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Many banks (Citi, for example, has it at https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-Account-Numbers https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-A

Many banks (Citi, for example, has it at https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-Account-Numbers https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-Account-N...) have offered this for almost a decade. Visa and MC both support it at the network level globally, and are in fact the reasons that virtual account numbers work. Consumers have routinely ignored this feature. Like so many security things, it's just not sexy enough for them to care and take on the hassle of older clunky solutions. The rise of digital payments and the movement away from a plastic card is making this much easier on people, by embedding the virtualization in the flow automatically instead of making users take steps to generate and manage. But those who cared could always do this. It's just that so few cared.

kshacker 8y ago
The last time I tried citi virtual card (1-2 years back), the interface was useless to be helpful. It ate up so much time to setup or verify card details that I did not want to use it. And then once when a merchant was declined, for no reason, citi customer support did not understand virtual cards themselves.
howard941 8y ago
Too few creditors offer the feature even though the networks support it. PNC wouldn't, their customer service lady looked at me like I had three heads when I asked her if they supported it. Amex's blue card used to and may still support one shot numbers that were very easy to generate online. Capital One's "Eno" browser plugin generates merchant-specific card numbers but the plugin makes it difficult to generate numbers to use off-web although the backend validates the merchant name and rejects charges that don't match the expected merchant as I discovered with a Dell-bound number on the Dell factory clearance site.
- dontbenebby 8y ago
  Capital One once denied me the ability to pay for a hotel room in Canada, after I had explicitly contacted them in advance with my travel plans, had booked the plane tickets on the same card, and paid some small items in the airport back home and upon arrival. Given how many transactions they process it should have been abundantly clear I was using my card in a normal manner. I would never trust them to handle anything more complex like virtual card numbers.
Zenst 8y ago
For me it is the first time I'm aware of it being offered in any form, though I'm in the UK and gave up upon credit cards years ago. But certainly from my perspective and online and tv adverts locally, i've seen nothing and I certainly would of noticed that or of watched the whole youtube advert without skip as something I'd be interested in. Glad that its a bigger thing than beyond Apple, so I'm wondering if it is a case of it being a customer ignored feature, or case of it and it's virtues being bestowed upon the customer. I can't say how customer relations and usage of such features and how the customer is informed in America. I am aware though that credit card usage in America is more prevalent than the UK. Least that was the case years ago, may of changed. Certainly debit cards are more utilised in the UK and may of become more common in America. Though it does make a credit card more palatable for me again, so thank you for making me aware of this, shame all those credit card spam and junk mail offerings never mention such a feature, but I'll shall enquire.

kshacker 8y ago

The last time I tried citi virtual card (1-2 years back), the interface was useless to be helpful. It ate up so much time to setup or verify card details that I did not want to use it. And then once when a merchant was declined, for no reason, citi customer support did not understand virtual cards themselves.

howard941 8y ago

Too few creditors offer the feature even though the networks support it. PNC wouldn't, their customer service lady looked at me like I had three heads when I asked her if they supported it. Amex's blue card used to and may still support one shot numbers that were very easy to generate online. Capital One's "Eno" browser plugin generates merchant-specific card numbers but the plugin makes it difficult to generate numbers to use off-web although the backend validates the merchant name and rejects charges that don't match the expected merchant as I discovered with a Dell-bound number on the Dell factory clearance site.

dontbenebby 8y ago
Capital One once denied me the ability to pay for a hotel room in Canada, after I had explicitly contacted them in advance with my travel plans, had booked the plane tickets on the same card, and paid some small items in the airport back home and upon arrival. Given how many transactions they process it should have been abundantly clear I was using my card in a normal manner. I would never trust them to handle anything more complex like virtual card numbers.

Zenst 8y ago

For me it is the first time I'm aware of it being offered in any form, though I'm in the UK and gave up upon credit cards years ago. But certainly from my perspective and online and tv adverts locally, i've seen nothing and I certainly would of noticed that or of watched the whole youtube advert without skip as something I'd be interested in. Glad that its a bigger thing than beyond Apple, so I'm wondering if it is a case of it being a customer ignored feature, or case of it and it's virtues being bestowed upon the customer. I can't say how customer relations and usage of such features and how the customer is informed in America. I am aware though that credit card usage in America is more prevalent than the UK. Least that was the case years ago, may of changed. Certainly debit cards are more utilised in the UK and may of become more common in America. Though it does make a credit card more palatable for me again, so thank you for making me aware of this, shame all those credit card spam and junk mail offerings never mention such a feature, but I'll shall enquire.