American Express Now Allows Some Cardmembers To Create Custom Virtual Cards Online

American Express has rolled out an interesting new feature for cardmembers — or at least some of them. Now, select cardmembers can create customized virtual credit cards right from their online account.

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know.

Create Custom Virtual Amex Cards Online

Some American Express cardmembers now have the ability to create customized virtual cards directly from their online Amex account.

Here are the steps to take in order to create a virtual card of your own. Note, however, that not everyone has this functionality at the time of this writing:

Log in to your online American Express account. Find the Account Services tab, click Card Management from the dropdown menu, and then select Add or Manage Virtual Cards.

An informational page will pop up. Click Create a Virtual Card.

Input all the information requested from Amex per your individual specifications.

Agree to the terms and conditions by clicking Agree and Create Virtual Card.

You’ll receive a text message with a one-time code to confirm your identity. Once it’s verified, you’re all set.

What Is a Virtual Credit Card?

A virtual credit card is a unique credit card number tied to your main credit card account. However, it does not reveal your primary credit card number, which adds a layer of security to your account.

This allows you to use a different credit card number for each merchant you spend at, prevents fraudsters from getting your primary account details, and sets spending limits or expiration dates for each virtual credit card.

Virtual credit cards provide extra protection for online purchases and the added convenience of managing and limiting spending with each virtual credit card number.

Virtual cards are becoming more and more popular in the industry, and Capital One and Citi also offer virtual cards on their major products at this time.

Final Thoughts

American Express is rolling out the ability for cardmembers to create virtual cards directly from online accounts. The functionality hasn’t spread to everyone yet, but look out for it in the coming days and weeks if you’re interested in easily creating a virtual card.

As virtual cards continue to rise in popularity, we expect functionality similar to this to spread more deeply through the industry.