1. A method for facilitating a loyalty program having loyalty points, said method including: providing loyalty points from a system administrator to a third party, wherein said third party is at least one of a retailer and a merchant; maintaining a database of accounts, wherein each of said accounts include a balance of loyalty points associated with a third party; receiving, from said third party, criteria for awarding said loyalty points to an account associated with a consumer ID; receiving consumer ID and at least one of purchase data, manufacturer item identifier, retailer item identifier and product description data; calculating a first number of loyalty points based upon said criteria, consumer ID and at least one of purchase data, manufacturer item identifier, retailer item identifier and product description data; deducting said first number of loyalty points from said account associated with said third party; and, increasing said first number of loyalty points in said account associated with said consumer ID.