UK virtual credit cards (VCC)

zzzrd

Hello Everybody
I have been looking into virtual credit cards for several months and found nothing in the UK apart from Revolut. In the USA however they seem to be spoilt for choice on "blue chip" established virtual credit card providers. Capital One ENO, Citi, Bank of America, Privacy.Com etc etc.
I guess there are different hoops they need to jump through to meet FCA rules, bit surely there is a huge market in the UK for VCC.
I'm particularly interested in protecting my source credit card details online which VCC does, but also managing subscriptions using "onetime disposable" VCC. 
I don't trust the new start up Revolut, they have no track record, have very poor comms, and not part of a big trusted group like Citi. Also they don't offer disposable VCC.
Rather than discuss the pros and cons of Revolut please can someone suggest different UK VCC options.

I know that Google Pay/ wallet and Apple Pay work through a single fixed VCC. The problem with these is they tend to be contactless only and you can't manage subscriptions using them. So for example once Netflix has your "fixed" VCC then they can keep deducting subs indefinitely. A disposable VCC only works for a one time use (initial sub) then dies, so Netflix (as an example) can't take more than one sub and then the service stops.

Thanks
Z

Sandtree

Temporary/virtual cards are not particularly relevant to subscriptions:

1) For reoccurring subscriptions a Continuous Payment Authority has to be established and you already have the right to cancel the CPA by talking to your card issuer

2) In most cases cancelling the payment method doesnt stop the renewal and so instead you still are liable for the payment if you don't actually cancel the subscription. A good proportion of those that have to declare "YES" to "have you ever had insurance cancelled or voided" is because they stopped the payment method and not the renewal and so their next years policy was voided for non-payment.

There did used to be UK providers of One Time Credit Card numbers but I cannot remember for certain who it was... a google suggests Cahoot, AIB and First Trust (a NI bank) all used to offer it but ultimately it was withdrawn so you would assume not enough interest in them.

Virtual cards in the UK are just where there are no physical cards, they are fairly common in prepaid credit card market and moderately common in the business card space but those can be reused as many times as is desired.

zzzrd

The point about cancelling the subscription is correct. But this does not negate the risks of sharing real card details over the internet with any companies, including subscription service companies.


The comment " Temporary/virtual cards are not particularly relevant to subscriptions" is incorrect.

Check out the service offering and benefits of Privacy.com website in the US to see the value of VCC. 
Can't think why VCCs are needed and popular in the US market of 300 million consumers who embrace online shopping and transactions, but not in the UK market? Only that the UK customers are unaware/ not informed about VCC.

VCC cards are not just about being intangible, it's about single use. The whole point is not to make them reusable. Single use VCC provides assurance/ protection against fraud through reuse.

Sandtree

For a start be careful with the "VCC" term as in the UK it means simply cards without a physical version and those do exist as already mentioned but they are just the same as a physical card and can be reused many times. What you are talking about happens to be virtual but is a one time use number and that is the key component that you seem to be interested in.

Secondly, also remember we have much stronger consumer rights in the UK whereas the USA is much less nanny state.

There is a theoretical benefit in terms of compromised data (be it a subscription or one off purchase) but in the UK you are basically innocent if you say a transaction was fraudulent unless the bank etc can prove otherwise and so you have to weigh up what is only a hassle of having to get a new card number every couple of years that your card gets stolen or have to generate a new card number with each transaction/each new merchant. On the surface it feels more hassle than simply dealing with the exceptionally occasional fraud.

If you want to provide a link to what Privacy.com say about how their cards help with subscriptions then happy to read but their website is terrible for an uninformed reader coming to it. They even have nonsense statements like "virtual cards are great for online purchases — and they also offer benefits that a physical and virtual card can't provide"... so virtual cards offer benefits that virtual cards cant provide?

You can somewhat mirror the effect of the system by using UK virtual cards but they will be prepaid cards and so you'd only fund your "amazon pre paid card" when you want to make an amazon purchase. Not as neat a solution and it would cost you the S75 protection on larger purchases but if you are that concerned about fraud it may be an option for you.

Zellah

OP, why the sheer paranoia about using regular cards online? Do you ever avoid crossing any public road in case  you get run over by the bus?

zzzrd

Sandtree. You are informed and make some good points, I can see you are being helpful which is appreciated. Thanks.

On your point that the term VCC is synonymous with multi use intangible cards. This is like the Monty Python line that "all fish are halibuts", in fact it's the reverse. Ie not all VCC are multi use, rather all multi use and all single use intangible cards are VCC.

You go onto say " we have much stronger consumer rights in the UK whereas the USA is much less nanny state." This is no great revolation, and of course I agree with this comment. But multi-use VCC improves financial data security, what has your comment (about consumer rights) to do with not allowing UK consumers access to improved security offered by single use VCC?
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With regard to Zellah's absurd contribution...
so why do people bother with any safety measures at all?
Why do people use antivirus software?
Why bother having a fire brigade if it's unlikely your house will burn down?
It's a safety measure.
Just because you have no idea of what this means, don't think everybody is as small minded and naive as you.

northwalesd

I think you've had your answer in the second post. there used to be several providers, they weren't taken up and with little no interest were withdrawn. If people were clamouring for them, providers would be falling over themselves to get them out there.

zzzrd

Yes. I'm afraid you're right

gt94sss2

Not quite a virtual card as the card number remains the same but Jaja change the CVV code shown in their app for online transactions each time they show you the card details
So if you do an online transaction with these, your card details can't be reused as the CVV expected the second time will be different.

Yahoo_Mail

gt94sss2 said:

Not quite a virtual card as the card number remains the same but Jaja change the CVV code shown in their app for online transactions each time they show you the card details
So if you do an online transaction with these, your card details can't be reused as the CVV expected the second time will be different.

Unless the retailer doesn't use CVV verification...

gt94sss2

Yahoo_Mail said:

gt94sss2 said:

Not quite a virtual card as the card number remains the same but Jaja change the CVV code shown in their app for online transactions each time they show you the card details
So if you do an online transaction with these, your card details can't be reused as the CVV expected the second time will be different.

Unless the retailer doesn't use CVV verification...

The only one I know who doesn't is Amazon