【2021.12 Update】Starting next year, the cards generated by this service will be changed to charge cards, and the service will be provided by Patriot Bank. This charge card is similar to a credit card, not a debit card or a prepaid card. According to Privacy, it can be used in more places than the original virtual cards. The old cards in current accounts will expire on December 31.

To keep using the service, you need to upgrade your account and agree to use the new charge card. According to Privacy, this does not affect your credit score, and there should be no hard pull. This won't impact your credit score!

About Privacy.com

Credit card theft and information theft are becoming more and more common. Many hotel chains and merchants have also reported cases of user data breaches. Privacy exists to solve this problem through virtual cards.

After signing up for Privacy.com, you can generate a virtual card in your account. This virtual card also has a fixed card number, expiration date, and CVV, while the billing address and cardholder name can be filled in freely. You can set the card to be a one-time card so that it is destroyed automatically after one purchase. You can also set daily, monthly, or yearly spending limits to reduce the risk of large unauthorized charges.

In this way, your name and address are not provided to merchants, so there is no risk of leakage. If you are worried that the card has been stolen, simply delete the card in your account and it can no longer be used.

Sign-up and sign-up bonus

If you sign up for Privacy.com now, you can get a $5 Credit that will be automatically applied at any merchant.

How to use it

Using Privacy.com is very simple. You only need to register, verify your identity, and link a bank debit card or bank account, after which you can create virtual cards on your own. Then you can spend using the automatically generated card number.

  • First verify your identity, including address, phone number, name, and other information. You still need to enter real information here...
  • After verification, you can add a bank account or debit card account. The backend is similar to many card link programs. Privacy connects directly to the bank's backend for login and does not store your password.
  • After linking, you can automatically receive the $5 sign-up bonus (Privacy credit), and the first card will be created automatically
  • You can change the card's appearance, adjust the spending limit, set it as a one-time card, or delete the card
  • Copy the card number, expiration date, and CVV, and you can start spending. Information such as the billing address can be filled in freely. After the purchase, you will receive an email
  • Buy a $5.01 Amazon gift card and you will use up the account Credit exactly. $0.01 will be pending, and then it will be charged to the checking account or debit card you linked

Pro account

If you really like this payment model, you can also pay $10/month to upgrade to a Pro account. The Pro account provides an extra 1% cashback, with up to $45 in rewards per month. Business and enterprise users can purchase a team plan.

Other interesting uses

  • Chasing sign-up and subscription offers: Some websites give extra rewards for subscriptions, such as certain offers in Swagbucks. But some sites make cancellation very troublesome. You can use this kind of one-time card, make the purchase, and walk away without having to cancel.
  • Placing multiple orders: Some websites limit the number of orders during promotions and usually verify with things like Billing Address. You can use this to get around billing checks
  • Spending on small websites: Sometimes you have no choice but to buy from certain small websites. You can reduce the risk of your credit card being stolen and your personal information being leaked by using this virtual card
  • Provided by reader Kuro: Another use case is that because the generated card's address can be anywhere, it can be used to register a local PayPal in a region-locked market and buy things, such as the Japanese Switch or PS4 store, so you can play Japanese games earlier
  • It can also be used together with PayPal Key (MC virtual card). See: PayPal virtual credit card PayPal Key introduction and usage [2020.10 Update 2: It can now be used to generate Privacy virtual cards (Visa)!]

Notes

  • The billing address can be filled in freely, but don't make it too outrageous. A normal-looking address is better
  • If there is a refund, the money will go directly back to your checking account or debit card. It doesn't matter if you deleted the card or if it was a one-time card

Sign-up link