METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR APPROVING TRANSACTION CARD BASED TRANSACTIONS

A method and apparatus for approving or disapproving transactions, particularly fuel dispensing transactions, based upon transaction cards. The invention converts actual invalid transaction card account data into incremental transaction card account data which is representative of the difference between successive entries in the actual invalid transaction card account data. The incremental invalid transaction card account data is downloaded from a central location, and stored at individual fuel vendor locations, thereby minimizing the requirement to communicate with the central location while minimizing memory requirements at the fuel vendor locations. In operation, when a transaction card, for example, a credit or debit card, is presented for a transaction, the incremental invalid transaction card data is resolved into actual invalid transaction card data, and the account number of the presented transaction card is compared with the resolved actual invalid transaction card account data. The dispensing of fuel is either approved or disapproved based upon the comparison.