Reasons to use virtual cards. Internet payment methods have multiplied exponentially with the Coronavirus crises. This is a normal response to the growth of e-commerce and its acceptance by the user. Within these payment methods, the virtual card continues to gain a very important share of the market.

It is a product that offers great advantages when making purchases on the Internet, although it is true that not all cards work in the same way.

What are virtual cards and how do they work?

It is really a very simple mechanism of operation. A bank card is created with all the usual data for this type of product, identification numbering, expiration date, CW2… in some cases it will be a physical card, with just one basic difference, it does not have a magnetic strip, in other cases the card will not even exist other than having the aforementioned data attributed to it.

In any case it is a product of exclusive use for purchases through Internet or remote payments, since, for example, it can also serve perfectly well for a payment via telephone of a bill.

These are prepaid cards, i.e. cards in which there will only be the available amount that we had previously charged, and therefore, in the worst case, it will not have any impact on the balance or credit of our accounts in which it is associated.

How much does a virtual card cost

Generally it is going to be a free card, or the one that will not be charged neither maintenance cost nor subscription cost. However, at the time of requesting the contracting of one of these products, we must bear in mind that some entities charge commissions on the operations of load of the card, that is to say, every time that we recharge our card we will pay a commission offered by operation, this, we repeat, is in some offers since we will also find in the market proposals that do not require us any commission for the operations and are totally free to all effects.

Are prepaid cards cheap then?

Undoubtedly this is a very cheap card model, if not the cheapest. You must think that this card only works through the recharges it makes, these recharges in turn are made against your bank accounts or credit cards, but initially there is no cost or commission for the recharge so, really, you will only assume the expense you make, nothing more.

On the other hand they are not cards that come to present costs of maintenance nor of initial hiring, for which, neither in this sense they contribute more expense than any other type of card, in fact they generally contribute less.

Finally, if we think of them as an important element to be able to control our expenses much better, and therefore, to save being beneficial for our pocket, the circle closes and effectively we can speak of being in front of a cheap product and with benefits, even above the traditional debit card, since in this case the expense is exclusively limited to what is foreseen.