Patent ID: 8219488

Claim:
A computer data processing method for processing a payment transaction between a debit, credit or charge card cardholder and a merchant, comprising the steps of: receiving a request from the cardholder to connect to a network, said request including a cardholder password, authenticating said cardholder request and providing access by said cardholder to the network, receiving a payment request associated with the transaction between the cardholder and the merchant at a transaction processor, said payment request identifying merchant information and a transaction value, retrieving, at the transaction processor, payment card details for the cardholder from a cardholder details database, submitting a payment authorization request from the transaction processor to an authorization host for authorizing a first transaction to debit the transaction value from the cardholder payment card and credit the transaction value to a system merchant account associated with the transaction processor, the authorization request including a system merchant code associated with said transaction processor, the transaction value, and the retrieved payment card details, wherein the system merchant code identifies the transaction processor for payment of said on-line payment transaction, and forwarding information from the transaction processor to the merchant upon receipt of an authorization or to the cardholder upon receipt of a refusal of an authorization.