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Virtual Card Providers: Taking a Good Look

Featured image by QuinceCreative via Pixabay

These days, with the introduction of various types of credit cards, it has become easy for cardholders to make purchases. Another type of card is called a virtual card. This type of card can be either a credit card or a debit card. In this article, let’s look at these types of cards.

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What Is a Virtual Card?

When you make online transactions via credit card, your information is shared with the store site. There is a possibility that someone might misuse this information.

Although there are always security measures in place, there have been cases where users’ privacy has been violated while using credit cards. This is where virtual credit cards come into play. A virtual credit card is one of the valid international and nonphysical cards that is a good option for making online purchases and international online payments. When you are using a virtual card for payment, only the information on the card that is necessary for payment goes to the vendor or merchant.

In general, we have to say that a virtual credit card allows you to keep safe both your personal information or the information for your business. That makes this type of credit card useful for online shopping and international payments.

How Do Virtual Cards Work?

Virtual cards provide global services that allow you to use these cards internationally.

In the process of creating such cards, users need to complete the verification and registration procedure. At this step, users should upload the scan of some specific documents such as the valid residential address, contact number, and bank account.

As soon as the document is verified, users are free to use their virtual cards. In this regard, they should link their card with their main account. Users can use one of the available methods such as local bank transfer, local credit/debit card or PayPal, and so on. When the user receives the funds on the balance of their virtual card, they can then use it to make purchases.

Benefits of Virtual Debit/Credit Cards

Although many of the features of credit cards are similar to virtual credit cards, these cards do not have a physical form and there are a few limitations to them. Of course, these restrictions, along with the features provided for virtual credit cards, make the use of these types of cards much more secure. One of the best features of these cards is their free use and no need to pay an annual fee for them. The following are the main features and benefits of virtual cards:

  • Ability to connect to PayPal and cryptocurrency wallets
  • One year expiration date
  • Less cost than physical cards
  • Fast and immediate issuance
  • Having an internet bank to inquire about account turnover
  • High-security factor
  • Buy from sites like Amazon
  • Online hotel reservation and preparation of foreign flight tickets
  • No fee will be deducted when using the virtual card for online payment

What Are the Best Virtual Debit/Credit Cards in 2022?

Currently, many platforms offer virtual types of cards. Choosing the best platforms in this regard is not easy. Yet, we gathered the most trustable and popular platforms. We believe, from the list below, you can find the one that can meet all your requirements and needs. Square, however, will not support payments for high-risk industries.

  • DECTA
  • Soldo
  • IbanDirect
  • Wise
  • Payoneer
  • Square
  • Mercuryo
  • Crypterium

Are Virtual Cards Safe?

Virtual prepaid cards provide dynamic information for online retailers, so each time you use a virtual card to pay, the verification data is different from the previous series. The virtual card system has a large number of secure numbers dedicated to this task to increase the level of security. Online retailers typically store customer payment information for reuse in future purchases. This can help make payments and purchases easier.

But what happens if hackers gain access to a store of customer information in retailers’ data and steal their critical information? In that case, when you use physical cards, you are more likely to be attacked by hackers. But when you use virtual cards, the stored information can only be used once. So even if a hacker wants to gain access to this information, it’s practically useless. In the technology used for virtual cards, a token is created for each purchase, to prevent the storage and misuse of the static card information.

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Virtual Debit Card vs. Physical Debit Card Comparison

In general, the virtual debit card provides the same services as the physical one. During a time of using a virtual debit card, you should link it to a debit account. The same way as when you use a physical card to make a purchase, the amount will be taken from your main account. Additionally, users can make maximum limitations for spending and control all purchases. These features make virtual debit cards quite secure.

Virtual Credit Card vs. Physical Credit Card Comparison

All the services of physical credit cards are available in virtual credit cards. Additionally, the virtual version provides some extra features. With a virtual credit card, for example, you can control your finances, keep your personal details private, increase your security, decrease your spending limits, close or lock it at any time, or make a pause at any time. You can unlock or unfreeze it at any time, too.

Conclusion

With daily improvements in the sphere of technology and the electronic world, we can see global change, especially in the financial and banking areas. Such services and features, like virtual cards, can help many people to control their financial activities, be accepted in any country, and not worry about the security of their money. Here, we have provided information about virtual card providers and how this banking service can help you.

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