Patent ID: 6999569

Claim:
A system for conducting a financial transaction by a prepaid card user with a prepaid card, comprising: a card issuer for issuing said prepaid card having first pre-encoded card identification data with an associated account, to said prepaid card user; a terminal for allowing said user to select a personal identification number, which selection allows for initiating activation of said card, and for loading said associated account with a balance, said terminal further capable of receiving, subsequent to activation, at the time of said transaction, second pre-encoded card identification data and a second personal identification number entered by said user for that transaction; a card processing center in communication with said terminal for storing said first data, first personal identification number and said balance, said center for receiving from said terminal at the time of said transaction second pre-encoded card identification data and said second personal identification number, and for verifying the transaction's validity upon matching said stored first data and first personal identification number with said second pre-encoded card identification data and entered second personal identification number.