Patent ID: 8355988

Claim:
A method of processing a consumer-initiated financial transaction with a merchant using a consumer controlled input device in communication with a payment network and a database, the consumer using a payment account associated with the consumer and administered by a third party, said method comprising the steps of: storing merchant data within the database including data identifying the merchants registered to utilize the payment network; receiving transaction data and an authorization request at the payment network from the consumer controlled input device, the transaction data relating to the financial transaction, the transaction data including merchant identifying data that identifies the merchant involved in the transaction, the authorization request generated by the consumer controlled input device based at least in part on the transaction data and requests an authorization message from the third party indicating whether the consumer has sufficient funds to complete the transaction, the consumer controlled input device configured to transmit the transaction data and the authorization request directly to the payment network without transmission input from a merchant device in said transmission; determining that the merchant identified by the merchant identifying data is registered to utilize the payment network by comparing the transaction data with the merchant data stored in the database; forwarding the authorization request to the third party; receiving, at the payment network, the authorization message from the third party, the authorization message including one of an approval and a denial of the authorization request; and automatically forwarding the authorization message to at least the same consumer controlled input device.