Online shopping is all the rage these days as it gives you access to top
brands & innumerable products from both India and abroad. You can now buy
virtually anything from electronics, clothing and grocery to fruit &
vegetables on the internet.
However, you must remember that not all shopping portals are safe &
when you enter your credit card details, including the CVV number, you expose
your entire credit limit to frauds. Be wary of online transactions where there
are chances of your credit card details being exposed.
Though there are safety measures that can be adopted to ensure
transaction security, sometimes payments have to be made on sites that are
non-secure. To address such dilemmas, banks have launched virtual credit cards,
which are a one-time transaction, limited-period cards.
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| Adhil Shetty, BankBazaar.com |
Free Service..
Virtual credit cards are, as the name suggests, online cards that are not
issued physically. It is a free service offered by banks to customers who wish
to make an online payment using their credit card.
The major products offered under this facility in India are SBI - Virtual
Card, ICICI VCC, Axis Bank e-wallet card, HDFC NetSafe and Kotak netc@rd.
Although each bank has named the product differently, the principle
remains the same.
16 Digit Card Number..
You can use this facility by accessing netbanking & providing your
card details. Thereafter, the bank will provide you a virtual credit card with
a 16-digit card number, expiry date and CVV number.
You can top up the virtual card with whatever amount you need to make a
payment for and the requisite amount is credited by the bank from your account.
Safeguards..
There are certain important features that make virtual credit cards safe
& useful if used correctly. A customer is allowed a minimum credit limit of
Rs. 100 and a maximum credit limit of Rs. 50,000 per transaction per day.
The virtual credit card is valid for 24 hours to 48 hours, though ICICI
bank allows a longer expiry date. You can make only one payment with the
virtual card wherein you can exhaust the credited balance or / a part of it. If
there is any balance left, it is credited back to your account.
This facility is available to the primary cardholder only and not to the
secondary cardholder.
In transactions where you may have to show the credit card the payment
was made with, virtual credit cards can not be used.
For instance, if you book an e-ticket, the credit card has to be shown at
the airport - the virtual credit card will not be valid in this case.
Since a virtual credit card does not have a physical existence, it can
not be cloned, making it highly secure for all transaction purposes.
Only online..
For all practical purposes, virtual credit cards can only be used online
& are the perfect solution for online shopping.
There may be instances where transactions can be carried out over the
phone; in such cases, a virtual credit card is useful only if the sales
executive undertaking the transaction is using the online payment channel on
behalf of the customer.
A virtual card can be generated with your debit card as well. In this case, the amount topped up into the
virtual card is debited from your savings bank account. Another good option is
the e-wallet, which is generated and set up against your savings bank account.
These options come with the same provisions and limitations as that of a
virtual credit card. The only difference is that in this case the balance
amount on the card is transferred back to your savings bank account and
deducted immediately from your bank account. It is not billed against your
card.
Apart from the banks mentioned above, the virtual card facility is
offered by many private websites too. Since for topping up a virtual credit
card, you have to provide your credit card details, it is important to ensure that
the private site is secured too.
The biggest benefit of a virtual credit card is that it is completely
controlled by you in terms of validity, credit limit and usage. Therefore, you
need not worry about losing it or its misuse.
About the writer..
The writer Mr. Adhil Shetty, is CEO, BankBazaar.com
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