Citi Updating Virtual Credit Card System on August 24 — What This Means for You

Citi has posted a notice that its virtual account numbers will be changing on August 24, 2025. Virtual numbers created before that date will no longer work.

If you aren’t familiar with virtual credit card numbers, you should be.

Here’s a closer look at what’s changing with Citi and why it matters.

What Are Virtual Credit Card Numbers?

When shopping online, there’s always a risk that your credit card number could be exposed. Hackers and weak IT systems could reveal your credit card number, and that could lead to big headaches with unauthorized transactions.

Virtual card numbers, on the other hand, aren’t your actual credit card number. They allow you to make online purchases without using your actual credit card number. Think of this as a safer way to pay, and you can change the numbers — or shut them down in case someone gets hold of your number, though without needing to replace your physical card.

Citi Changing Virtual Card Number Experience

You can create a virtual number for many Citi credit cards and virtual account numbers at the following link, though you’ll need to be logged in to your account to access this page.

Now, Citi has posted a notice at the top of this page, indicating changes are coming on August 24. Citi says that the “Virtual Account Number experience” is changing, and that “numbers created on or before August 23rd can no longer be used to make a purchase” as of August 24.

Unfortunately, that means existing numbers will stop working. If you’ve saved these as a preferred payment method with any merchants, you’ll need to update your account.

What’s frustrating about this process is that you can’t create a number now, despite seeing the notice, to be prepared for the August 24 updates. All cardholders will need to return to Citi’s website and make a new number — 1 for each different credit card — after the changes to Citi’s system.

Final Thoughts

Citi is changing its virtual credit card system on August 24. If you have any existing virtual card numbers, you’ll need to return to Citi’s system after the 24th to create new ones. Existing numbers will stop working when Citi updates its system.