Virtual debit card services allow you to hide your real card details when making purchases. For example, instead of using your regular card number to buy something on a dubious website, you can simply insert the virtual debit card number so that in the event of something odd about that card, it won’t affect your real debit card.
Some nifty features that you can expect from the best virtual card services include the ability to disallow card use anywhere but only where you specified, cancel or suspend a card at any time, set spending limits, make purchases with disguised bank account descriptions. create cards in seconds without the need for activation, and cards will automatically expire after a specified period of time.
There are not many virtual card services. Most of them are actually tied to existing banks, but below is a list of the best offline (no bank tied) virtual payment services of all time, one of which is completely free (the other two have free trials).
Why use a virtual debit card?
The most common reasons for using a virtual debit card are to protect against unauthorized payments and to hide your true identity. However, there are several scenarios in which it can come in handy.
You can use a virtual payment card if:
- Do not trust the website
- Do not want to cancel your subscription in the “right†way
- Do not keep a plastic card for shopping on the Internet.
- You give your number to a friend to buy something on your behalf.
- Want to hide the merchant’s real name from showing on your bank statement.
- You do not have a physical card for online purchases (but you do have a bank).
- Your purchase was refused because your physical card number is invalid or has expired.
- Want to limit your spending on a specific website.
Privacy
Privacy is a fitting name for an amazing service focused on your privacy. Like a real virtual debit card, it only keeps your information to itself and boasts some really amazing features:
- It’s completely free (absolutely no fees or commissions).
- Create single use debit cards or reusable ones.
- Link the card to one merchant so that it can only be used there.
- Set the maximum spending limit (for debiting, in total or for a month / year)
- Determine from which bank each card takes money.
- Pause and resume cards at any time
- Cancel cards to permanently disable the number
- Create cards on the fly in Chrome
- Name your virtual payment cards to track where you use them.
- Use them on the web or in an Android or iOS app
Virtual Privacy Cards have tons of really useful uses. The first is if you are shopping in an unfamiliar or unsafe place and are afraid that they will lose / sell your card number. Just create a merchant-blocked card and set a spending limit to the amount you need it for.
Another ideal use case is to sign up for trials that require billing information. Set your spending limit to $ 1 or something below your first payment, then use your card to sign up without worrying about being charged. Or create a card, enter its details into the item you’re testing, and then void the card!
All transactions from all of your virtual cards appear in your account as if it were one big account statement, which really helps you keep track of how you use your account. You can also see in one place how much you spent on privacy today and in the last 30 days.
Two-factor authentication is supported by the privacy feature to make it much harder for someone to access your cards even if they have your password.
Another handy security feature is the “private payments” option, which will display privacy transactions on your bank statement as any of these options of your choice (instead of the actual merchant you purchase from): Privacycom, H&H Hardware. Smileys Corner Shop or NSA Gift Shop.
Functions just don’t stop! You can also get cashback with Privacy; 1% back on every purchase made with a privacy card. However, you need a cashback key for it to work.
Blur
Blur is another service that allows you to create virtual maps so that you never reveal your real map number to the sites you shop on. When you’re ready to buy something, he buys prepaid gift cards on your behalf so that you use the gift card number instead of your own when ordering. All this happens on the fly and offscreen.
Using virtual cards is very simple. When it’s time to enter your card details, you can choose to create a new masked card. Blur will ask how much the purchase costs, then buy a card to cover the costs, and then immediately give you a card number to make your purchase anonymously.
You can use Blur through the desktop Chrome extension or through the Blur mobile app.
You get Blur Premium for free for the first 30 days, but then you need to purchase either the basic plan for $ 40 per year or the unlimited for $ 15 per month (or less if you choose the $ 100 per year option).
Note. Blur is actually more than just a virtual debit card platform. You can also use it to store passwords, mask your email and phone number, and block web trackers.
Skrill
Skrill allows you not only to use your virtual card on the Internet, but also to send money to friends, buy cryptocurrency, shop online and even play poker Once you have money in your Skrill account, you can create a virtual card to use anywhere online where Mastercard is supported.
Only your first virtual card is free, but it allows you to hide your real information from websites to protect your privacy and keep your funds safe. A Skrill virtual card can be in any of these currencies: USD, EUR, GBP or PLN.
You can cancel the card at any time and even choose how long the card must be active before it automatically expires and becomes useless to anyone with a number.
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