System and method for immediate issuance of transaction cards

1. A method comprising:

providing a supply of transaction cards including a storage medium encoding a card number identifying the card to a merchant store for distribution within the store;

distributing one of said transaction cards to a customer, while said customer is in said store;

obtaining credit application information from said customer;

communicating, while said customer remains in said store, said credit application information to a remote computer system for evaluation to determine whether said customer should be approved for a line of credit that is extended through said distributed transaction card;

receiving a response to said communication indicating that said customer is approved and that said distributed card has been activated, while said customer remains in said store; and

using said distributed transaction card to transact a purchase, while said customer is in said store, wherein said activated card bears no visible marking indicating information concerning the customer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said storage medium of said activated transaction card encodes no more information than was encoded thereupon, prior to activation of said card.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said storage medium of said activated card encodes no information concerning said customer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said storage medium of said activated card encodes no personal identification number (PIN).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said storage medium of said activated card encodes only a card number.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said activated card bears no visible indication of said customer's name.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving said credit application information with said remote computer system;

transmitting said credit application information to a plurality of banks, each of said plurality of banks conducting its own evaluation of said credit application information to determine whether said customer should be approved for a line of credit that is extended through said card; and

receiving results of each of said plurality of evaluations conducted by each of said plurality of banks.

8. A method comprising:

providing at least one unassigned transaction card to an individual that owns a transaction card through which a line of credit is extended to said individual, where said unassigned transaction card includes a storage medium having a card number encoded thereupon, the unassigned transaction card bearing no visible marking indicating information concerning the individual;

associating said card number of said unassigned transaction card with said individual to whom said unassigned transaction card was provided;

receiving application information from an applicant that has been provided said unassigned transaction card from said individual, where said application information includes said card number;

examining said card number included in said application information to determine that said individual had originally been supplied with said unassigned transaction card; and

providing incentive points to an account associated with said individual's transaction card to reward said individual for having distributed said unassigned transaction card to said applicant.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

evaluating said application information to determine whether said applicant should be approved for a line of credit that is to be extended through said unassigned transaction card.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said act of evaluating said application information is performed by an entity that is different from the entity that performs said act of providing incentive points to said account.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said act of evaluating said application information is performed by a bank.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein said act of providing said incentive points to said account is conditioned upon approval of said applicant for a line of credit extended through said unassigned transaction card.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein said storage medium included on said unassigned transaction card comprises a bar code.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein said storage medium included on said unassigned transaction card comprises a magnetic strip.

15. A system comprising:

at least one unassigned transaction card including a storage medium having a card number encoded thereupon; and

a computing system configured to receive application information from an applicant that has been provided said unassigned transaction card, and to activate said unassigned transaction card so that a line of credit is extended to said applicant through said unassigned transaction card, upon an evaluation of said application information indicating that said applicant has been approved for said line of credit;

wherein said unassigned transaction card bears no visible marking presenting information concerning said applicant and encodes no information concerning said applicant upon said storage medium of said unassigned transaction card.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein said computing system maintains a database associating said card number of said unassigned transaction card with an individual to whom said unassigned card was originally supplied, where said individual owns a transaction card through which a line of credit is extended.

17. The system of claim 16 , where said computing system is programmed to:

examine said card number included in said application information to determine that said individual had originally been supplied with said unassigned transaction card; and

provide incentive points to an account associated with said individual's transaction card to reward said individual for having distributed said unassigned transaction card to said applicant.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein said computing system is programmed to enter information within a database to permit said unassigned transaction card to function as a credit card.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein said computing system is programmed to enter information within a database to permit said unassigned transaction card to function as a stored value card.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein said computing system is programmed to enter information within a database to permit said unassigned transaction card to function as a debit card.

21. The system of claim 15 , wherein said computing system is programmed to enter information within a database to permit said unassigned transaction card to function as a credit card, a stored value card, and a debit card.