Systems and methods for determining insurance decisions based on social network data

Abstract

A system for underwriting using community and/or social networking based data includes an automated insurance underwriting platform for rating and pricing insurance policies through the accessing and evaluating of community, social and business network based information. Community or social network rating data may be analyzed and weighting factors may be applied to the community or social network rating data. An underwriting decision for the potential entity to be insured may then be transmitted based at least in part on the community or social network rating data.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer system for determining insurance decisions by an insurance entity, comprising:
 a communication device configured to receive rating data from one or more community or social network sites, the rating data generated by one or more users, other than the insurance entity, of the one or more community or social network sites, and associated with an entity;   one or more insurance computer processors coupled to the communication device; and   one or more memory storage devices in communication with said one or more insurance computer processors and storing computer-readable instructions, which when executed by said one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
 apply one or more weighting factors to the community or social network rating data, to determine weighted community or social network rating data, wherein said one or more weighting factors comprise at least one of: a community or social network site credibility rating factor applicable to all rating data from a community or network site, a reviewer's credibility factor applicable to all rating data from one of the users of the one or more community or social network sites, an amount of reviews or amount of ratings factor applicable to all rating data from one of the users of the one or more community or social network sites, a current or dated information factor, and a specificity of data factor; and 
 determine an insurance decision relating to the entity based at least in part on the weighted community or social network rating data. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further adapted to be executed by said processor to, prior to applying the weighting factors, conduct key word searches on text based recommendations relating to the entity to identify recommendations indicating a satisfactory experience and recommendations indicating a poor experience. 
     
     
         3 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the insurance decision comprises one or more of: a premium adjustment decision, an insurance approval or denial decision, a referral for enhanced underwriting decision, and a rating decision. 
     
     
         4 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the rating data comprises values of at least one of: a star based rating, a grade based rating, a transaction based rating, and a recommendation based rating. 
     
     
         5 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by said one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to determine the insurance decision based on at least one of: historical loss information, risk information, and a standard industrial code. 
     
     
         6 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the insurance decision is in connection with an application for at least one of: a personal insurance policy, a business insurance policy, an automobile insurance policy, and a home insurance policy. 
     
     
         7 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more insurance computer processors to determine the weighted community or social network rating data based at least on scale rating data from a first one of the community or social network sites and recommendation data from a second one of the community or social network sites. 
     
     
         8 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the scale rating data comprises one of a grade and a number of stars. 
     
     
         9 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein more established and highly frequented social or community network sites have relatively higher credibility factors, and newer, less established sites have relatively lower credibility factors. 
     
     
         10 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein relatively more current ratings have a relatively higher current or dated information factor, and relatively less current ratings have a relatively lower current or dated information factor. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method for determining insurance decisions by an insurance entity, comprising:
 receiving, by a communication device, rating data from one or more community or social network sites, the rating data generated by one or more users, other than the insurance entity, of the one or more community or social network sites, and associated with an entity;   applying, by one or more insurance computer processors coupled to the communication device, one or more weighting factors to the community or social network rating data, to determine weighted community or social network rating data, wherein said one or more weighting factors comprise at least one of: a community or social network site credibility rating factor applicable to all rating data from a community or network site, a reviewer's credibility factor applicable to all rating data from one of the users of the one or more community or social network sites, an amount of reviews or amount of ratings factor applicable to all rating data from one of the users of the one or more community or social network sites, a current or dated information factor, and a specificity of data factor; and   determining, by the one more computer processors, an insurance decision relating to the entity based at least in part on the weighted community or social network rating data.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising transmitting, by the communication device, the insurance decision to a device of the entity. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the insurance decision is a referral for enhanced underwriting decision, and the method further comprises determining a referral for enhanced underwriting responsive to determining that a threshold of negative or adverse comments or ratings has been exceeded by the rating data associated with the entity. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising, prior to applying the weighting factors, conducting key word searches on text based recommendations relating to the entity to identify recommendations indicating a satisfactory experience and recommendations indicating a poor experience. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the insurance decision comprises one or more of: a premium adjustment decision, an insurance approval or denial decision, a referral for enhanced underwriting decision, and a rating decision. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising increasing a weighting factor associated with rating data responsive to determining that the rating data includes one or more of image, video, and audio information. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more weighting factors further comprise a value of job factor. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
 receive rating data from one or more community or social network sites, the rating data generated by one or more users, other than the insurance entity, of the one or more community or social network sites, and associated with an entity;   apply one or more weighting factors to the community or social network rating data, to determine weighted community or social network rating data, wherein said one or more weighting factors comprise at least one of: a community or social network site credibility rating factor applicable to all rating data from a community or network site, a reviewer's credibility factor applicable to all rating data from one of the users of the one or more community or social network sites, an amount of reviews or amount of ratings factor applicable to all rating data from one of the users of the one or more community or social network sites, a current or dated information factor, and a specificity of data factor; and   determine an insurance decision relating to the entity based at least in part on the weighted community or social network rating data.   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to, prior to applying the weighting factors, conduct key word searches on text based recommendations relating to the entity to identify recommendations indicating a satisfactory experience and recommendations indicating a poor experience. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to transmit data indicative of the insurance decision to a communication device for transmission to the entity.