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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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. |