SAN DIEGO Mitek, a pioneer in remote mobile deposits technology, announced this morning it has been issued a U.S. patent on its application allowing consumers to transfer their credit card balances via mobile devices, which is currently being piloted at San Diego County Credit Union.
The patent for "Systems and Methods for Obtaining Financial Offers Using Mobile Image Capture," the company's 16th U.S. patent, describes the process of capturing an image of a credit card statement and being presented with organized, targeted offers to transfer the balance.
In May, San Diego County CU rolled-out the system which allows Visa card holders to transfer their credit card accounts over, using an Apple iPhone or Google Android, from other financial institutions to a San Diego County CU Visa credit card. Several other institutions are preparing to launch the new technology, according to Mitek.
The consumer simply snaps a photo of their current credit card statement coupon. Then, within seconds, the Mitek imaging system processes the request and validates the data, allowing the organization to quickly present options for transferring the existing balance. Consumers in turn can get a lower credit card rate and easily transfer their existing balance to the new issuer and financial institutions increase profitability by obtaining new credit card customers and higher balances from existing customers.
"Over the past three decades, Mitek has invested heavily to create the key building blocks needed to perform Intelligent Mobile Imaging. These tools are substantially different from classic optical character recognition methods, which we have extended and expanded for use in mobile applications," said Michael Strange, chief technology officer at Mitek.
