Cahoot at Finda Finance Deal
Cahoot
Cahoot Information
 
Secure internet shopping
Competitiveness of APR Good
Product package Good
Quality of Customer Service Good
Reward Scheme average
Additional Charges average
Security and Privacy good
Ease of Application average

Pros: Good security
Cons: Could load faster, problems with refunds

Recommend to potential buyers: yes

Full review
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Most banks offer a guarantee against internet fraud when using a credit card for on-line shopping, but it seems to me that it might be difficult to prove just how the fraud occurred, to convince the bank that a refund should be made, and indeed I have not seen any figures to show how well this guarantee works. Like many people, I buy quite a lot of things on-line, and have always kept one particular card for this purpose. That way I could cancel the card if some problem arose, leaving me with an alternative card that I could still use. However, Cahoot offers a novel solution in the form of a virtual credit card, in addition to their regular Visa card.
When you want to pay for an on-line item, you click an icon and after a few seconds loading time, this brings up a card-sized form for you to log in and enter the maximum amount you wish to pay (remember to allow for postage, VAT etc). Another click and a few more seconds loading time, and another image appears, looking like a real credit card. This is only valid for one month, and has a sixteen digit number which is only valid for that one transaction.
You then click and drag the number to the appropriate box on you purchase form, and likewise drag your name across. There is also a facility for automatically filling in your address details, but this doesn’t always work.
This system seems to me to offer a high level of security, as your real credit-card number is never disclosed and is known only to the bank. And because the virtual card number is different every time you use the system, security is really no longer a problem.
I am really happy with this method of on-line payment and intend to use it whenever possible.

However, there is one slight problem. The virtual cards expire after one month, and it is not possible to get money refunded to a card after it has expired. In this case it seems you can't avoid giving your real card number to the supplier, and this compromises the card security. Maybe Cahoot will find a way round this problem, but until they do I can't entirely recommend this product.