A system for exercising third-party control over a first person's food and dining ordering, comprising:
- a payment facilitation server comprising a first plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory of, and operating on a processor of, a first computing device, wherein the plurality of programming instructions, when operating on the processor, cause the first computing device to:
- receive user account data for a registered user from a user device via a network, wherein the data received from the registered user may be encrypted;
- store the user account data in a database;
- receive a deposit request from the registered user, the deposit request comprising financial information necessary to deposit funds from the registered user's financial account;
- process a funds transfer from the registered user's financial account to the stored user account so that stored funds are associated with the registered user;
- associate a subordinate user with the registered user, wherein the subordinate user may be authorized to use the stored funds;
- receive a merchant authorization from the registered user, the merchant authorization comprising at least one merchant where the stored funds may be used to conduct a transaction;
- store the merchant authorization in the stored user account;
- provide zero-step authorization wherein a subordinate user is automatically authorized to perform a transaction at a specific restaurant or retail location using funds associated with the registered user, the authorization comprising the steps of:
- comparing of the restaurant or retail location against any available stored merchant authorizations for the subordinate user to determine whether the subordinate user is authorized to perform the transaction at the restaurant or retail location;
- and
- comparing any stored merchant authorizations against the registered user corresponding to the funds used in the transaction to determine whether the merchant authorization was provided by the registered user;
- permit the transaction using the stored funds corresponding to the registered user to process only if the subordinate user is authorized via the zero-step authentication;
- and
- transmit a notification over the network to the registered user based on the attempted transaction;
- and
- a payment facilitation device comprising a second plurality of programming instructions stored in a memory of, and operating on a processor of, the payment facilitation device, wherein the second plurality of programming instructions, when operating on the processor of the payment facilitation device, cause the payment facilitation device to:
- detect a wireless mobile device registered to the subordinate user;
- establish a wireless connection with the wireless mobile device;
- obtain a device identifier for the wireless mobile device;
- send the device identifier to the payment facilitation server;
- receive customer information for the wireless mobile device from the payment facilitation server;
- display a photograph of the user associated with the wireless mobile device for confirmation of the identity of the subordinate user;
- transmit transaction details to a mobile device of the registered user for approval, the transaction details comprising a transaction amount;
- receive authentication of the transaction details from the registered user mobile device;
- and
- send the transaction details to the payment facilitation server for processing of the transaction.