Are all Virtual Card providers careless with privacy?
I went looking through different virtual card providers for something that'd let me make a purchase I originally intended to use a prepaid for, yet they wouldn't accept it. This led me to looking into Virtual Card providers as they'd work more consistently.
Problematically, Privacy.com seems overkill on what all it demands as far as KYC standards go, and some suggest IronVest as an alternative because it demands less. Yet, their privacy policy explicitly states they can share your information with advertising partners.
I haven't encountered many providers, but seeing this trend, I wanna raise the question: Is there any virtual Card provider that really cares for privacy, and the privacy-minded?
More new comments (see rest of my comments in this thread).
Privacy.com finally verified me. So I guess I'm gonna use that. I don't think it's very good at being private, but I want virtual cards as more of an anti scam thing.
Okay I know people sort by new comments, so I'm just going to keep creating more comments here.
I paused halocard for now, since it does look like it's paid. That makes me hesitate, but also gives me confidence (that its business model isn't glorping up all my data).
I tried wise.com, which looks free, but it also asked for my SSN... which it then said it couldn't verify?
I'm assuming you don't have this option or you wouldn't be asking but just in case it fits for use case and you didn't think of it already. Some credit card companies allow you to do virtual cards with your existing card. I know citi does (giant pain in the ass to find though) and I think discover does.
Obviously if your use case means you don't want your name attached to it, this won't work.
Second comment in the thread, since I decided to go hunting for alternatives: https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/alternatives-to-privacy-com-which-dont-require-a-u-s-phone-number/30692
edit 1: Okay I am trying out Halocard right now. What the actual fuck, it sends the verification code via Whatsapp to the phone number I provide.
edit 2: no wait I received it as a text. It looks like whatsapp has a service to send text to people.
Privacy.com is, legally, a bank. Banks have always had aggressive KYC requirements, but it's only gotten worse in recent years.
I went through the sign up and they made me take pictures of my face with Persona.
Once I did that, I then declined to use this other platform, Plaid for storing my card. Instead I submitted my debit card information directly.
The logged in page said that my account was pending, and would be verified in a 1-2 business days. It's been like 5 days now.
I dug around on reddit, and found someone with a similar experience. They theorized that delayed, or even indefinite account "verification" is a way of soft punishing people who don't submit to every single privacy invasive thing.
I really only wanted protection from fraud, overcharching, and bad merchants, so I wish this was a feature my bank would provide.
EDIT: see other comment, Privacy.comm verified me.
How does privacy.com's privacy policy compare to ironvest's then? you specifically pointed out ironvest's privacy policy to compare, but only stated that you felt privacy.com is 'overkill'. i haven't check their policy, but if they have a rock solid kyc and a name like 'privacy' i'd think they'd probably do a bit better at not sharing your data with others than, say, ironvest - but their policy needs to be checked.
i have friends who use privacy.com and are pleased with it. you can lock virtual cards to specific merchants, or make single-use/burner cards. i don't know what else, but segregating merchants alone increases your privacy and reduces your risk, so i'd think you need to check their privacy policy and see how they handle your data, since that's a concern you pointed out.
" i haven’t check their policy, but if they have a rock solid kyc and a name like ‘privacy’ i’d think they’d probably do a bit better at not sharing your data with others than, say, ironvest"
First, isn't "kyc" "know your client"? I don't get what you mean with "a rock solid kyc".
Second, I generally find that when names that are very value focused, it is often a scam. Take "Truth Social" for instance. Using a name like Privacy would push me towards skepticism, not trust.
I use privacy.com for some things where I'd rather not share my data with the vendor. I like them, their privacy policy doesn't have anything too weird. I'm also under no allusion that it's subpoena-proof though, but that's not really what I'm looking for for banking anyway.
EDIT: OP appears to be concerned with how they handle the PII they collect. As far as I know, I've never been impacted but tbh how would I know if they didn't tell me? If anyone has heard otherwise, I'd like to know.