Shopping Security with Prepaid Debit Cards
With the rising rates of online identity theft and credit card fraud, more and more consumers are turning to methods such as prepaid debit cards to ensure their shopping security. Prepaid debit cards or reloadable cards, are temporary cards that a consumer can load a set amount of money onto and use them just like normal debit cards. They have a PIN number associated with them, but they only are associated with the small amount of money loaded to the card and no more.
A consumer can get a prepaid debit card anywhere, but if they are going to use it for online shopping or general shopping, they need to get one that is associated with a bank. This does not have to be associated with their primary bank, but a bank in general in order to use the card anywhere they go. Prepaid services are now offering “virtual cards” that you can attach to a physical prepaid debit card. These cards will have their own 16-digit account number and you can use them online, but there is no physical card. You can set the amount of money that will be allowed on these virtual cards and use them to shop securely.
If a scam artist or thief gets a hold of your prepaid debit card number, they will only have access to the limited funds that are available on the card. Nothing more or less. That means that you can protect your money that is physically in your bank account and only run the risk of losing what was on the prepaid debit card. In some cases, prepaid debit card companies will offer theft protection. Therefore a consumer pays a small fee and the bank will reimburse any stolen funds from the card.