A financial card is issued to a user that is set to behave like a prepaid card as the card can only have a positive balance, and funds may be added to this balance to be spent. At any time, the user may change the financial card to behave like a credit card, thereby allowing spending on credit. Alternatively, the financial card may be issued as a credit card and may be changed to a prepaid card. The financial card has a single account number, regardless of whether it is set to behave like a prepaid card or a credit card, and regardless of whether it is switched from one operating mode to another.