I'm getting really frustrated with the number of times my credit card number seemingly gets compromised (not usually of my own doing, as best I can tell, but it's easily twice a year or more). Not so much for the hassle of getting a new card, but for the hassle of all the places online (and elsewhere) that have my card on file for automatic payments and subscriptions and so on.
What I'd /like/ is to have some sort of abstraction layer for credit card numbers for specific purposes.
I know there are cards I can get where I can get a "one-time use" credit card number for online purchases that limit the OTU account number to a certain dollar amount, so that it can't be used again if compromised. But what I'm looking for is something a little more flexible.
What I'd like is to be able to do is something like this:
- generate a virtual credit card number on demand that ties to my "real" credit card account
- tie the virtual card to a specific merchant, or ideally have it auto-tie to the first merchant that charges against it
- have that virtual card reject charge attempts from anyone other than that original merchant
- allow me to re-direct that virtual card number to a different "real" credit card if it changes
- allow me to cancel that virtual account on demand
- (optional) set a monthly limit that can be charged on that virtual card
Basically, I want the rough equivalent of something like Google Voice (give out one phone number, but be able to forward that number to another one as needed) but for credit cards.
So I ask of you kind folks here, does such a beast exist? Do you use any service that even comes close to this?
I'd think this could be a useful service if it didn't exist, especially as more and more purchasing happens online and not places where a physical card would be needed.
