Patent ID: 7124111

Claim:
Apparatus for providing a customer with an opportunity to request an adjustment to said customer's account, comprising: a network interface for sending and receiving data over an electronic network; a service charge adjustment system coupled to the network interface, the service charge adjustment system performing at least the functions of: receiving a request from the customer to make an adjustment to the account, wherein the request for adjustment relates to a charge or fee posted against the customer's account; delivering the request to an automated interface, wherein the automated interface performs at least the functions of: (1) retrieving at least one business rule from a business rules database, and (2) applying the at least one business rule to arrive at a decision regarding the request, and wherein said automated interface performs each of the following: (1) validating the existence of a service charge, (2) determining the cost-effectiveness of granting the request, (3) checking to see if the customer has a special status, (4) determining if a bank error has occurred, (5) checking to see if the customer is a high value customer, (6) rating the profitability of granting the request, (7) checking to see if the customer has made at least a predetermined number of previous requests, (8) ascertaining if the customer has been granted at least one courtesy adjustment, and (9) determining if the request is justified; automatically rendering a decision on the request using the automated interface; and presenting the customer with the decision with respect to the request, wherein the decision is one of the following: granting an adjustment request, denying an adjustment request, and referring a request to an external system for further consideration.