Third party credit card

A computer-based method for allocating funds in preestablished accounts for use by customers, comprising:

• creating for each customer a customer account file containing a record of funds deposited for said customer;
• automatically transferring periodically to said account file depositor funds for use by said customer;
• limiting the amount of funds in said customer account file that may be spent on particular classes of goods and services in response to command instructions from the fund depositor;
• and
• verifying each transfer from said customer account file requested by said customer to determine whether the requested funds exceed the limit set for the goods or services to be purchased.

A system for allocating funds in pre-established customer accounts comprising:

• a controller processor programmed:
• (a) to process data, (b) to create for each customer a customer account file, and (c) to transfer funds from customer account files to transferees selected by said customers, in response to command instructions;
• an input device for supplying command instructions to said controller processor;
• and
• a data storage device associated with said controller processor in which file records of said customer account files created by said controller processor are stored, including information on the amounts of funds deposited for said customers;
• wherein said controller processor is programmed (a) to process and store information in said storage device for each customer account, in response to command instruction from fund depositors, setting periodic transaction limits for particular classes of goods and services;
• and (b) to process fund transfer command instructions issued by said customers by determining whether the requested funds exceed the transaction limit set for said goods or services to be purchased.

A computer-based method for allocating funds in preestablished accounts for use by customers, comprising:

• creating for each customer a customer account file containing a record of funds deposited for said customer;
• setting periodic transaction limits on the amount of funds in said customer account file that may be spent on particular classes of goods and services in response to command instructions from the fund depositor;
• and
• verifying each transfer from said customer account file requested by said customer to determine whether the requested funds exceed the transaction limit set for the goods or services to be purchased.