System, program and method for providing a secured credit card collateralized by a tax refund

A method of providing a secured credit card product to a customer comprising:

• preparing a tax return for a customer for a previous year;
• determining, based upon the preparation of the tax return, whether the customer is entitled to receive a tax refund;
• if the customer is entitled to receive a tax refund, offering a secured credit card product to the customer;
• determining if the customer meets eligibility requirements for the secured credit card product;
• and
• receiving the tax refund and using at least a portion of the amount of the tax refund of the customer to provide collateral for the secured credit card product of the customer.

A system for providing a secured credit card product to a customer, comprising:

• a first computer associated with a bank and a second computer associated with a tax preparation entity, the first computer being communicatively connected to the second computer by a communications network, the first computer including a processor and memory;
• and
• a computer program product stored on a tangible computer memory media associated with the first computer and operable on at least the first computer, the computer program product including instructions executable by at least the first computer to cause the first computer to perform the steps of:
• receiving eligibility information transmitted over the communication network from the second computer, said eligibility information comprising information regarding preparation of a tax return for the customer by the tax preparation entity for the customer and including an amount of a tax refund that the customer is entitled to receive;
• determining if the customer meets eligibility requirements for the secured credit card product based in part upon the eligibility information;
• and
• transmitting a conditional approval for the secured credit card product for the customer if the customer meets the eligibility requirements;
• if the customer is conditionally approved, receiving additional eligibility information over the communication network from the customer to approve the customer for the secured credit card product;
• transmitting a notification to the second computer regarding approval of the customer for the secured credit card product;
• and
• transferring at least a portion of the amount of the tax refund of the customer from a disbursement account to a collateral account to provide collateral for the secured credit card product of the customer.

A computer program product stored on a tangible computer memory media associated with a first computer and operable on the first computer, the computer program product including instructions executable by the first computer to cause the first computer to perform the steps of:

• receiving eligibility information transmitted over the communication network from a second computer, said eligibility information comprising information regarding preparation of a tax return for the customer by the tax preparation entity for the customer and including an amount of a tax refund that the customer is entitled to receive;
• determining if the customer meets eligibility requirements for the secured credit card product based in part upon the eligibility information;
• and
• transmitting a conditional approval for the secured credit card product for the customer if the customer meets the eligibility requirements;
• if the customer is conditionally approved, receiving additional eligibility information over a communication network from the customer to approve the customer for the secured credit card product;
• transmitting a notification to the second computer regarding approval of the customer for the secured credit card product;
• and
• transferring at least a portion of the amount of the tax refund of the customer from a disbursement account to a collateral account to provide collateral for the secured credit card product of the customer.