in a memory device; following resolution of the conflict: retrieving account data about the personal financial account from the institution, the account data comprising a current balance of the personal financial account; retrieving the minimum account balance stored in memory; detecting, by the one or more computers, that the current balance is below the minimum account balance; determining, by the one or more computers, an amount of funds to be transferred into the personal financial account from an account at a second institution, the account at the second institution for transferring funds into the personal financial account; and causing, by the one or more computers, a transfer of funds into the personal financial account from the account at the second institution.