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How to Use a Virtual Credit Card Number for Online Purchases

Some credit card issuers will allow you to generate a one-time-use credit card number that is tied to your account, but since the number is no good after 1 purchase you don't have to worry about someone stealing your information. This is ideal for online shopping.

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Steps

Bank of America Shopsafe®
1. Sign into your online banking account and go to ShopSafe®
2. Enter a credit limit for the temporary number
3. Your new credit card number is generated automatically.
Citibank Virtual Credit Card Numbers
1. Log in to your online banking
2. Go to "Virtual Account Numbers"
3. Enter your credit card number
4. A new 16-digit number is generated for you
Discover® Secure Online Account Numbers
1. Download the tool from Discover's web site
2. The tool will automatically launch every time you make an online purchase
3. Sign into your account and your billing information, along with a newly generated card number, will be entered into the merchant's web site

Tips

With Bank of America ShopSafe® there's no need to generate more than one number for each online merchant.
Citibank has a very convenient tool you can download to your computer to make generating virtual credit card numbers even easier.

Warnings

Bank of America ShopSafe is only available to customers using online banking
Citibank Virtual Card Numbers are not available for business accounts

Sources and Citations

"How to Generate a Virtual Credit Card Number" at PlasticRewards.com

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