What is a virtual card for?

<>

The electronic commerce It is not a promise for the future, nor a trend, it is a reality in Spain and Europe. Let's talk a little about electronic commerce in Spain. It is the fourth country with the most internet operations in Europe, despite the crisis that has been going on for just over eight years in our country. It is estimated that each Spaniard made 21 online purchases in 2015, spending an average of € 661.62 each. We are talking about 10.8 billion euros in Internet transactions.

Pero, a pesar de ello, aún hay miedos en persons que no están familiarizadas con él. electronic commerce, the reservations are large: fear of fraudulent transactions, identity theft, higher-than-scheduled charges, and even data breaches.

The best thing for these people is use of virtual cards, a financial instrument, without costs in most financial organizations, that protects security and leaves without fundamental principles all the aforementioned fears. Today we intend to help you to know better what they are, what they work for and the best virtual cards for this year, it is still considered incipient.

What are virtual cards?

Virtual cards are simulations of fictitious debit cards that help hide the true identity of the owner. It is a product created specifically for mobile or internet shopping. Most banks already offer this service: in your bank account, you can create a card, to which you can add or delete your normal account balance.

Esa tarjeta tiene numeración y fecha de vencimiento, pero no el nombre de la persona. Cada entidad tiene sus propias políticas, pero regularmente se puede configurar todo: el saldo, la fecha de caducidad la puede optar el client.

As an example, you can create a virtual card que tenga 300 € de saldo y que la fecha de caducidad be dentro de una semana.

What is a virtual card for?

It is one of the most frequently asked questions clients of Spanish financial institutions, such as Santander, BBVA, La Caixa, Liberbank or Sabadell: what are these virtual cards for?

It is very simple and complicated, because the uses and benefits are numerous and in a chat at your bank window, it may not be the best place to find out. For that we will help you.

What is a virtual card for?

• You protect your identity
• Virtual cards are kind enough to hide the identity of the card owner. Why is this useful?
• Te ayudará especialmente a evitar robos y robos de identidad, puesto que existen varios software que rastrean a los titulares de las cuentas bancarias que se usan, inclusive usan malware en los PC´s para esto.
• From this dynamic, they will not be able to know the owner of the virtual card, since it does not exist. It is a formidable resource for privacy.
• You avoid overdrafts on your bank account

TO The virtual card is something like the old prepaid mobile cards.- You can add balance or remove it, and handle only that amount.
We will give you a simple example: you will buy a Blue Ray from "The Walking Dead" that costs € 99, and your bank account has your entire payroll of € 900. For whatever reason, the actual cost is € 108, since you didn't count the shipping costs.

Easy, in a virtual card you add only € 100, and thus avoid unexpected expenses. We have put a small example, but they can be important expenses that can add up to you.

You can, by way of example, award a certain amount for your online shopping, without fear of exceeding the budget you have for this.

Anyone can use it

A little known and used advantage of virtual cards, is that they are widely recognized and used by anyone to carry out any online transaction. Most electronic companies accept virtual credit cards, which freedom for the buyer to use it, and you can also use it anywhere in the world.

This will allow you 'make loans without the need to manipulate it. You create a virtual card, and give it to your children or nephews, so that they can make their purchases and you control their expenses without any risk of privacy or excess expenses.

Decrease the useful life of your balance

At the same time being able to limit the balance of a virtual card, to avoid charges outside of what was expected, you can also determine an expiration date.

What can I do for you?

Basically, if someone intercepts the data, the useful life of the card is minimal and you will not be able to use it beyond the balance and the expiration date.
Al mismo tiempo, le dan el carácter de tarjetas desechables, que es la esencia de las tarjetas virtuales, como las tarjetas prepago para tu dispositivo móvil. No hay flexibilidad en tu target

The best of these virtual cards, is that they cannot be used outside of their initial objectives. In other words, if you create a virtual card at your financial institution, it cannot be used, for example, in a physical place giving the number, and only you or whoever has the card number can use it.

You protect yourself from hacks

Remember the Ashley Madison trick? If not, we will tell you quickly. It is a dating site for sexual encounters. A hacker stole and published the details of his millions of clients worldwide, including politicians, celebrities and individuals… including their credit cards.

With a virtual card You avoid these types of events and safeguard your anonymity and your security, especially.

De esta dinámica evitas no solo el uso cuando se puedan sustraer datos en los sitios Web donde has realizado una compra, si no está blindado, ese sitio, la información de sus clientes de forma adecuada.

What are virtual cards not for?

Obviously, we have to tell you things that are not suitable for your virtual cards, basically because they are not. We show you the situations in which you should not use virtual cards.

Periodic payments

exists servicios bajo el método de subscription or membership, such as Netflix, Yomvi or other services that are paid on a regular basis, they can also be services such as an application or software for your work.

By its nature, the expiration of these cards is small. Use it only if you want to limit the use of the service and it is valid only for the extension of your card. This dynamic will prevent you from forgetting when making the payment to your frequent card.

We definitely suggest not to use it for these purposes, the essence of virtual cards is to be disposable, use them and throw them away.

Receive returns

TO inconvenience of buying with virtual cards Is that, if you buy a mobile device online, as an example, and it arrived defective and you request a return, you will have problems, especially if the card has already expired.

If you are going to buy something that involves an exchange or return, first check with the store its virtual card policy, to avoid problems, even when its use is already widespread, there are still many stores that do not have a clear policy on handling this type of products.

Where to get my virtual card?

Most financial organizations already have this service so requested by many, some even force its use for internet transactions, thus protecting the security of their clients, whether they want it or not.

If you need to use a virtual card, and you want to know the advantages, we have reviewed the best virtual cards on the market in Spain, with their respective costs and advantages of each one. Most of them are free to customers or their costs are very low. In some entities the conditions of use are not made public, and we have placed "Consult".

ENTITY	COST	DESCRIPTION
BBVA	Free	You can associate it with the application for your mobile device, and have absolute anonymity in the use of your cards.
Unicaja Bank	Free	It is not a prepaid card and you can control it from your virtual office.
Liberbank	Consult	It works like a prepaid card without providing anonymity. You have insurance in case of theft or fraud.
La Caixa Bank	1% on the recharged balance	The address protects it with CaixaProtect, it also gives € 5 if you make two purchases of at least € 10.
Sabadell Bank	Consult	It is an anonymous prepaid card that can be transferred to a third party. It brings the advantage of being able to use them as a gift.
Bankia	Free	It protects all the operations of the virtual card with its technology called 'Secure Payment'.
EVO bench	Free	You can create an unlimited number of cards related to your main card, instead of your bank account.
Santander	Free if you make three purchases	You can top up the virtual card from your online account like at any 4B ATM.
CajaMar	Free	The virtual cards are VISA, which guarantees their acceptance in the majority of businesses in the world.
Novanca	Free	It is a rechargeable card at ATMs and works with Mastercard.
OpenBank	Free	It is recharged at ATMs, and has urban transport insurance of 120 thousand euros.
ONE-e	Free	Protect even more security by requesting the PIN of your main card for each operation you carry out.
Kutxabank	Free	Use the VINI system and the customer can choose the expiration date of each card.