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by lyrrad 1558 days ago
Some US credit card providers provide virtual account numbers, allowing you to obtain separate/unique card numbers tied to a specific credit card, and can have short expirations, or be revoked early.

There are also some services that provide these virtual cards tied to debit cards or bank accounts. I haven't tried these types of services since I prefer the protection of credit cards, which often offer significant points or cash back rewards.

2 comments

Yes. I had an old cellphone account that kept getting charged after my credit card expired. Had to go in person to cancel, as I have long since forgotten my online account password.
> Some US credit card providers provide virtual account numbers, allowing you to obtain separate/unique card numbers tied to a specific credit card, and can have short expirations, or be revoked early.

Yes, this is what I was referring to by expiring credit cards (I was very unclear, sorry). But does this method actually work? I thought you were still liable for the charges, just very unlikely actually to be hounded for them.

Yeah, it won't remove any contractual liability. Many companies will just cancel/pause a subscription on a failed payment until a valid payment method is added.

I usually use these virtual numbers if I had concern that there could be a database leak from the company, or if I felt that there was a chance that they would not follow my cancellation instructions.