Anonymous Prepaid Credit Card Should Or Not?

Q: Does anyone know of any prepaid/disposeable credit cards? I'm looking for something like: http://www.bankofamerica.com/giftcard/ You have to pay up front, and you probably have to pay a service fee too. But it may be worth it, eg., to limit the time and/or amount of charges made. Sure you can get probably get fraud protection from a regular credit card, but I don't like the idea of companies keeping my "account information", for extended periods. And I don't want the worries of tracking and/or disputing charges should something go wrong. By the way, I am not interested in using online payment services like Paypal. They are not widely accepted. Also, it doesn't appear possible to open an account for a single fixed payment. That is what I want to do. Comments? Suggestions?

A: -Wouldn't a prepaid credit card simply be a debit card? i.e. why not use a debit card? -A big limitation of existing credit (and debit) cards is that I cannot limit the payment amount ahead of time. Once you give your account information it is possible for a company to change or add charges. And if they keep your information "on file" this can happen at any time in the future. Sure you can fight the charges, but the responsibility lies with the customer, to track down and correct these problems. Another problem is your credit rating. This is not such a big deal in Canada, but in the US credit checks are quite common. Any company can place a complaint against your account for any reason, eg., for alleged damage to rental property. Then it is the consumer's responsibility to resolve the dispute to "clear" their credit rating before they can obtain future credit .... for any future transactions. Finally, anonymous payment is sometimes desirable. I presume it is not completely anonymous. It could probably be revealed by a search warrant of some kind, or for tax purposes. But at least your name will not be posted on some hacker website if your information is compromised... The open question is what kind of dispute mechanism is available for such prepaid cards. Credit card companies will usually side with the consumer in a dispute, but they may be less willing to take a stand for a (relatively) small purchase on a prepaid card. Anyway, this is not a big issue for me. As long as I have evidence of the transcation, this is sufficient for me. Providing I can get a disposeable card, the precise dispute/authorization mechanisms are not pressing issue for me. But it is worth debating in this age of "electronic commerce". How many of you have given your banking information, eg., for automated payment of phone or utility bills, only to have extra charges made without your permission??? I have had this problem with Sympatico, where some erroneous charges were billed. I would like to be billed directly for my charges. But they won't allow it. They require either a credit or debit card. There is no option to assign a regular, but fixed payment schedule! .