Comments on: Money Mistake Monday – My Credit Card Numbers Online Syndrome.

By: Raya

Raya — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:48:53 +0000

Clever Dude:

Unfortunately David’s response to you is incorrect: Using virtual credit cards is not good if you think you may want to return your purchase.

The reason:
A virtual credit card number expires the same day it is created which means that it will no longer be valid if a credit card refund is attempted.

Also, many companies refuse to issue refunds to a different credit card.

Your best bet is to request that a credit be applied to you account.

Sorry,
Been there, done that!

Raya

By: Raya

Raya — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:08:59 +0000

Answer to Mrs. Micah:
There is no problem using a virtual cc # on a website tied to paypal, as you treat the charge as a non paypal transaction. Your generate a virtual number on the screen and then enter it the same way you would for a standard credit card entry, e.g. master charge. The beauty of this system is that you have created a “virtual” credit card that displays all the information contained in a standard credit card.

By: david

david — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:45:15 +0000

From my experience, for chargebacks the number still works as it is on record with your CC company.

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:44:02 +0000

But what if you have to return the item. How do they credit the charge to a now defunct number?

By: David

David — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:04:52 +0000

That I am not sure about, because I do not have a CC with them. Anyone?

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:02:32 +0000

I’m trying to remember—does PayPal offer them for non-PayPal credit card users who do have PayPal accounts?

I know they offer then for people using their credit cards.

By: mjmcinto

mjmcinto — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:58:35 +0000

I don’t use a virtual account number. I do however use only one card, and that card only gets used at Costco and online. It’s an amex card, and I use it b/c they have good fraud detection, and are generally pretty good about removing charges, etc.

Here’s an example (this predates the popularity of Virtual Numbers):
I’m good about checking my accounts online. My bank account gets checked daily, and the credit cards at least once weekly. I got a call from Amex one evening and they were inquiring about a charge to a website for several hundred dollars that didn’t fit w/my spending habits (I had actually logged in a few hours earlier, and it wasn’t even posted on my transactions yet). It sounded like it *might* be a site my wife would have used, but it did seem odd that she wouldn’t talk to me about a several hundred dollar purchase, so I asked them to hold for a few minutes while I verified w/my wife that it wasn’t her. A few minutes later I told them it wasn’t us, they sad no problem, thanks for the info, and that was it. It never even made it to be posted on my account where I could see it.

By: David

David — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:57:56 +0000

Thanks and glad you will give them a shot, it’s pretty cool!

By: FFB

FFB — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:27:14 +0000

I’m going to think twice now before I store my info on a website (gotta go through already used sites too). I never knew about the virtual number. That’s awesome. Thanks for the info (and sorry to hear about your friend’s charges).

-FFB