Patent ID: 8255330

Claim:
A system comprising: at least one computer processor configured with software that when executed by the computer processor is configured to: electronically receive transaction data from customer-oriented terminals, the transaction data including requests for monetary transfers on behalf of customers having, and the monetary transfers from, one or more checking or savings accounts held at a financial institution; provide, in response to the checking or savings account being enrolled in an overdraft program, one or more options to the customer for linking two accounts, one of the linked accounts being one of the checking or savings accounts; access, in response to receiving the transaction data, customer account information that includes the amount of funds in the checking or savings accounts; determine whether sufficient funds exist in the accounts to cover the financial transactions; and in response to indication of a potential overdraft of one or more customer checking or savings accounts, access stored customer information; determine, based upon the stored customer information, eligibility of the customer for deferment of overdraft fees; and authorize the transaction based upon the determination; in response to indication of overdraft occurring, indicate whether to defer a fee for the overdraft; indicate whether to provide a grace period during which funds can be transferred to cover the overdraft without charging a penalty and without charging interest; and automatically transfer funds from the other linked account in response to the expiration of the grace period and to the customer failing to provide sufficient funds to cover the overdraft.