@Pangolin posted a new topic, subject "Raise the Limit on Number of Virtual Cards". It read:

   Today I hit the limit of 5 virtual cards (inc. 1 disposable).
    
    I would like  to raise the limit as my idea of using them is to assign one for each online subscription that I have. After taking out or renewing a subscription I can then freeze the card to prevent inadvertent auto-renewal (sometimes you're unaware that a subscription is set to auto-renew or simply forget to go into your account and switch it off).
    
    However, 4 virtual cards is nowhere near enough to do this (I don't count disposable as this isn't suitable for subscriptions). I think the Premium plan would be much more cost effective if the limit of virtual cards wasn't as low as it is currently.

Then @kilian said

    I just ran into this as well. I didn't know there was a limit (although the UI suggested it somewhat by having to tediously swipe through with no re-ordering options). I also wanted to use separate cards for each service to easily protect myself from data breaches by being able to cancel only the card that belongs to that service and not having to update it everywhere else as well.
    
    This is definitely rather unfortunate

So @Regalia replied

    Pangolin:
    
    > … sometimes you're unaware that a subscription is set to auto-renew or simply forget to go into your account and switch it off …
    
    That is not how those cards should be used. If you forget to cancel a subscription you still have a contract with the service provider so you have to pay anyway. Using an virtual card as a fail-safe for forgetting to cancel your subscription is clearly not what it's about.
    
    I use the virtual card for online shopping and have my real cards disabled for online shopping in the security settings. If something goes wrong I am pretty sure to know that my virtual card has been compromised and my real ones are still fine. 
    
    To be safe from fraud the disposables virtual cards are doing a great job.

@Pangolin replied

    Regalia:
    
    > That is not how those cards should be used. If you forget to cancel a subscription you still have a contract with the service provider so you have to pay anyway. Using an virtual card as a fail-safe for forgetting to cancel your subscription is clearly not what it's about
    
    No there isn't. I'm not using these cards to pay electricity bills or gas bills, I'm merely using them to get access to _time-limited_ premium features of online apps and websites. When I make a payment I am paying a set amount to access those premium features for a given amount of time - there's no contract which binds me to them as a service provider once that time has elapsed.
    
    That is why such websites often set your cards to auto-renew, or send you tons of reminders about your premium access being due to come to an end, in the hope that you will decide to continue using that service. They know that after the subscription period ends they have no claim over you and no right to demand future payments.

To which @Regalia replied

    That will depend on your contract.
    
    Anyhow having 20+ virtual cards for a single person is an totally unreasonable demand or wish.
    
    I don't know any other fintech or bank that gives you so many card options like Revolut.

So @Pangolin replied

    Regalia:
    
    > Anyhow having 20+ virtual cards for a single person is an totally unreasonable demand or wish.
    
    ??? Where did I say 20+? I only said that it would be more effective it if wasn't as low as currently. You're putting words in my mouth and distorting my argument. I don't even have 20 subscriptions.
    
    When I pay for a 12-month VPN subscription what are my obligations once the 12-month period is over? Answer: none. What do I have to pay them beyond this point? Answer: nothing. And it's the same for all the other services I use.

Then @Kastello said

    I don't see a real problem to use more services with one card. Just cancel the service before your 12 months are over.

@Pangolin replied

    I do that sometimes but where I find a virtual card particularly useful is when you have (free) trial subscriptions, where you have to put in CC details to sign up. It's easy to forget about those and so you can get dinged for the full payment if you forget to cancel before the trial period is up.
    
    The disposable card sometimes doesn't work and I prefer to use that for purely one-off payments (i.e. if I decide to keep the service after the trial then the card will still be valid, I can simply unfreeze it to let the payment go through).

So @resolut replied

    You should be able to just disable online transactions once your card is on record and the trial amount is authorized.

@Sal replied

    Is there a limit on how many virtual disposal cards you can have on a Metal Plan.
    
    Can you for instance have a virtual disposal card such that you add, use, remove, reinstate limitless times?

@Pangolin replied

    resolut:
    
    > You should be able to just disable online transactions once your card is on record and the trial amount is authorized.
    
    Yes but then I can't use that card for anything else. If I've hit the limit on virtual cards and thus have to use an existing card for a trial subscription, it means that I'd need to disable a card that is being used for services I want to keep using (where I want the payments to be authorised). Having a separate card for the trial service means I don't have to worry about this - the card is entirely separate so I can switch it on/off as I please.

Then @kilian said

    Regalia:
    
    > Anyhow having 20+ virtual cards for a single person is an totally unreasonable demand or wish.
    > 
    > I don't know any other fintech or bank that gives you so many card options like Revolut.
    
    The US-based privacy.com advertises with being able to create numerous service-specific cards or throwaways for single-use. They definitely have a limit somewhere, but I can't find any further details on exactly how many cards. It seems to vary on an account-by-account basis.
    
    The fact that disposable cards are a thing with Revolut also leads me to believe that card numbers can't really be a limiting factor. Limits will probably either be in place for technical or legal reasons and I really can't imagine the former being an issue even if you set it at >100 cards per customer.
    
    Just out of curiosity, how are all of you using the virtual cards? Do you use a single virtual card for all online transactions? Do you group merchants together? Do you have a specific card for “risky” merchants like Sony (who've had credit card details stolen several times) and then another for all the rest? I'm still rather new to Revolut and just trying to figure out how to best use it.

So @Regalia replied

    kilian:
    
    > Do you have a specific card for “risky” merchants like Sony (who've had credit card details stolen several times) and then another for all the rest?
    
    For “risky” stuff and one time purchases I use those disposable cards. For other online stuff the normal virtual one.

So @rob replied

    Regalia:
    
    > For “risky” stuff and one time purchases I use those disposable cards. For other online stuff the normal virtual one.
    
    I do virtually the same as @Regalia. I keep a note on my phone where I've registered my “online” virtual card which will include places like Amazon and Starbucks. If I have to cancel my card I'll know where it was registered.
    
    However I also have a couple of specific virtual cards for special cases too. One is for Tesco Pay+ (a big supermarket here in the UK), and another for Curve (a card aggregation service).

So @resolut replied

    Pangolin:
    
    > Yes but then I can't use that card for anything else.
    
    No, not really. You use one card (always the same card) for trials and other things you're not sure whether you are going to keep on using them. Once you are sure you register one of your real cards. The “trials” card has online purchases disabled except during authorization of the trial amount.
    
    Pangolin:
    
    > it means that I'd need to disable a card that is being used for services I want to keep using (where I want the payments to be authorised).
    
    Yes, but you just go to subscription settings and register one of the cards you want to use for such things, then disable this particular card and use it for all trial subscriptions.

@ytti replied

    I fully agree with @Pangolin here. I find it odd some people people reply ‘this is not how they are supposed to use', implying everyone should have same processes on conducting their business. Whole idea of Revolut et.al. is to disrupt, this inherently means observing what is done and how is that not meeting actual requirements.
    
    What @Pangolin is suggesting isn't for everyone and doesn't need to be, it just needs to have value to sufficiently many to support the cost.
    
    What is the cost Revolut is carrying on Virtual Cards? I have no idea, naively I assume that everyone who has payment card number prefix independently controls the 12 digit account number. If so, then if Revolut had 2B subscribers everyone could have 500 virtuals, but of course you need somewhat low overall utilisation rate to make misuse harder. So question remains, what is the cost?
    
    Personally when any of the challenger banks comes up with plan with reasonable number of virtuals at reasonable cost (say <=10EUR/MRC) I will switch to that provider. Reasonable to me is at least 20 preferably more like 50 virtuals. Ideally even lock downs on WHO can charge there, when and how much, to very cleanly nail down MRC/YRC to intended party.
    
    My use-case is identical as with @Pangolin, I want all my reoccurring charges to be on their dedicated cards with dedicated monthly limits. So I have trivial way to get rid of charges and very small exposure on card being misused (only as much as service MRC/YRC allows)
    
    On some markets particularly elderly are essentially scammed to enter into minor MRC contracts on their credit card which are extremely difficult to get rid of.

Then @SwissUser said

    How many virtual cards are included in the free plan? I only use one so far as I thought it‘s the limit.


{'source': 'discourse', 'url': 'https://community.revolut.com/t/raise-the-limit-on-number-of-virtual-cards/56680', 'title': 'Raise the Limit on Number of Virtual Cards', 'views': 3389, 'has_accepted_answer': False, 'word_count': 1842, 'like_count': 18, 'reply_count': 10, 'participant_count': 9, 'posts': 17, 'tags': '', 'author': '@Pangolin', 'participants': '@Pangolin, @kilian, @Regalia, @Kastello, @resolut, @Sal, @rob, @ytti, @SwissUser', 'image_url': [None], 'created_at': '2018-08-20T09:19:50.597Z', 'last_posted_at': '2019-06-24T16:15:34.575Z'}