Prepaid Cards Being Readied for Net

September 18, 2000

Pre-paid cards for purchases on the Internet are not being offered in England and if successful it won’t be long until we see their arrival here in the U.S. The cards would work in the same way as the pre-paid telephone calling cards. They would be categorized and priced by dollar amounts and are designed to make purchases on the Internet.

The benefit of these cards is that you will not have to use your credit card number and expose yourself to hackers, fraud, and other dishonest people from taking advantage of your credit card account. Instead, those that choose to commit malfeasances will only be able to spend the small denomination listed on the cards.

In addition to the various companies planning to issue pre-paid cards for Net shoppers, American Express is launching a disposable credit card for single purchases. According to the announcement, by October American Express customers will be able to access the American Express site in order to receive their one time credit card number. Once the purchase is made the credit card number is obsolete. Thus far, American Express is the only one of the credit card companies that is instituting such protection for its customers.