Anonymous Credit Card Is an Anonymous Credit Card Possible?

 It's a dream for us all to make anonymous purchases without having to sacrifice our personal details to merchants, credit card providers and credit agencies. While you can make semi anonymous purchases over the internet using e-currencies and virtual prepaid cards (which give you a number and expiry date but no physical card), it is almost impossible to get a 100% legal anonymous credit card which you can use both online and at a store.

 Anonymous Private Credit Cards and Private Bank Accounts

 Private credit cards are ideal for those looking to make anonymous purchases, because they can be funded by an private bank account shielded by bank secrecy. Since it is by definition hard to track the holder of an anonymous private credit card, these do not actually offer a line of credit. Instead they come in the form of secured cards, debit cards or prepaid cards which offer the same privileges as the major credit cards like MasterCard and Visa. Prepaid cards are often the most private since they are not necessarily linked to any particular private bank account. Furthermore these types of cards will offer more privacy since you will have to provide no details of your credit history for the bank to share around with 3rd parties (this is one area where bank secrecy is routinely broken).

 After 9/11 the regulatory environment has become much stricter making it a lot more difficult to open bank accounts and make purchases completely anonymously, especially when large sums are involved. As a result, you can still get a prepaid private debit card with no identification, but one with low limits. Many stores for example offer their own branded prepay cards which have low limits of 500-1000USD. You can also get similar low-limit prepaid anonymous cards at some banks.

 Almost Anonymous Prepaid Private Credit Card

 If what you are looking for is an private credit card with much higher limits to withdraw large amounts of cash or make larger purchases online or over the counter, you may have to settle for a card that is not 100% anonymous.

 Internationally accepted card brands like MasterCard Visa or Discovery will not permit entirely anonymous use of their cards. In return for a notarized copy of your passport and proof of residence you can get a prepaid visa or prepaid mastercard with high limits and all the benefits of an internationally accepted credit card. Another benefit is peace of mind - you can be safe in the knowledge that your international credit card is protected against fraud. With a completely anonymous card you might just have to accept the loss - after all how can you prove that it is yours?

 

Unembossed and Company Credit Cards

 

There are still ways to make your transactions very hard to trace. One way is to use an un-embossed pre paid card which will display no name on the card itself and not record your name or personal details when the card is swiped. You can fund this card from an private bank account which is itself almost entirely anonymous.

 

Another option is to use a company or business credit card. You can put your company name on the card and again when the card is swiped only the company name is recorded. You can even have a separate address for the private company and use this as the billing address for your online transactions.