There are many benefits of using Credit Card and Debit Card online, but there are many risks as well.
There can be a charge on your card for a service you don’t use or forgot to cancel. If your credit card information is leaked in a data breach, it can be misused. There is always this type of risk when you transact using your credit or debit cards online.
How to protect your debit or credit card when shopping online.
The simplest way to protect yourself is not to shop online at all. But that will be too harsh. How can anyone stop using their credit cards or debit cards online just like that? So here’s another solution.
Use virtual credit cards
Pretty much every Bank these days of service where you can create virtual credit cards which are one-time usage only. You can add funds to it and generate a virtual debit card, use that card to shop online. Once you have used it, it is not usable again.
Virtual credit cards have been in existence for more than a decade, but it is still not used by the majority of people.
The reason is, you have to create a virtual credit card every time you want to do a transaction, which is a bit of inconvenience in today’s world where people won’t do you get things done in just a few taps on mobile phones.
Another reason for the heart is that many services do not support virtual credit cards because virtual credit cards have been abused. There are buyers and sellers for virtual credit cards and, some people buy virtual credit cards, and abuse trial offers bi services like Netflix, another subscription-based premium service. So here comes the second-best option
Use Prepaid Credit Cards
Prepaid credit cards are just like credit cards, but we have to load money into them. And that is how you can protect against online fraud.
Get a Prepaid credit card, add it to different services you use online, and add only the amount you will spend for the month. On subscription services is online shopping.
This way, even if your card number gets leaked in a data breach and someone tries to abuse it, there won’t be sufficient funds or fewer funds for them to use.
Almost every Bank also offers prepaid credit cards. Are you can get it from another bank by just applying for it. It’s worth the effort.
To use prepaid credit cards because a few bad experiences happened with me with credit cards in the past. For example, I signed up for a trial of a product that offers a 7-day trial, and it charged an annual subscription fee just on the second day.
The Prepaid cards prevent you from these Surprise Payments on Forgetting to Cancel A Subscription.
If you have to choose between using a credit card or a debit card for online spending, try using a credit card since the customer service of credit cards is more responsive.
The charges on a credit card can be reversed if it is being misused. The Bank resolves complaints quickly, and then it resolves complaints of Debit Card since it is their money that is being transacted, not the money from your savings account.
