Patent ID: 8191776

Claim:
A method for funding via a prepaid card a financial product intended at a time of purchase by a purchaser and conveyed to a customer, the method comprising the steps of: (a) establishing a customer cash account in response to information provided by the customer; (b) redeeming funds allocated to the prepaid card solely as cash funds in the customer's cash account; (c) providing the customer with an option to either withdraw at least some of the cash funds in the customer's cash account or apply at least some of the cash funds in the customer's cash account to a financial product to be selected by the customer; (d) applying the at least some of the cash funds in the customer's cash account to the financial product to be selected by the customer; (e) displaying of financial products available for selection by the customer; (f) receiving the customer's selection of a financial product; (g) receiving from the customer at least one of: (i) acknowledgment of receipt of a prospectus and/or other disclosure related to the selected financial product, and (ii) consent to terms of an agreement associated with the selected financial product; and (h) applying the at least some of the cash funds from the customer's cash account to the selected financial product by an associated financial product account.