A controlled payment number (also called a "substitute credit card number," a "one-time use credit card", or a "virtual credit card number") is an alias for one's credit card

Credit card

A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...

 number. It is generated through the use of either a web application or a specialized client program, interacting with the card issuer's computer, and is linked to one's actual credit card number.

Typically, a controlled payment number has a limit, and an expiration date between two and twelve months from the issue date, both chosen by the account owner, and while it can usually be set up to allow multiple transactions, it can only be used with a single merchant. This "alias" number is indistinguishable from an ordinary credit card number, and the user's actual credit card number is never revealed to the merchant. Thus, if it is compromised, a fraudulent user can usually do little or no damage.

The system was developed by Orbiscom, a Dublin-based payment processing company, and is used by a number of credit card issuers. In the USA, these include Bank of America

Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...

 (which inherited its system, "ShopSafe," when it acquired MBNA

MBNA

MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006...

), Citibank

Citibank

Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...

 ("Virtual Account Numbers"), Discover Card

Discover Card

The Discover Card is a major credit card, issued primarily in the United States. It was originally introduced by Sears in 1985, and was part of Dean Witter, and then Morgan Stanley, until 2007, when Discover Financial Services became an independent company. Novus, a major processing center, used to...

's Secure Online Account Numbers and NetSpend's "virtual accounts". Examples from other countries are MBnet, which can create a payment number linked to virtually any credit or debit card emitted in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, and UK-based Neteller

Neteller

Optimal Payments PLC, formerly known as Neovia Financial PLC, is a British global payments company based in the Isle of Man and regulated in the United Kingdom...

 which offers a "virtual card" with card details generated uniquely for each transaction.

"Controlled Payment Number" is a trademark of Orbiscom, which was acquired by Mastercard

MasterCard

Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...

 in January 2009.

Discontinued Programs

UK-based Ivobank offered a similar "virtual card" right until it went bankrupt in 2009, while Cahoot

Cahoot

cahoot is the internet division of Santander UK plc, the United Kingdom subsidiary of Banco Santander of Spain. Cahoot was launched in 2000 as the internet-based banking brand of Abbey National plc, and at the end of 2004 had some 650,000 customers...

 withdrew their webcard in October 2009.

American Express

American Express

American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...

's "Private Payments" was available from late 2000 to 2004.

Paypal

PayPal

PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....

discontinued their virtual credit card service on September 22, 2010.