Abstract: A payment validation method includes the steps of pinging a location of a cardholder via an Internet-enabled phone thereof at a merchant before using a payment card by the cardholder to make a transaction to the merchant; sending a “head-up” notification to an acquirer to include the location of the cardholder; after submitting a payment request by the merchant to the acquirer to verify information of the payment card, performing a comparison between the location of the cardholder and a location of the merchant; and completing the transaction when the location of the cardholder matches with the location of the merchant and when the payment request is verified. The payment validation method includes user customizations, including but not limiting dollar amount and the time of day which is used to trigger additional user confirmation via the phone on the payment card transaction amount and place.