one-time-use credit card number

August 6, 2022 3:21 PM

I want to sign up for an online service, but I don't want to give them my regular credit card number. For one thing, random web site; for another, they want to automatically charge $159 one year from now, and won't let me turn that off without canceling access to the entire service for the rest of the year. Is this Visa gift card service, linked from this visa.com page, a legitimate and safe answer to this conundrum?

My bank doesn't seem to offer one-time card numbers as a service, although I have sent an inquiry about this (I checked some years ago, and the answer way 'no' then).

Thanks for any help.

posted by amtho to Grab Bag (16 answers total)

If you are in the apple universe, this is exactly what Apple Pay does - for every purchase it gives a one time cc number so no vendors ever have access to your actual number.
posted by fancyoats at 3:23 PM on August 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Ramp is oriented for businesses but might be usable for you. It generates virtual cards that can be used for limited amounts of money.
posted by migurski at 3:56 PM on August 6, 2022

Any reason you can't use a reloadable Visa gift card?
posted by VyanSelei at 3:57 PM on August 6, 2022

Response by poster: What's the best way to purchase a reloadable Visa gift card? I've had no truck with them hitherto.
posted by amtho at 4:29 PM on August 6, 2022

Go to your local supermarket, pluck a reloadable Visa card from the display of gift cards, and ask the cashier to load it with $[x].
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 5:17 PM on August 6, 2022

I accomplish this using the service at Privacy.com. I can generate 1-time numbers (I do this to segregate services in case of a CC breach) and give them a max limit per month, per year, or even state 1-time use.
posted by alchemist at 5:18 PM on August 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Hey - I looked at a display of gift cards today, but only saw cards for retailers.

The link in my question is an online/instant source -- does anybody know if that is reputable?

Will check Privacy.com.
posted by amtho at 5:21 PM on August 6, 2022

I looked at a display of gift cards today, but only saw cards for retailers.

It can be hard to find the visa/mastercard gift cards among all the retailer cards, but they're usually there - at supermarkets, drug stores, targets, staples, etc. Sometimes I've had to pay for them in cash and other times I haven't - not sure if that's related to the card or the store.

If you've got a capital one card it might offer virtual numbers.
posted by trig at 7:39 PM on August 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

If you have a Citi credit card you can easily get a virtual number, but if you fail to revoke it before the next billing cycle then whatever service will still be able to bill you. Vanilla gift cards are a real brand, available at retail (I have gotten them as corporate perks), but refillable cards, or cards that allow you to fill them with a specific amount and not just a preset $50 or whatever, may be harder to find. When I worked at Target the only Visa, Mastercard, or Amex cards we sold were fixed-value, Target branded cards, which confused people every day. "They can only use it at Target?" "No, it can be used anywhere Visa is accepted." "But it says Target." "That's because Target is selling it." "They can use it anywhere?" "Anywhere Visa is accepted, yes." Every single day.

Please note that if you use a gift card the merchant will often authorize a nominal $1 charge just to make sure the number is valid before running the actual charge through. On a credit card the authorization disappears after the full charge goes through, but you'll never get that dollar back on a gift card. If you need to pay $159 online, put at least $160 on the card.

Personally, whenever I sign up for a thing I note its next billing date and put an event in the calendar a few days before that. For example, just today I redeemed an offer for a few months of Apple TV+, and the confirmation email said it would start billing me on November 13. So I put a thing in the calendar on November 10 that says "Cancel Apple TV+". This doesn't solve the problem of a random web site being random, but it does prevent unwanted charges from legitimate services as long as I act on the calendar notification in a timely manner.
posted by fedward at 8:11 PM on August 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

I've often used non-reloadable VISA gift cards for one-time purchases. They usually cost about $5 more than the amount of the card. Some services that want to take out recurring payments won't accept them, but I've used them for a variety of things. I've gotten them at Walmart, Target, Kinney Drugs, CVS, and local grocery chains. Sometimes you have to look a bit for the VISA logo on the package, as they usually come in festive, gift-looking packaging.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:32 PM on August 6, 2022

Seconding privacy.com. I've used them for a few years, both for one-time use cards, and for ones that have a different "billing" location than where I live. I've been happy with the service, but you do have to give them banking information.

Walmart and American Express run a prepaid debit card called Bluebird, which is the cheapest reloadable prepaid card around right now.
posted by toxic at 10:24 PM on August 6, 2022

Capital One offers virtual cards. If you have good credit, I'm pretty sure you can have a new credit card from them in about 30 seconds to get access to the virtual numbers.
posted by COD at 6:34 AM on August 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

If you have an Apple credit card (related to, but not the same as Apple Pay), you can obtain a one-time-use CC number on demand through your phone or via the web.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:13 AM on August 7, 2022

Response by poster: Follow up: I called Staples and Harris Teeter, and both said they had Visa gift cards in stock. Went to Harris Teeter, found the massive wall o'cards, but it took me a loooong time to finally locate the Visa/non-retail-store cards.

They were publicly accessible, but at least the one I bought had no actual value until I purchased it, at checkout, and the balance-adding step was built into the store's checkout process.

Used it successfully on Amazon, but I'm having trouble (so far) using it on the service I chose -- not surprising, I guess.
posted by amtho at 10:57 AM on August 9, 2022

This probably isn't your issue, but the prepaid debit cards you get in the US don't work with international merchants (sorry - I'm remembering this only now).
posted by trig at 11:06 AM on August 9, 2022

Response by poster: Yes, I totally ran into that problem. The service is based in the UK.

So, I think perhaps we can all learn from this.

Also, I really want to start a petition limiting this kind of requirement.
posted by amtho at 7:09 PM on August 9, 2022