Patent ID: 8606696

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, via a network from a remote computing device, a request corresponding to a prospective customer for (a) a new service contract and (b) product, wherein the request comprises customer data specific to the prospective customer and new transaction data, completion of a new transaction, including the new transaction data, that would be initially unprofitable to a seller, and the new transaction is anticipated to result in periodic payments to the seller for at least an initial period of time, wherein the periodic payments relate to the service contract; determining historic data for a plurality of past transactions based at least in part on both demographic information derived from the customer data, and one or more characteristics of at least one of the new service contract and the product, wherein the plurality of past transactions are associated with a plurality of individuals different than the prospective customer, and the historic data for each past transaction of the plurality of past transactions comprises respective purchaser data, respective transaction data related to an initial purchase made by a purchaser identified by the purchase data, wherein the initial purchase is determined to be similar to the one or more characteristics, and respective outcome data comprising at least one of default data regarding a state of completion or default of an associated periodic payment contract, and return data regarding return of at least a portion of the initial purchase; determining, by a microprocessor of a computing device, historic risk data related to the plurality of past transactions, wherein the historic risk data reflects an assessment of the outcome data of the plurality of past transactions; determining, by the microprocessor, a risk prediction of the request, wherein the risk prediction is based at least in part upon the historic risk data; determining, by the microprocessor, an authorization decision based at least in part upon the risk prediction, wherein the authorization decision comprises an approval or a denial of the request; and providing, to the remote computing device responsive to the request, an indication of the authorization decision.