4 ms·

I wonder how hard it would be to generate synthetic credit card numbers for each subscription service and then just cancel that "card". I feel there is a whole

I wonder how hard it would be to generate synthetic credit card numbers for each subscription service and then just cancel that "card". I feel there is a whole cadre of consumer tech that is defensive against corporate taxes/tolls on our time. Eg: auto phone tree navigator, only allowing calls from double opted in contacts etc.

Buttons840 1y ago
Sometimes the company will continue to seek payment and put the missed payments on your credit report. That should be illegal as well. If people stop paying for a continual service, like a streaming service or a magazine, then the service should just stop; companies shouldn't be able to accrue credit and continue seeking payment, just cancel the service and be done. If something like a magazine wants a year payment upfront, then let them charge for a full year before the first magazine is delivered.
57473m3n7Fur7h3 1y ago
There are many banks that offer virtual cards. Meaning you can generate unique numbers and individually disable those card numbers. A related thing is, with Revolut you have disposable cards that are only possible to charge a single time. Unfortunately I have had a bad time trying to use disposable cards. One time I tried it the merchant did a single reversible charge for like a dollar to verify the card and then they couldn’t charge the actual amount so the purchase failed. Another time for a subscription service (I wanted to try their free 30 day trial without forgetting to cancel in time) they apparently got metadata telling them the card was disposable and they refused it so I had to use the non-disposable card number after all.
- DaSHacka 1y ago
  Can you not instead set the cap at a certain amount? You can do that on privacy, and can also set it to reset the cap after a certain amount of time (for subscriptions)
dewey 1y ago
There’s many services providing virtual credit cards for exactly that purpose: https://www.privacy.com/ https://www.privacy.com/

Buttons840 1y ago

Sometimes the company will continue to seek payment and put the missed payments on your credit report. That should be illegal as well. If people stop paying for a continual service, like a streaming service or a magazine, then the service should just stop; companies shouldn't be able to accrue credit and continue seeking payment, just cancel the service and be done. If something like a magazine wants a year payment upfront, then let them charge for a full year before the first magazine is delivered.

57473m3n7Fur7h3 1y ago

There are many banks that offer virtual cards. Meaning you can generate unique numbers and individually disable those card numbers. A related thing is, with Revolut you have disposable cards that are only possible to charge a single time. Unfortunately I have had a bad time trying to use disposable cards. One time I tried it the merchant did a single reversible charge for like a dollar to verify the card and then they couldn’t charge the actual amount so the purchase failed. Another time for a subscription service (I wanted to try their free 30 day trial without forgetting to cancel in time) they apparently got metadata telling them the card was disposable and they refused it so I had to use the non-disposable card number after all.

DaSHacka 1y ago
Can you not instead set the cap at a certain amount? You can do that on privacy, and can also set it to reset the cap after a certain amount of time (for subscriptions)

dewey 1y ago

There’s many services providing virtual credit cards for exactly that purpose: https://www.privacy.com/ https://www.privacy.com/