Patent ID: 8010446

Claim:
A method of providing a variable credit account to a consumer, the method comprising: (a) offering, by a credit issuer, a variable credit account having an open-ended loan portion and a close-ended loan portion to the consumer via a telephone call, wherein the close-ended loan portion is not rechargeable and the open-ended loan portion is rechargeable; (b) receiving an acceptance, from the consumer, of the credit issuer offer of the variable credit account during the telephone call; (c) opening, by the credit issuer, the variable credit account for the consumer based on the receiving of the acceptance from the consumer; (d) activating, by the credit issuer via a computer during the telephone call, the close-ended loan portion of the variable credit account, allowing the consumer to purchase goods and/or services using an available balance of the close-ended loan portion subsequent to the activating of the close-ended loan portion and prior to activating and allowing the consumer to purchase goods and/or services using the open-ended loan portion; (e) communicating by the credit issuer with the consumer, the communication in electronic written form or paper mail written form providing specified terms and conditions relating to the open-ended loan portion of the variable credit account for review by the consumer; (f) receiving an acknowledgement, from the consumer, that the specified terms and conditions are acceptable; and (g) activating, by the computer for the credit issuer, the open-ended loan portion of the variable credit account, subsequent to the receiving of the acknowledgement from the consumer, allowing the consumer to purchase goods and/or services using an available balance of the open-ended loan portion.