Virtual Credit Card..!! What the Heck..!!

With all the hackers in the news you might be feeling a bit more hesitant to offer up your sacred credit-card digits online. One secret weapon aims to keep identity thieves at bay: virtual credit-card numbers

What's the Need of Virtual credit card

• You have good reason to be nervous when using your credit card number to shop online. After all, you may know little or nothing about the company you're buying from, and your credit card information is at risk of being compromised in a data breach.

• Using a virtual credit card number is one way to make your Internet shopping excursions more secure.

• Many people aren't aware of these services and not all banks offer them. Here are a few tips on safely using a virtual credit card number.

What is a Virtual Credit Card?

• Virtual Credit Card (VCC) is a one-time usable credit card with a preloaded amount and comes with limited time of validity. It is the safest way to pay online.

VCCs Benefits:

• Though I have a credit card now, I still use virtual credit for online transactions where free trials are offered upon entering the credit card.

• When you use the virtual number, the bank that supplied it charges your purchase to your regular credit or debit card, but hackers never gain access to the underlying credit card information

• All of these services are designed to protect your regular credit card or debit card account number from identity thieves by generating a virtual one especially when you buy things online from an unfamiliar website

• Most numbers generated by your company's software are either one-time use usually with a dollar amount for those cases.
• You can set time frame of the card  
• Set a spending limit.or 
• Limited to one online merchant. 

Practical Example:

• In Bank of America's Shop Safe program, for example, you can set the maximum spending amount to $1 and the virtual number to only be valid for 2 months.

• You get a lot of trial offers where one need to signup with a credit card to available the trial offer, but are required to cancel it before the trial offer expires otherwise after that they bill my credit card without any notice. 

• For these, always use VCC say one dollar( one Rupee). So your must be able to get more benefit from the offer than worrying about the automatic re-bill because they cannot re-bill your card with their huge fees.

• Various financial institutions maintain some sort of virtual credit card program. Check with your bank or card issuer to see what options are available.

Don’ts:

• Do not use this virtual credit card where physical goods are delivered at your doorstep upon presentation of the card to the delivery boy.

• Do not use this card where recurrent payments are made because it expires in a month or so. 

I hope this article would be of help regarding Virtual Credit Card..!!

Share your views..they are highly appreciated.