Instant virtual credit cards are the newest wave in electronic monetary purchasing, with many features to recommend it.
What is the virtual credit card? It is just like a regular credit card but it differs in several ways. You do not have a solid piece of plastic in your wallet. The card exists only online. It is assigned to you, under your name. Unlike many plastic credit cards, most are prepaid. They are linked to a funding source, such as PayPal, your bank account or savings account. These cards are preloaded with a set amount of money, as a rule. When the zero amount is reached, the card can be reloaded. With the PayPal Virtual Credit Card, if there is no money in your PayPal account, the backup account for the PayPal account will be debited. Visa, Master Card and PayPal are the major players in this new virtual credit card so far. The security these cards offer far surpasses the plastic credit card for online purchases.
Security of use is by far the greatest feature of the virtual credit card. Security is ensured because each time you go to a website that offers the virtual credit card option; you can make a purchase with this card without using your own debit or credit card number. Each time you use your virtual credit card you are given an account or identifier number only for that purchase. The next time you make an online purchase using this card another number will be assigned for that purpose. This helps prevent identity or credit card theft. So far, the virtual credit card is only being used for online purchases.
There are also drawbacks to the virtual credit card. If you have a balance on this card and your card expires, you will lose it. Also, if you return merchandise that was charged to this card you will not get a refund. This doesn’t apply to all but is a general feature of this type of card.
While this newest technology is only for online purchases now, it is likely that in time credit cards will not carry the same account number year after year. Identity theft and credit card number theft has reached astronomical proportions, costing most credit card companies and users either directly or indirectly. Hackers, scammers and credit card thieves have caused us to have to pay more for financial services due to rampant criminal credit card use. By changing credit card account numbers with every purchase it will become extremely difficult to use someone else’s card without direct permission. With no refunds, however, purchasers must use them carefully.
Having this type of credit card does not guarantee that a user won’t have issues with settling credit card debt especially if the account is mismanaged. It doesn’t also not designed to replace an existing credit card in an effort to erase credit card debt. This type of credit card can still lead anyone to financial mess if managed improperly.