One Time Use Credit Cards Make Online Shopping Safer
Try one time use credit cards for your next online purchase.
If you’re worried about using your credit card online, you’re not alone. With hackers trying to steal personal information and identity theft at an all-time high, it’s no wonder you’re weary about providing your credit card details over the web. Don’t worry -- you’re not destined to avoid online-shopping forever. One time use credit cards may be the answer you’ve been looking for.
What’s a One Time Use Credit Card?
One time use credit cards, also known as controlled payment numbers or virtual account numbers, are a great way to shop online without compromising the security of your credit card. With one-time use credit cards, you can shop online with a credit card number that is linked back to your actual credit card without having to ever reveal your actual credit card number.
The one time use credit card number will usually expire after one use, although there are one time use credit cards that can be used for multiple purchases.
What’s the Benefit of a One Time Use Credit Card?
By using a one time use credit card, if your credit card information were to be hacked or stolen, the information would be virtually worthless to the thieves since you had already used the one time use number. This also means that you wouldn’t have to deal with canceling your stolen credit card number and waiting for your credit card company to issue another card.
How Do You Get A One Time Use Credit Card Number?
The first thing you will need to do is see if your credit card company offers the service. There are a few credit card companies that are now offering one time use credit card numbers to their customers.
Citibank Visa and Discover Card are two that are currently issuing one time use credit card numbers and Paypal also offers a one time use credit card number service. Most times you will download a program from your credit card issuer that will generate a one time use credit card number for a particular purchase.
By using a one-time credit card, you’ll be better able to manage your online shopping security and will be able to shop online without worrying about someone gaining access to your credit card information.
Comments
Jessica, just a note that all MBNA credit card affiliates (1000's of them) and their users (millions of them) have access to MBNA's Shopsafe - one time (or multiple) use virtual credit cards. I've been using it for about 3 years now.
Regards
Blik
Posted by: Blik Sem | January 3, 2006 10:24 PM
I love one-time load, use and dispose credit cards.
Yes, your private information is safe by using them.
They can be bought online at: http://www.simongiftcard.com
However, I used them to fund my Paypal quite a bit and then Paypal locked me out of my account for 2 years for using them.
I think they are the way to go and are great.
Sincerely,
Alice R. Paulsen
Posted by: Alice R. Paulsen | July 17, 2006 5:14 PM