Have you ever purchased something from a website that you weren’t so sure about? Maybe you signed up for a subscription that you didn’t really intend to continue? There is an awesome solution for both of those situations! It’s called Privacy.com. They also have an app, called “Privacy.”
How it works:
- Sign up – It’s completely free
- Link your checking account
- Create digital cards that work like normal debit cards on most websites.
Each card can be set to be used one time and then stop working, or it can be set to be used more than once (like for subscriptions you actually want to renew). You can set a “spend limit” on the amount that can be debited from the card as well, just in case you’re worried a site might try to charge you more than you agreed upon. You can even pause your cards.
Some things these cards are not good for:
We don’t recommend using these cards for reservations such as hotels, cars, airfare purchases, pre-order sales, backordered items, merchants you spend with regularly (like Amazon), or other things that may require you to present a physical card at any point in your transaction.
Wait, are there fee’s?
Nope. When you make a transaction with regular debit and credit cards, merchants/websites pay a small fee called an interchange. When you use a privacy card, a portion of that fee is shared with Privacy. That means that using Privacy is free.
What name and billing address should you use?
You can use the information associated with your debit account, or if you’ve changed information, you can put that instead. Privacy will validate whatever information you provide to the merchant.
How do refunds work?
Refunds are applied back to your checking account, even if they card has been closed or paused. Privacy knows who the card belonged to, and they will get things sorted for you.