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Prepay debit cards

When I wanted to renew my Symantec Norton 360 program, I was forced to agree to a continuing authority on my credit card. I was told on the Symantec website that if I didn't want to go ahead with automatic annual renewal, I could cancel the continuing authority but this proved easier said than done. I hope I have successfully done it but I shall have to wait till next April and as, readers of uk.finance knows, it is impossible to cancel a continuous authority through my card company.

When I last stayed at a large hotel, the hotel management insisted on retaining my credit card details "in case damage to the room should come to light after you've gone". This again is unfair since it is very difficult to prove that I had done no damage to the room. Unscrupulous hoteliers could claim against former guests for non existent damage.

I want to know how to protect myself against abuse by dishonest merchants and I thought of getting a prepaid card but on reading the terms and conditions, they, too, seem to favour the merchant and put the customer in a poor bargaining position.

Please, can anyone advise me of a good prepaid card which will help protect me from abuse by merchants?

Reply to
Alasdair
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I think you will find that hotels, car rental, etc ask for a *credit* card rather than a debit card. Thats my experience, car rental very reluctant to accept anything else.

Try a Paypal top up card, It is a physical card rather than a 'virtual' one. Got caught a couple of years ago with a false debit and it was not the (smallish) amount that was the pain, it was all the hassle.

Since then, used a virtual card a couple of times and now the paypal one. It seems to work like any other VISA card. If this account gets raided they do not get much.

Reply to
rich

Note that the small print on such cards generally says that your responsibility is not limited to the available stored value. Whether they would apply that in the hotel case, I'm not sure.

Reply to
David Woolley

The problem with using a debit card here is that the "authorisation only" transaction they do will stop you from spending the money on anything else, and if you don't have the money in the account or on the card, the authorisation will be rejected.

Reply to
Jonathan Bryce

How much will they attempt authorisation for?

Reply to
Jane

Depends on the hotel. The amount will be on the chip & pin terminal or the signature slip.

Reply to
Jonathan Bryce

I've used a Cahoot (Abbey) virtual webcard for some years, trouble is some payments get rejected which defeats the object of the security.

When it works it generates a 'one time use only' number linked to any card you posses (Credit or Debit) with Cahoot.

Geoff Lane

Reply to
Geoff Lane

[snip]

This reader does not.

And he's right.

Reply to
Fergus O'Rourke

But no use when you have to produce the card, eg when booking airline tickets

Reply to
Mark BR

I've never had to produce the card when booking airline tickets. (except when checking in at the machine, but most airlines allow online check in now)

tim

Reply to
tim.....

Have you considered switching to Kaspersky Internet Security? (That's if you succeed in getting rid of NAV, which requires a special S/W tool).

Reply to
Gordon H

You have to have at least one real card with Cahoot so you do have that option.

Geoff Lane

Reply to
Geoff Lane

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

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