Abbey National's standalone interactive bank cahoot has launched webcard - a disposable credit card for UK customers wishing to make purchases online.
The virtual credit card works by generating a 16 digit number which is unique to each online purchase, whenever the cardholder wishes to shop online. Customers then use this number to pay for goods, rather than their own credit card number. The number is only used once and cannot be used again. In this way the customer’s own account details are never given out or seen by a third party.
Customers can also set the limit for each transaction so companies cannot debit more money than originally agreed.
Tim Sawyer, business development and marketing director, cahoot says: "We did some research amongst our own customers which revealed that nearly 60% would spend more online, if safety or personal information was assured."
Webcard is available from 11 December to anyone with a cahoot credit or debit card. The card was developed using technology from e-payments company Orbiscom.