Datacard storing personal and financial data for product application and payment

A datacard (2) stores personal and financial (e.g. account) data relating to a cardholder. The datacard (2) is used in conjunction with a card reader to provide a single source of information for making an application for a product e.g. a passport, driving license or financial product, obviating the requirement to provide multiple information documents and fill in multiple forms. The data may be stored in a chip memory of the datacard (2), or partially in a magnetic strip on the datacard (2), and partially in a related database. Upon reading of the datacard (2) by the card reader, the card reader presents selection means to enable predetermined categories of data to be accessed. The data may be transferred to another destination (14) to form the basis of a product application (6, 8). The datacard (2) may also be used in retail transactions to effect payment from one of multiple sources (22), data relating to each of which is stored on the datacard (2). The datacard (2) may be PIN or password protected.