Methods and apparatus for using assignable fee profiles to define fee structures for remittance services

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and systems for receiving a selection of a service fee profile option from a user and implementing it in an international remittance system. The process includes providing, by an administrative computer server to a user computer, a data entry page for defining a class of remittance transactions, receiving a selection that includes a sender country and currency and a recipient country and currency, wherein the sender country is different from the recipient country. The process also includes providing a plurality of service fee profiles to the user computer, receiving a user selection, transmitting a fee structure to the user computer, and receiving a confirmation to assign the selected service fee profile to the currency remittance channel.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by an administrative set-up computer from a user computer, selection of a service fee profile option for an international remittance system;   providing, by the administrative set-up computer to the user computer, a data entry page for defining a class of remittance transactions;   receiving, by the administrative set-up computer from the user computer, user input selecting a sender country, a sender currency, a recipient country, and a recipient currency to define a currency remittance channel, wherein the sender country is different from the recipient country;   providing, by the administrative set-up computer to the user computer, a plurality of service fee profiles for presentation to the user;   receiving, by the administrative set-up computer from the user computer, user input selecting a service fee profile from the plurality of service fee profiles;   transmitting, by the by the administrative set-up computer to the user computer, a fee structure defined by the selected service fee profile as applied to the currency remittance channel for presentation to the user; and   receiving, by the administrative set-up computer from the user computer, confirmation to assign the selected service fee profile to the currency remittance channel.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, prior to receiving confirmation from the user computer:
 receiving, by the administrative set-up computer from the user computer, user input indicating a desire to select a different service fee profile;   providing, by the administrative set-up computer to the user computer, a plurality of service fee profiles for presentation to the user;   receiving, by the administrative set-up computer from the user computer, user input selecting a second service fee profile from the plurality of stored service fee profiles;   transmitting, by the by the administrative set-up computer to the user computer, a fee structure defined by the second service fee profile as applied to the currency remittance channel for presentation to the user; and   receiving, by the administrative set-up computer from the user computer, confirmation to assign the selected second service fee profile to the currency remittance channel.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing the data entry page for defining a class of remittance transactions comprises providing a pull-down menu for at least one of the sender country, the sender currency, the recipient country, and the recipient currency. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sender currency is the same as the recipient currency. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sender currency is different from the recipient currency. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the service fee profiles are stored in a data storage component of the administrative set-up computer. 
     
     
         7 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory device in communication with the processor and storing program instructions, the processor operative with the program instructions to:
 receive a selection of a service fee profile option for an international remittance system; 
 provide a data entry page for defining a class of remittance transactions; 
 receive user input selecting a sender country, a sender currency, a recipient country, and a recipient currency to define a currency remittance channel, wherein the sender country is different from the recipient country; 
 provide a plurality of service fee profiles for presentation to the user; 
 receive user input selecting a service fee profile from the plurality of service fee profiles; 
 transmit a fee structure defined by the selected service fee profile as applied to the currency remittance channel for presentation to the user; and 
 receive confirmation to assign the selected service fee profile to the currency remittance channel. 
   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the plurality of service fee profiles are stored in the memory device. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein providing the data entry page comprises providing a pull-down menu for at least one of the sender country, the sender currency, the recipient country, and the recipient currency. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the sender currency is the same as the recipient currency. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the sender currency is different from the recipient currency. 
     
     
         12 . A system comprising:
 a data communications network;   an administrative server computer operably connected to the data communications network;   a plurality of user computers operably connected to the data communications network and configured to communicate with the administrative server computer; and   a plurality of financial institution computers operably connected to the data communications network and configured to communicate with the administrative server computer;   wherein the administrative server computer is configured to:
 receive a selection, from a user computer of a customer, of a service fee profile option for an international remittance system; 
 provide a data entry page to the user computer to define a class of remittance transactions; 
 receive user input comprising selection of a sender country, a sender currency, a recipient country, and a recipient currency to define a currency remittance channel, wherein the sender country is different from the recipient country; 
 provide a plurality of service fee profiles to the user computer to present to the user; 
 receive a service fee profile selected from the plurality of service fee profiles from the user computer; 
 transmit a fee structure defined by the selected service fee profile as applied to the currency remittance channel to the user computer to present to the user; and 
 receive confirmation to assign the selected service fee profile to the currency remittance channel from the user computer. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the administrative server computer is further configured to transmit at least one application program to at least one of the plurality of financial institution computers, the at least one application program concerning at least one of service fees, foreign exchange conversion fees, performing administrative tasks, implementing data queries, and reports regarding remittance activities. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein providing the data entry page by the administrative server computer further comprises providing a pull-down menu to the user computer for at least one of the sender country, the sender currency, the recipient country, and the recipient currency. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the administrative server computer is further configured to, prior to receiving a selection of a service fee profile option from a user computer, store a plurality of service fee profiles in a data storage component.