Patent ID: 8103582

Claim:
A method for maintaining a financial account associated with an account holder, comprising: maintaining, at a computer system, a first balance amount of funds in the account, the first balance amount representing a balance of the account; determining, by the computer system, that the first balance amount is less than a predetermined amount; while the first balance amount is less than the predetermined amount: operating, by the computer system, the account as a credit account; debiting, by the computer system, interest from the account when the first balance amount is less than the predetermined amount at the end of a billing cycle; receiving, by the computer system, from a first merchant, a first approval request for a first transaction, wherein the first approval request comprises a first transaction amount; determining, by the computer system, to process the first approval request as a credit transaction; and charging, by the computer system, the first merchant a credit interchange fee; determining, by the computer system, that the first balance amount changes from being less than the predetermined amount to being greater than or equal to the predetermined amount; and while the first balance amount is greater than or equal to the predetermined amount: switching, by the computer system, from operating the account as a credit account to operating the account as a deposit account, wherein the switch is triggered by a deposit of funds into the account without further instigation by the account holder; operating, by the computer system, the account as a deposit account; crediting, by the computer system, interest to the account periodically; calculating, by the computer system, an insurance payment based on the first balance amount; receiving, by the computer system, from a second merchant, a second approval request for a second transaction, wherein the second approval request comprises a second transaction amount; determining, by the computer system, to process the second approval request as a debit transaction; and charging, by the computer system, the second merchant a debit interchange fee.