No Need to Fear Online Shopping With Credit Cards
By Teresa Ambord
You may have an understandable phobia about using credit cards online. With identity theft running rampant, you have good reason to be nervous. And credit card issuers are doing their best to make online shopping safer.
Here's one great way to increase your online shopping security: temporary credit cards, also called, vanishing cards.
Okay, the cards don't exactly vanish, but effectively, the credit card number does. Several credit card issuers have begun to offer virtual single-use card numbers that have numbers which will expire in a short period of time, usually one or two months. If the credit card does happen to fall into the hands of a hacker, it would be of little use. The card can only be used on the Web site where you made your initial purchase.
This system was developed by Orbiscom, a payment security provider. The service sets tighter controls on your personal information, and, if there is any monkey business, they can instantly begin to track the fraudulent activity. Credit card issuers who offer this type of card include Citibank, MBNA, and Discover.
Limitations
Here are some things you can't or would not want to do with a temporary credit card.
- Paying monthly expenses such as utility bills would be inconvenient since you would have to replace the card monthly.
- Pre-ordering items such as unreleased DVDs if the card number would expire before the merchandise is available.
- Picking up theater tickets.
- Confirming airline, hotel, or rental car reservations. To do these things, you have to have a credit card number that exists apart from the Web.
Discover
Discover Card has a set of rules all its own. While the card number is temporary and randomly generated, the expiration date is the same as your permanent card. So though the card is convenient, it is less secure than the other temporary cards. Also unlike the other temporary cards, Discover temporary cards can be used to pay monthly expenses, and to pre-order items.