Systems and methods for authenticating an identity of a user of a transaction card

A computer for authenticating an identity of a user of a transaction card as a legitimate cardholder, said computer communicatively coupled to a memory and an input device, said computer configured to:

• receive a registration request from the user using the input device, the registration request including at least one of an account number and a name associated with the transaction card;
• generate an authentication message in response to the registration request;
• transmit the authentication message to an issuer of the transaction card, the issuer providing the authentication message to the user;
• and
• receive the authentication message from the user entering the authentication message into the input device to authenticate the identity of the user as the legitimate cardholder.

A system for authenticating an identity of a user of a transaction card as a legitimate cardholder, said system comprising:

• an input device associated with the user;
• an issuer computer system associated with an issuer of the transaction card;
• and
• an interchange computer system associated with a network interchange, said interchange computer system communicatively coupled to a memory, the input device, and said issuer computer system, said interchange computer system configured to:
• receive a registration request from the user using the input device, the registration request including at least one of an account number and a name associated with the transaction card;
• generate an authentication message in response to the registration request;
• transmit the authentication message to an issuer of the transaction card, the issuer providing the authentication message to the user;
• and
• receive the authentication message from the user entering the authentication message into the input device to authenticate the identity of the user as the legitimate cardholder.

A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium for authenticating an identity of a user of a transaction card as a legitimate holder, the user using an input device communicatively coupled to a computer, the computer configured to store and process the computer program, the computer program comprising at least one code segment that:

• receives a registration request from the user using the input device, the registration request including at least one of an account number and a name associated with the transaction card;
• generates an authentication message in response to the registration request;
• transmits the authentication message to an issuer of the transaction card, the issuer providing the authentication message to the user;
• and
• receives the authentication message from the user entering the authentication message into the input device to authenticate the identity of the user as the legitimate cardholder.