Patent ID: 7870025

Claim:
A method for switching vendors comprising: sending, using a processor of a computer, an invitation to a user to rate a first vendor in response to the user designating the first vendor as a payee while paying a bill from the first vendor using a financial management application (FMA) executing on the processor; receiving, by the FMA, a rating assigned to the first vendor by the user in response to the invitation; determining, using the processor of the computer, a second vendor based on the rating being below a predefined threshold, wherein the second vendor is an alternative to the first vendor; sending, by the FMA, information associated with the second vendor to the user; receiving, by the FMA, a request from the user to switch from the first vendor to the second vendor in response to sending the information associated with the second vendor; sending, by the FMA, a cancellation notice to the first vendor in response to receiving the request; transmitting user information from the FMA to a computer of the second vendor for setting up a new account in response to receiving the request; and charging the second vendor a fee for sending the information associated with the second vendor to the user.