In a world where credit card theft and fraud are on the rise, one can, understandably, be very wary when using a credit card to make online purchases.
Even if an online merchant implements consistent safety practices to protect your information, there’s no guarantee that evildoers won’t try to hack these companies’ systems.
Because of this, virtual credit cards have begun to gain wider acceptance, and many are looking for credit card products that have virtual credit card numbers when deciding which cards to open!
So in this guide, we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of virtual credit cards. First, we’ll go through a high-level introduction; then, we’ll show you our favorite virtual credit cards, both personal and business.
Let’s get into it!
What Is a Virtual Credit Card?
So what is a virtual credit card and how does it work?
Simply put, a virtual credit card is a unique credit card number tied to your main credit card account that does not reveal your primary credit card number.
This allows you to use a different credit card number for each merchant you spend at, prevent fraudsters from getting your primary account details, and set spending limits or expiration dates for each virtual credit card.
All in all, virtual credit cards provide extra protection for online purchases, as well as the added convenience of managing and limiting spending with each virtual credit card number.
Drawbacks of Virtual Credit Cards
Virtual credit cards come with subtle, but important drawbacks.
For example, if you buy goods online with a virtual credit card number and want to return your item at a physical location, you will often be asked to insert the original form of payment that you used for the purchase.
So if you have a virtual credit card, you may have no choice but to accept a store credit instead of a refund.
Also, virtual credit cards may require you to keep track of more information, including virtual credit card account numbers, expiration dates, and spending limits.
The 5 Best Virtual Credit Cards for Personal Use
So let’s say you do a lot of shopping online. And let’s say that you shop at many different merchants, typically following the best deals with no particular loyalty to a single company. To adequately protect your data, you should get the best virtual credit cards for personal use.
Currently, 2 major issuers offer a complete virtual credit card solution for personal cards: Citi and Capital One (via Eno).
Other issuers, including American Express, Chase, and Discover, may offer similar solutions, but these aren’t exactly the same as virtual credit cards.
Here are our favorites!
| Card | Earnings and Benefits | Annual Fee |
| Citi Premier® Card | - Earn 80,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- 3x ThankYou Points at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel, and hotels
- Access to transfer partners
- No foreign transaction fees
| $95 |
| Citi® Double Cash Card | - For a limited time, earn $200 cash back after spending $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening.
- 2% cash-back (1% when you spend and 1% when you pay your bill, earned as ThankYou Points)
| $0 |
| Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card | - Earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel
- 2x miles on all other purchases
- Up to $300 annual travel credit on bookings via Capital One Travel
- 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
- Access to Capital One Lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, and complimentary Priority Pass Select membership
- Rental car and travel insurance, cell phone insurance
- No foreign transaction fees
| $395 |
| Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card | - Earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2x miles on all other purchases
- 2 free visits to Capital One Lounges or Plaza Premium Lounges every year
- $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit
- No foreign transaction fees
| $95 |
| Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card | - Earn 20,000 miles when you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 1.25x miles on all other purchases
- No foreign transaction fees
| $0 |
1. Citi Premier Card
The Citi Premier card is one of the best credit cards for everyday spending. It helps that Citi offers the ability to create virtual credit cards!
There’s no monthly fee for virtual credit cards, but you do need to enroll before creating your first virtual credit card. After that, just visit the Citi website and create one whenever you need a virtual credit card.
Just keep in mind that virtual credit card numbers can’t be used for in-person or in-app purchases.
In addition to a fantastic welcome offer, expect to earn up to 3x ThankYou Points on your purchases:
- 3x points per $1 spent on air travel and at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and hotels
- 1x points per $1 spent on all other purchases
We value ThankYou Points at 1.6 cents each, but you can certainly get better value by transferring to travel partners for luxury flights!
Additionally, this card has an annual hotel savings benefit of $100 off a stay of at least $500 when booked through thankyou.com or 800-THANKYOU (once per calendar year).
Lastly, there are no foreign transaction fees or authorized user fees.
2. Citi® Double Cash Card
The Double Cash card is yet another great example of a Citi card that offers rewards and a virtual credit card number.
Currently, the Double Cash card has an attractive 0% balance transfer APR, but the real reason to use this card is to earn up to 2% cash-back per dollar spent.
By itself, the Double Cash card earns 1% back when you buy and 1% back when you pay, totaling 2% cash-back (earned as 2x ThankYou Points).
But what’s special about the Double Cash card is that if you have a card such as the Citi Premier card, you can combine the ThankYou Points you earn to transfer them to the full suite of Citi’s travel partners. That means that the 2x ThankYou Points you earn could deliver a return on spend of 3.2%!
This card comes with zero fraud liability, access to Citi Entertainment, and no authorized user fees.
3. Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One offers Eno, a credit card assistant, in the form of a browser extension and app tool, to help you shop securely online.
With Eno, you can create virtual credit cards to hide your real credit card number — lock, unlock, or delete your virtual cards anytime and fully control your online shopping security.
The CapOne Venture X card is an incredible credit card option — offering a huge welcome offer, excellent rewards, and fantastic benefits, this should be a contender for a slot in your wallet.
You’ll earn:
- 10x miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5x miles per $1 on flights booked via Capital One Travel
- 2x miles per $1 on all other purchases
To build on that, this card boasts up to $300 annual travel credit on Capital One Travel bookings, 10,000 bonus miles on each account anniversary year, access to airport lounges including Capital One Lounges, Plaza Premium Lounges, and Priority Pass Select lounges, and up to $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit.
Throw in complimentary Hertz President’s Circle status, cell phone insurance, up to 4 authorized users for no additional annual fee, and the ability to create virtual credit cards, and you’ve got a winner!
Lastly, take note of no foreign transaction fees, and high-end travel insurance.
4. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
The CapOne Venture card is the little sibling card of the CapOne Venture X card. With this card, you’ll still get the ability to create virtual credit cards, maintain simple structures, and get a welcome offer.
You’ll still earn unlimited 2x miles on every purchase, but you’ll also get 5x points on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
Enjoy up to $100 application fee credit for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck, solid travel insurance, no foreign transaction fees, and no authorized user fees.
5. Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card
The CapOne VentureOne card is the entry-level product that Capital One offers within the Venture family. This card can create virtual credit cards via Eno, which is a huge plus.
Your welcome offer won’t be as large, but you will earn:
- 5x miles on hotels and rentals cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 1.25x miles on all other purchases
There’s also an introductory 0% APR benefit you can take advantage of, no foreign transaction fees, the ability to transfer miles to travel partners, and no authorized user fees.
The 3 Best Amex Personal Cards With Click to Pay
American Express doesn’t offer true virtual credit cards for personal products, but it partners with Visa, Mastercard, and Discover to offer Click to Pay, an online payment method that effectively shields your credit card number from merchants to simplify and secure the checkout process.
As such, some Amex cards do enjoy an additional layer of security thanks to Click to Pay, but these cards can’t give you a true virtual credit card number like Capital One and Citi can.
But since American Express offers such attractive rewards and benefits, you should give these next cards some thought.
| Card | Earnings and Benefits | Annual Fee |
| The Platinum Card® from American Express | - Earn 100,000 points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months.
- The best airport lounge access from any card, including Centurion Lounges
- 5x points per $1 spent for flights booked directly with airlines or with Amex Travel up to $500,000 per year, and prepaid hotels booked with Amex Travel
| $695 (Rates & Fees) |
| American Express® Gold Card | - Earn 60,000 points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 6 months.
- 4x Membership Rewards points at restaurants
- 4x Membership Rewards points at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 per calendar year, then 1x)
- Access to The Hotel Collection
| $250 (Rates & Fees) |
| Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express | - Earn a $350 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in purchases in the first 6 months.
- 6% cash-back at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 per year) and on select U.S. streaming subscriptions
- 3% cash-back at U.S. gas stations and on transit, including taxis, rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses, and more
- Up to $120 in Equinox+ credits
| $95 (Rates & Fees) |
1. The Platinum Card® from American Express
Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a huge welcome offer of up to 150,000 points with the Amex Platinum card! (The current public offer is 100,000.)
The Amex Platinum card currently has an enormous welcome offer, the best airport lounge access benefit of any card out there, excellent travel rewards, and other high-end benefits.
To start, earn according to this list:
- 5x Membership Rewards points per $1 spent on flights purchased directly with the airline or with American Express Travel (up to $500,000 per year)
- 5x Membership Rewards points per $1 spent on prepaid hotels booked with Amex Travel
- 1x Membership Rewards points everywhere else
This card comes with access to the incredible Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection, plus a ton of annual or monthly statement credits from merchants including Uber, Equinox, Saks Fifth Avenue, and even airline fee credits and prepaid hotel credits on eligible Amex Travel bookings.
Plus, there are no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees).
2. American Express® Gold Card
Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus of up to 90,000 points with the Amex Gold card! (The current public offer is 60,000 points.)
The Amex Gold card is yet another fantastic card that offers Click to Pay. With an attractive welcome offer and the ability to earn up to 4x points, this card is one of our top favorites.
Get up to 4x Membership Rewards points as follows:
- 4x Membership Rewards points per $1 spent at restaurants, including takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- 4x Membership Rewards points per $1 spent at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 per calendar year)
- 3x Membership Rewards points on flights booked directly with airlines or on Amex Travel
Get up to $240 in annual statement credits as follows:
The Amex Gold card has access to The Hotel Collection, and you won’t be hit with any foreign transaction fees or authorized user fees, either, so the card is packed to the brim with value (see rates and fees).
3. Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
We’re big fans of the Amex Blue Cash Preferred card because it offers fantastic cash-back rewards fit for frugal families.
When you use Click to Pay, you don’t need to worry about your card information getting compromised online — that makes it easy to get up to 6% cash-back:
- 6% cash-back back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%)
- 6% cash-back on select streaming services
- 3% back at U.S. gas stations and on transit (including rideshares, parking, etc.)
- 1% back on all other purchases
Also, this card has a statement credit welcome offer and an introductory 0% APR promotion.
The 5 Best Virtual Credit Cards for Business Use
Image Credit: ExtendNow, let’s talk about business cards! Business owners know that paying vendors with credit cards can get complicated.
For B2B purposes, American Express offers a virtual credit card solution through a partnership with Extend, a New York-based fintech company that offers virtual cards to business owners. This is one of the most exciting developments in the virtual credit card space!
Whether it’s making secure vendor payments, easily tracking bill back expenses, gaining visibility over ad hoc spending, or more effectively controlling employee cards and spending, you can instantly level up your security and expense management game!
It’s super easy to sign up, and Extend’s dashboard is easy to use. You can currently create virtual cards in 4 ways:
- Standard Card — a basic virtual card with all the set controls you need to securely send a company card
- Auto-refill Card — a card that automatically refills for recurring expenses such as monthly subscriptions or regular employee purchasing cards
- Guest Access Card — virtual cards sent to people outside of Extend via email with a secure link
- Advanced CSV Upload — a batch of different virtual cards for a list of people, up to 100 unique cards at once
For corporate cards (not discussed in this article), Amex offers American Express Go.
Otherwise, the 2 major issuers that offer virtual credit cards are:
- Citi
- Capital One (via Eno)
| Card | Earnings and Benefits | Annual Fee |
| The Business Platinum Card® from American Express | - 5x Membership Rewards points per $1 on flights and prepaid hotels booked with Amex Travel
- 1.5x Membership Rewards points per $1 in select business categories and on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (up to $2 million in purchases per calendar year)
- The best airport lounge access from any card, including Centurion Lounges
- 35% Pay with Points rebate (up to 1 million points back per year)
- Access to Fine Hotels and Resorts and The Hotel Collection
- No foreign transaction fees (Rates & Fees)
| $695 (Rates & Fees) |
| American Express® Business Gold Card | - 4x Membership Rewards points per $1 on the 2 categories where your business spends the most each month (from a list of 6 categories)
- Access to The Hotel Collection
- 25% Pay with Points rebate
- No foreign transaction fees (Rates & Fees)
| $295 (Rates & Fees) |
| Capital One Spark Miles for Business | - 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2x miles on all other purchases
- $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit
- No foreign transaction fees
| $95 |
| Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business | - 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 1.5x miles on all other purchases
- No foreign transaction fees
| $0 |
| CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® | - 2x miles on eligible American Airlines purchases
- 2x miles at telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants, and at gas stations
- 1x miles on all other purchases
- First checked bag free on domestic American Airlines itineraries
- Preferred boarding on American Airlines flights
- No foreign transaction fees
| $99 |
1. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a huge welcome offer of up to 150,000 points with the Amex Business Platinum! (The current public offer is 120,000.)
The Amex Business Platinum card is one of the best products that can help you take your business to new heights.
One of the biggest selling points is that this card has no preset spending limit, but the most popular perks are all rewards- and travel-related.
There’s a huge welcome offer and the ability to earn up to 5x Membership Rewards points on purchases:
- 5x Membership Rewards points per $1 on flights and prepaid hotels at Amex Travel
- 1.5x Membership Rewards points per $1 on eligible purchases in key business categories, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more (up to $2 million in these purchases per year)
- 1x Membership Rewards points on all other purchases
Go ahead and make use of the American Express Global Lounge Collection, rental car and hotel elite status, as well as the 35% Pay with Points rebate.
This fabulous card comes with tons of statement credits:
- Up to $200 in airline fee statement credits
- Up to $189 in CLEAR credit
- Up to $400 per year with Dell Technologies
- Up to $360 per year with Indeed
- Up to $150 per year with Adobe
- Up to $120 per year on wireless telephone purchases
- Up to $100 in Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credits
Don’t forget to feel like a superstar when you book stays at Fine Hotels & Resorts.
2. American Express® Business Gold Card
One of our favorite Amex business cards available is the Amex Business Gold card — it’s perhaps the best spending-focused card Amex has to offer because you can earn 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on the top 2 categories where your business spends the most every month (up to $150,000 in combined purchases each calendar year):
- Airfare purchased from airlines
- U.S. purchases for advertising in select media
- U.S. purchases made from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
- U.S. purchases at gas stations
- U.S. purchases at restaurants
- U.S. purchases for shipping
And that’s not even taking into account the welcome offer!
Although you don’t get fancy luxury travel perks such as lounge access, you do get a 25% Pay with Points rebate and access to The Hotel Collection.
The Amex Business Gold card doesn’t have any foreign transaction fees or employee card fees for up to 99 total cards after the first employee card fee of $50 (see rates and fees).
3. Capital One Spark Miles for Business
To recap, Capital One offers virtual credit cards through Eno, and one of the best business credit cards Capital One can offer is the CapOne Spark Miles card.
It has a sizable welcome offer and earns an unlimited 2x miles on all purchases with no blackout dates, seat restrictions, or minimum to redeem.
In addition, you can earn 5x miles on hotel and rental car bookings made via Capital One Travel. There’s also a $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit!
You won’t get hit with foreign transaction fees or employee card fees.
4. Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business
A step below the CapOne Spark Miles card, the CapOne Spark Miles Select card offers business rewards with no annual fee.
Get 5x miles on hotel and rental car bookings that are made through Capital One Travel and 1.5x miles on all purchases.
This card also comes with an introductory 0% APR benefit, zero fraud liability, no foreign transaction fees, and free employee cards.
5. CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®
The very last card we’ll discuss is the CitiBusiness Platinum Select card, a co-branded partnership between Citibank and American Airlines.
This business card is virtual credit card-enabled, earns a nice welcome offer, and racks up miles as follows:
- 2 AAdvantage miles per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases, telecommunications merchants, cable and satellite providers, car rental merchants, and gas stations
- 1 AAdvantage mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
You’ll also get your first checked bag free on domestic American Airlines itineraries, preferred boarding on American Airlines flights, no foreign transaction fees, and free employee cards!
Final Thoughts
Virtual credit cards are on the rise. Those who are wary of their credit card information being leaked have probably come across virtual credit cards.
And we’re here to tell you that they can offer extra protection when shopping online, especially if you think that online merchants are prone to hacks or data breaches.
Citi and Capital One offer virtual credit cards for their major products, while Amex and Chase offer Click to Pay.
Additionally, Amex offers virtual cards via a partnership with Extend on its business card products, and it has American Express Go for corporate cards.
We hope you’ve found this guide useful in helping you pick the best virtual credit cards for your needs.
The information regarding the Capital One Spark Miles for Business, Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business, and CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of American Express® Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.
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