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Linux Friendly One-Time Credit Card Providers?

Posted by timothy on from the for-that-deep-down-private-feeling dept.

PoochieReds writes "My credit card company has just introduced some pretty foul new rules (shortening grace periods, raising fees, etc.), so I've started shopping around for a new one. I use this card for most of my purchases and pay off my balance at the end of each month. One thing that my old CC company had was the ability to use one-time CC numbers. This was really handy for Internet and over the phone purchases, and I like the safety it provides. The downside was that this co. used a flash-based app for this feature. Does anyone have recommendations of a CC company that can provide one-time CC numbers via a regular browser-based web form?"

8 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Flash based in linux? by dubious9 · · Score: 2, Informative

    If it's flash, why can't you use it in Linux? Flash is one of the few plugins that firefox will install with it's auto-plugin thingy.

    Anyway, I've never heard of disposable CC numbers, it does sound handy. I think I'll have to look into too.

    And for the "why ask slashdot, when you can google it in two minutes" aswer, it looks like, American Express, and MBNA offer them, but without signing up, I don't know what kind a mechanism they use. The PCworld article says something about "Orbiscom's O-power" application, but I can't find technicle details on it. Orbiscom's clients page says that most of the bigger CC people are dabbling in this sort of tech.

    Have fun.

    --
    Why, o why must the sky fall when I've learned to fly?
    1. Re:Flash based in linux? by pyros · · Score: 2, Informative

      citibank had the same thing (flash applet or standalone application). but recently i've had problems using it in firefox on windows, haven't booted linux in a while so i'm not sure about that. Discover card has is too, and i haven't had any cross-platform problems with that.

    2. Re:Flash based in linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      If you read the link you provided, you will note that all the Linux downloads are for x86 machines.

  2. Hope you're getting money back... by evilquaker · · Score: 4, Informative
    If you use your credit card for most of your purchases, and you pay off the balance each month, you should be getting 1% cash back on all your purchases. Here are some recommendations:
    • Discover: 1% cash back on purchases (after your first $4K in a single year, 0.25% or 0.5% before that). No limit on cash back.
    • Citi Platinum Dividend Select: 1% cash back, 5% at supermarkets, gas stations, drugstores. Limited to $300 back per year.
    • Chase PerfectCard: 1% cash back, 3% at gas stations. No limit on cash back per year.
    As for the one-time use numbers, how do they offer you any protection? You're only liable for $50 if your card is fraudulently used, and many CC companies waive this. As long as you check your statements every month (you do this, right?), you shouldn't have to worry. It's the retailers that carry the risk of fradulent purchases.

    --
    To within half a percent, pi seconds is a nanocentury. -- Tom Duff
    1. Re:Hope you're getting money back... by artifex2004 · · Score: 2, Informative
      As for the one-time use numbers, how do they offer you any protection?

      The bank knows the original card number, of course. AFAIK they're subject to the same (waived) limits. One-time numbers are usually set up with a max credit line, as well. So you can say, okay, I think I'm going to spend $100 online for Mother's Day at Amazon and some gourmet food place, and you generate the number, and regardless of whether only the authorized merchants or Harry the Hacker gets the number, no more than $100 total can be charged. Anything less, of course, stays in your account.

      Thing is, this is really a marketing tool. If he reads his account agreement carefully, he'll probably discover that it doesn't matter if someone grabs his real credit card number from a hacked server, or is listening in on his cordless phone call. His liability should still be the (waived) limit. He's just working a little harder to make it less likely it'll get out, to save the hassle of having to call and dispute and get a new number and change his auto-bills, is all.
  3. Re:Quality Control by BrokenHalo · · Score: 2, Informative
    Flash might be hard to install on Linux. I haven't tried in a while.

    Mmmm-mmmm... it sounds like you've never tried. Flash binaries have been readily installable in most of the more mainstream browsers (with the exception of Lynx and Links ;-)) for at least ~7 years.

  4. Re:Quality Control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    There's no 64-bit version though.

  5. Re:citicards.com by pyros · · Score: 2, Informative

    the citi tool is written in flash.