How to protect your wallet from scams and trials you cannot cancel

October 24, 2009 | Posted by Cassidy

Have you ever signed up for a free trial? of been subscribed to something you can’t cancel?

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You can protect yourself and prevent excess charges by something called a “virtual credit card”. It is a system provided by a company you probably never heard of, and likely will never deal with directly! But learn to love Orbiscom, the company behind the technology used by Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Discover, PayPal and others to create a limited account tied to a real credit or debit card.

The one I use the most is from Bank of America, and some of the features may very if you have a different credit card. If you are not in the US, or want to find other banks check out the Orbiscom web site

How it works

In it’s simplest form you go online, log in to your credit card account, and tell the site you want to create a new “Shop Safe” number. (in Bank of America’s case the name for it).

You are presented with a screen that asks you for the amount. It can be $1.00 which comes in handy for those not quite free trials that charge you $1 just to get your card number for the subscription that’s nearly impossible to cancel! Or any amount up to your card limit. And then you are asked to set an expiration date (no earlier than the end of the next month).

You get a 16 digit credit card # like 4425 2000 dddd dddd with an expiration date and a 3 digit CVS number. That virtual credit card can be used anywhere a real card can be used where the physical card is not required. Online or a brick and mortar shop (if you find one that doesn’t require the card to be present. Once the transaction is authorized, the card number is locked to the merchant. If you want to go to another merchant, you need the underlying card or a new virtual card number.

That’s it folks.

Unless

You decide to continue the subscription. In that case you can “edit an existing card” extending the expiration date and or the dollar amount.

Categories: Guard Your Money | Tags: brick and mortar, excess charges, virtual credit card | No Comments »