Patent ID: 8725601

Claim:
A method for one or more server to facilitate a commercial transaction between an account holder and a merchant, the method comprising the steps of: the one or more server receiving from the account holder at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the commercial transaction, the at least one criterion comprising at least one of (i) at least one authorized merchant, (ii) an authorized monetary amount range per transaction, (iii) an authorized maximum monetary amount per transaction, and (iv) at least one authorized date per transaction, the at least one pre-authorized criterion comprising satisfaction of acceptance criteria of the commercial transaction before the commercial transaction is communicated to the account holder or a third party, the one or more server storing the received at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the commercial transaction; the one or more server receiving a transaction approval request from the merchant, the transaction approval request including information relating to the commercial transaction; the one or more server comparing the received transaction approval request to the received at least one pre-authorized criterion to determine whether the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is satisfied; and when a determination is made that the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is not satisfied, the one or more server denies the transaction approval request without deactivating the account holder's account, in the case of denial, the one or more server preventing (i) further communication from the one or more server to the account holder for verification of the denied transaction approval request and (ii) the further storage of the denied transaction approval request on the one or more server; and when a determination is made that the at least one criterion for pre-authorizing the transaction is satisfied, the one or more server authorizes the transaction approval request.