What is Virtual Card and Why is it used?

Cards like Credit cards, Debit cards, and ATM cards have a serious impact on the way we purchase things now. They somehow incremented the cashless economy in a certain way.

But have you ever wondered What does a virtual card mean? or why is it used?. Well, here in this article we have provided you with everything you need to know about the Virtual card.

What is a Virtual Card?

Definition – A Virtual card is basically an online card that is not physically issued by the card provider. It’s usually a free service provided by the original card issuer to their customers, who want to perform an online payment with the help of their cards.

Explanation – The Virtual card is the invisible version of debit/credit cards. Unlike plastic cards, it doesn’t require any Physical Representation. It usually has this one-time use card number created by the respective card provider.

How does it work?

The card issuers generally provide a software to be set up on the customer’s laptop or computer.

This software helps the customer to generate a temporary card number, linked with their permanent one. Then the customers can obviously use this temporarily generated number to make online purchases.

Benefits of Using Virtual Card

• Secure – This temporary number cannot be traced back to get card details and hence make this virtual card more secure than the physical ones.
• Fast – It has been observed that the use of virtual cards is much faster as compared with others.
• Reliable – Due to its online processing the customer is free from the worry of its damage and lost.

Major Disadvantages of Using Virtual Card

• Everyday Limit – Customers are allotted with a minimum and maximum limit per transaction each day.
• Valid for Specific time – Virtual credit cards are valid for only a specific time period, specified by the card issuer only.
• Only one transaction at a time – Customers can usually perform only one transaction using one virtual card.
• Issued to primary cardholder only – The Virtual card is issued to the primary cardholder only and not to the secondary cardholders.

Conclusion

So this was all regarding What is a Virtual card and why is it used?. If you find it useful then do let us know in the comment section below.

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