Patent ID: 7401049

Claim:
A system for providing a prepaid card account maintained by a a first country financial institution located in a first country, said prepaid card account configured for effecting payment of at least one of goods and services in a second country, said system comprising: a said first country financial institution system which issues a prepaid card account which is used in said second country, wherein said prepaid card account is identified by an account number including a second country payment network authorization code formatted such that said second country payment network authorization code is capable of being processed by said second country payment network, and wherein said second country payment network authorization code is issued to said first country financial institution system by a second country financial institution and said second country payment network authorization code is not recognized by said first country financial institution system; and, wherein said second country financial institution is configured to communicate with a merchant system, wherein said merchant system is located in said second country, wherein said merchant system is configured to receive said account number and a transaction request related to a transaction using said prepaid card account, wherein said transaction request includes said second country payment network authorization code; and wherein said merchant system is configured to transmit said second country payment authorization code to said second country payment network; wherein said second country payment network is configured to transmit said transaction request and said account number to said first country financial institution system such that said first country financial institution system authorizes the prepaid card account, debits the prepaid card account at said first country financial institution system and transmits an authorization to said second country payment network; and, wherein said second country payment network further transmits said authorization to said merchant system to facilitate the transaction and said merchant system receives a settlement of the transaction from said first country financial institution.