Patent ID: 7480634

Claim:
In a system wherein a credit card is used to charge a purchase amount for purchases, a method for allowing a user to save a specified savings amount when using the credit card, the method comprising the computer-implemented acts of: associating the credit card with an investment account for the user, the investment account including a pooled account that aggregates funds from a plurality of users that have been issued cards associated with a savings program thereby increasing the pool of total funds that can be invested by the plurality of users issued cards associated with the savings program, the pooled account enabling each of the plurality of users issued cards associated with the savings program and that do not individually submit savings amounts sufficient to meet minimum investment amounts for registered securities to invest along with the other plurality of users issued cards associated with the savings program in order to meet the minimum investment requirements for the registered securities; receiving from the user an indication of registered security allocations, the registered security allocations indicating how any separate savings amounts submitted on behalf of the user are to be invested in corresponding registered securities associated with the established investment account; receiving an indication that the user made a purchase using the credit card for a specified purchase amount; prior to billing the indicated credit card purchase: a computer calculating a separate savings amount to loan to the user for investment in the user's indicated registered security allocations, the calculation of the separate savings amount triggered by the purchase, the separate savings amount based on the purchase amount of the purchase, the separate savings amount being less than the minimum investment amount for the user's indicated security allocations; the computer loaning the separate savings amount to the user for investment in the user's indicated registered security allocations such that the loaned savings amount can be invested on behalf of the user prior to billing for payment for the loaned savings amount from the user, wherein the loaned savings amount is charged to the credit card along with the purchase amount and not as a charge associated with a separate credit account; and the computer adding the loaned savings amount to the pooled account in the name of the user prior to receiving payment for the loaned savings amount so that the loaned savings amount can be pooled with savings amounts of the other plurality of users issued cards associated with the savings program in order to meet the minimum investment amounts for the user's indicated registered securities.