There are two kinds of credit cards. Namely, Credit card and virtual credit card. As the name indicates the credit card is the real and physical credit card issued by your bank or the credit card issuing company, whereas the virtual credit is a non-physical virtual card (or intangible asset) which can be used for online payment. VCC or Virtual Credit Cards have been in demand for a long time now, and they are considered to be the safest alternative for your physical credit cards while making payments online. VCC or Virtual Credit Card is a prepaid card, or you can call it a debit card which can be used as a credit card. It does not come with any credit facility unlike physical credit cards issued by your bank. If you have a virtual credit, you can load a certain amount of money on it and later use it to make payment online. The amount will be deducted from your VCC balance. So, it is necessary that you should have loaded enough money before making any purchases as you will not be getting credit facilities in VCC. You may also want to read Indian debit cards accepted by PayPal and Google Wallet. Why should I use VCC over Real Credit Card? VCCs are good for online transactions. Even if your VCC (Virtual Credit Card) information is compromised or leaked, the hacker won’t be able to use the card beyond the loaded balance. It will also be safe as it comes with a daily usage limit set by the users. VCC also comes in handy in case you want to try out an online offer which requires Credit card information for verification. This way you can be sure that your VCC will not be charged if you forget to unsubscribe within the given period and it will also reduce chances of being cheated by online scams. Getting a VCC is not a difficult thing in these days as Virtual Credit Cards are being offered by Banks as well as online wallets. Banks offer one time disposable Virtual Credit Cards, which can be used for one transaction or till the loaded balance is reduced to 0. Whereas the some services offer Virtual Credit Cards which can be used for years to come and you can reload the payment whenever you want. So, today in this post we will have a look at the banks and services offering free Virtual Credit Cards in India. Apps and Services Offering Virtual Credit Card Before we jump to have a look at the banks offering Virtual Credit Cards in India, let’s have a look at the apps and services offering free Virtual Credit Card. Most of these services would only require you to register an account with them before creating your first free Virtual Credit Card. 1. Entropay VISA Virtual Credit Card You may think why Entropay made into the list of Indian Virtual Credit Card offers as it is not an Indian company. But, Entropay is the most popular Virtual Credit Card provider. A Good thing about Entropay is that it does not support 3D verification or two-step verification to make payment. This allows you to use Entropay Virtual Credit Card to make international payment in different currencies other than INR. Now the non-support to 3D verification can be a disadvantage as well. Most of the Indian merchants require the credit card or debit cards to support 3D verification by VBV (Verified by VISA) or MSC (MasterCard SecureCode). The Entropay Virtual Credit card is recommended if you want to make international transactions. All you have to do is register on Entropay website and enter your debit card information. You may also need to verify your PAN card before start loading amount to your Entropay Virtual Credit Card. 2. FreeCharge GO MasterCard If you are in India and love to watch cricket, then you would have been annoyed by the FreeCharge commercials after every over. However, FreeCharge was recently acquired by Snapdeal, and it has started to offer free virtual credit card called as FreCharge Go Card. It is verified by MasterCard so no VISA here and is powered by Yes Bank. You can use FreeCharge GO Card on almost all the Indian online shopping websites including Flipkart, Amazon and of course, Snapdeal. It supports 3D authentication to keep your safe for fraudulent transactions. When you try to make the payment, a 3D authentication PIN will be sent to your phone registered on FreeCharge. Upon entering which, the payment will be successful or declined. 3. ICICI Bank Pockets Wallet Pockets Wallet is an online wallet service which allows you to load money to your wallet and make payment to online shopping sites. The Pockets Wallet is backed by ICICI Bank, so it is a genuine service. Pockets Wallet is an open for all wallet service, so being an ICICI Bank customer isn’t a requirement to get a free virtual Credit Card from Pocket Wallet. The Pockets Wallet offer a VISA virtual credit card to its registered users. To the interested customers, the Pockets Wallet also offers a physical credit card linked to their Wallet account, but that comes with a yearly fee. 4. Axis Bank Lime Wallet This is yet another similar service to Pockets Wallet by ICICI Bank, but the free virtual credit cards are powered by MasterCard instead of VISA. Registered users of Lime Wallet can get a free virtual credit card which can be used on online shopping websites. However, it does not support any international transaction. For an international transaction, Entropay is your best bet, though it involves a fee every time you load your account. Virtual Credit Cards Offered By Indian Banks In case you have a bank account in any of the below-mentioned banks then you can get a free virtual credit card issued by your bank. A good thing about the Virtual Credit Cards issued by these Banks is that these VCCs are one-time cards. They can be used until the loaded amount is reduced to 0 or they come with a time limit of 24-48 hours. If you haven’t used all the loaded balance from VCC, then the remaining amount will be credit your Bank account. 1. SBI Virtual Card The State Bank of India (SBI) customer can get a free virtual credit card issued by the bank. All you have to do is log in to your SBI NetBanking account and generate a free virtual credit card. The credit card can have the amount starting from Rs 100 to Rs 50,000. The SBI Virtual Card expired after one successful transaction or after the 48 hours of the card generation. However, the SBI Virtual Card does not support international transaction so you can use it in India only. It supports 3D authentication, and the 3D authentication PIN will be sent to your registered mobile number. 2. Kotak Mahindra Bank Netcard If you want a Virtual Credit Card for the international transaction, then Kotak Mahindra Bank Netcard can come in handy for you. Though, you should have a bank account with Kotak Mahindra before generating any NetCard from them. The Netcard service is powered by Enstage, and the Virtual Credit Cards can only be used for an international transaction or on merchant sites which do not support 3D authentication. Kotak Mahindra NetCard will expire after one successful transaction hence, it cannot be used with PayPal. There are other banks such as ICICI and HDFC Bank NetSafe offering virtual credit cards which can be generated from their NeBanking section. Does your bank provide Virtual Credit Cards? Do let us know in the comment section below.
