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You could just use a normal Citi or BoA or any other card that generates virtual card numbers and that'll also lock it to that vendor after the first charge. So
by mehrdadn 8y ago
You could just use a normal Citi or BoA or any other card that generates virtual card numbers and that'll also lock it to that vendor after the first charge. So that they couldn't even hit it for $0.80 if they wanted to.
- jedberg 8y agoThe 80 cents didn’t go through. I got a warning instead. And my regular cards don’t offer the level of control privacy.com Does.
- kccqzy 8y agoLast time I checked, both Citi and BofA give me virtual card numbers via a Flash plugin. I really have no desire to run Flash any more. Has that changed?
- koolba 8y agoNope it hasn’t changed. It’s the same FIA Card Services Flash app from 2005.
- 10bass 8y agoIt hasn't changed for either one, sadly. [1] [2] [1]: https://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/accounts-cards/shopsafe.go https://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/accounts-cards/shopsaf... [2]: http://www.citibank.com/transactionservices/home/card_solutions/commercial_cards/global_corp_sol/products/vca_demo/virtual_card.htm http://www.citibank.com/transactionservices/home/card_soluti...
- gowld 8y agovirtual card #s is a great system, why did it rot? I assume it's because the whole industry prefers data-brokering your purchase history, joined on credit-card # to establish identity.
- Karunamon 8y agoThat's one good reason, another is probably pushback from merchants. Having these virtual cards completely shuts down the "free-trial-we-hope-you'll-forget-and-let-us-ding-you-for-a-month-or-two" business model that's so popular for online services.
- kiriakasis 8y agoAlso usability, most people just don't care enough. (which is reasonable often)
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoNot sure you need merchant pushback there - if it leads to unexpected charges then it's more likely to lead to inability to pay, or short payment, which gives the credit card companies their chance to feed off the client.
- mook 8y agoWouldn't the bank still know your full purchase history (since they know what numbers are tied to you)? So they'd in fact get a leg up on the competition, who get a more distorted view?
- mbreese 8y agoBut they don’t get the invoices of what you bought, just the total payment amount.
- woolvalley 8y agoUnless they work with an analytics system that mastercard, visa & amex participate in to link card numbers to invoices for better advertising & affiliate data. I know FB & Google purchase something like that from one or two credit card companies, so I wouldn't be surprised if merchants were in to it too.
- tzs 8y agoCapital One gives virtual card numbers via a Firefox or Chrome extension, which you use on the check out page of the site where you want to use the virtual card. It is quite convenient. The virtual cards don't have separate spending limits, though, so it is not quite as good as BofA or Citi for use with questionable sites.
- jiveturkey 8y agothe real feature of privacy.com is the ability to use any address. who cares if your CC is compromised? get one just for recurring balances and another for everything else.
- ryacko 8y agoOutside of the top ten SFW subscription services, they are all prone to being hacked.
- jiveturkey 8y agoI don't follow your argument. Yes, any merchant is going to get hacked. My argument is, I don't care a whit about my CC being stolen. My liability is zero and I can just get a new card. The only thing I care about is the hassle of setting up a new card for recurring balances. Hence, why I need at least 2 cards. OTOH I do care about my name, address, and other PII being stolen. That is where privacy.com is a help. But not because it protects me from CC loss.