American Express Membership Rewards - Private Payment Option still exsist??? HELP!

I remember that AX use to offer "private payment" whereby one got an "anonomous" diffrent acct # for one time transactions. I never used this service, but would like to now.

I can not find any mention of it on the website. Is it still offered and if so how do I utilize it?

http://www.americanexpress.com/privatepayments

If you forget the above link, it can be found in the site map under personal cards.

This is a great service, which works very well. Amex will generate a virtual number which expires at the end of the month, or end of the next month. Keep in mind it is a limited duration number, not a one-time-use number.

For the utmost in security, you could also cancel that number immediately after the charges show on your account. I do this when dealing with mildly trustworthy merchants.

Why did Amex decide upon a virtual credit card with no dollar limit, usable for one month? It seems that this provides only modest protection against misuse.

Citibank virtual credit cards let you choose a one-use-only dollar limit, or a multi-use dollar limit. Perhaps Citi has a patent on that system?

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Middle_Seat

I agree with monahos It is a great service and I use it whenever I make purchases on the internet.

I tried this a couple of times and it never worked. I think some of the merchants didn't like cards that were "about to expire." That's the only explanation I can come up with.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by xyzzy:
I tried this a couple of times and it never worked. I think some of the merchants didn't like cards that were "about to expire." That's the only explanation I can come up with.</font>

This seems odd, as the virtual cards are always issued with at least 30 days' validity. People using their regular card numbers don't usually have their new cards until less than 30 days before their old ones expire, so if a merchant had a problem with about-to-expire cards, they'd be denying charges from tons of customers using their regular card numbers.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Middle_Seat:
Why did Amex decide upon a virtual credit card with no dollar limit, usable for one month? It seems that this provides only modest protection against misuse.</font>

The Amex website is a bit misleading in this regard. Although it's true that the virtual account number has no dollar limit (other than whatever the underlying account has) and that it's valid for 1-2 months from issue, they leave out an important point: once the virtual account number is used, it is no longer valid.

That is, it is valid for an unlimited amount and for 1-2 months for one use only. Since most first-tier online merchants obtain an authorization before you even get to the confirmation page, this provides very strong protection, because if someone tried to use your virtual account number even five minutes later at another merchant, they would presumably be denied. (This is all based on my understanding and limited experience with Amex Private Payments. A full test of the system would require questionable tactics, possibly including cooperation of a merchant. I haven't conducted such tests, and don't offer any warranty that it works as I describe).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Citibank virtual credit cards let you choose a one-use-only dollar limit, or a multi-use dollar limit. Perhaps Citi has a patent on that system?</font>

The Citi system definately has an advantage in that you can set up a multi-use virtual number that's valid up to a year. This is perfect for situations like monthly subscriptions where you need more than a single use.

My records show I used the same Private Payments number for two different (and trusted) merchants on the same day in March 2002.

As I otherwise have manually cancelled all PP numbers after one use, this is the only instance I have tried to do so, but it certainly was successful.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by monahos:
My records show I used the same Private Payments number for two different (and trusted) merchants</font>
Same here.


Saar

Is this facility available to the UK issued cards?

If you have the free MBNA Amtrak MasterCard (earns GuestRewards points convertible to UA or CO), they also have an internet "ShopSafe" program. It can be found here:
https://www.mbnashopsafe.com/NASApp/Emerald/EmLogin?login_type=login&flash=yes
(You can set dollar and time limits with them)