Buying online is very comfortable, useful and saves us from having to move or wait in lines at shopping centers and stores and we don’t have to carry the purchase home. But it carries more risks and we may be scared that our money will be stolen when we go to pay online. That is why it is recommended that we use systems such as a virtual payment card and then we will explain what it is, what it is for or what advantages it has to use them.
If you are thinking of using this type of virtual card for online payments, we will explain what they are or what their advantages are or what types there are to choose from.
What is
A virtual payment card is similar to a conventional card but designed for online purchases. It is not a physical card but it does have a number, an expiration date and a security code that we will enter when we buy online but we cannot use it in physical stores because we do not have that card in physical form unless we link it to a mobile payment app.
The great advantage of these cards is that they are not associated with our account or do not have to be. In other words, we can recharge them with the money we want or need to pay for something specific, but if it is stolen, we will not lose thousands of euros, but rather the amount we have on said card and no more than that.
Advantages and disadvantages
The main advantages are that they allow us more security and greater cost control. We can be sure that we will not be robbed of more than a small amount in case our data is stolen or we are scammed when the web is not entirely reliable. We have more security and fewer risks but it is also a good option to control expenses if you want your son, daughter, cousin or niece to pay over the Internet without it being a danger or lack of control if they are going to use that card to buy games online , coins for a video game or any other type of thing. We can control that it does not spend without limits and it is a problem for us.
The drawback is that they are not used beyond the Internet and generally have a limited expiration date, so we will have to renew them, for example. In addition, some require us to pay commissions in order to use them.
Cards available
There are many cards available that we can contract and it depends on what you want. There are some associated with a bank and they can provide you at your own branch: you create a virtual card from the bank’s own app, for example, which will allow us to create a specific number with a date and a security code that we can use only once and then discard. But there are also virtual cards that are not associated with any bank and that work as a prepaid card.
This is the case of some specific services such as Bnext or Revolut that are not only an excellent option when it comes to paying but are also cards that we can use to travel and that allow us to withdraw money from any bank if we use their physical version. Or others, such as the Correos Prepaid card that works like a normal physical card in which we will fill in the balance but that we can also use to withdraw cash from ATMs or to pay online.
