Prepaid account and card

• US 7,337,947 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2005
• Issued: 03/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Capital One Services LLC (Capital One Financial Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Capital One Financial Corporation
• Inventors: Swanson, Daniel Raymond Sr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le; Thien M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TAYLOR, APRIL ALICIA
• Application Number:
  US11/170,827
• Time in Patent Office: 978 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/379, 235380-382, 705/39, 705/41, 705/17, 705/35
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3433 the counter having monetary units
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/363 with the personal data of a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A transaction card with a prepaid amount for spending is disclosed. The card may be funded through direct deposit, savings accounts, or any other source, for instance, specified by an individual setting up the transaction card. The card may be reloaded or reissued with more money on a periodic basis, for example, to control spending per period. Balances remaining on the card at the end of the period may be returned into a savings account or other accounts, as may be specified by the individual who set up the card or other authorized persons. The card may be set up to include a protection against overdraft, for instance, the card user may be allowed to spend ten percent more than the amount prepaid on the card.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented prepaid account and card system, comprising:

a processing system operable to withdraw a predetermined amount of funds on a predetermined periodic basis from one or more source accounts, the processing system further operable to deposit the predetermined amount of funds withdrawn from the one or more source accounts to a prepaid card for spending, to transfer an unused balance on the prepaid card to one or more return accounts at an end of a predetermined period, to recharge the prepaid card on a predetermined periodic basis, and to allocate an additional amount of stored value on the prepaid card to allow a user to spend more than a stored value amount on the prepaid card, wherein

recharging the prepaid card includes reissuing a new prepaid card on a periodic basis.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein

the one or more source accounts include savings accounts, checking account, an annuity account, a trust account, an insurance account, credit account, direct deposit, or combinations thereof.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein

the one or more source account and the one or more return accounts are the same.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein

the one or more return accounts include savings accounts, checking account, an annuity account, a trust account, an insurance account, credit account, direct deposit, or combinations thereof.

5. A method of issuing and managing a prepaid account and card system, comprising:

receiving information associated with one or more source accounts;

creating a prepaid card having a predetermined amount of funds to spend in a predetermined period of time, the predetermined amount of funds supplied from one or more source accounts;

returning an unused balance on the prepaid card to one or more return accounts at the end of the predetermined period of time;

recharging the prepaid card on a predetermined periodic basis; and

providing a protection for overspending on the prepaid card, wherein

the recharging the prepaid card includes reissuing a new prepaid card on a periodic basis; and

the providing a protection includes allowing a user to spend more than a stored value amount on the prepaid card.

6. The method of claim 5, further including:

receiving configuration data from a customer setting up the prepaid card, the configuration data including at least the predetermined amount of funds, the one or more source accounts from which the funds are supplied, and the one or more return accounts to which the unused balance is returned.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein

the recharging the prepaid card includes transferring additional amount of funds to the prepaid card.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein

the recharging the prepaid card includes providing a prepaid sticker with renewed amount.

9. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of issuing and managing a prepaid account and card system, comprising:

receiving information associated with one or more source accounts;

creating a prepaid card having a predetermined amount of funds to spend in a predetermined period of time, the predetermined amount of funds supplied from one or more source accounts;

returning unused balance on the prepaid card to one or more return accounts at the end of the predetermined period of time;

recharging the prepaid card on a periodic basis; and

providing a protection for overspending on the prepaid card, wherein

the providing a protection includes allowing a user to spend more than a stored value amount on the prepaid card.

10. The program storage device of claim 9, further including:

receiving configuration data from a customer setting up the prepaid card, the configuration data including at least the predetermined amount of funds, the one or more source accounts from which the funds are supplied, and the one or more return accounts to which the unused balance is returned.

11. The program storage device of claim 9, wherein

the recharging the prepaid card includes transferring additional amount of funds to the prepaid card.