Ever get the feeling that credit card security breaches are getting more and more common? If you do, it’s probably because they are. Just last month Home Depot admitted to a massive breach of customer payment data, and only a month or two before that, Target suffered a similar fate. If you care to dig back further, you’ll see that customer data from companies like AT&T, Adobe, PlayStation, and dozens of others has been compromised in the past couple years alone.
Every time a breach like this happens, the affected company urges users to cancel their credit cards and order new ones. Some of us do, but because ordering a replacement card and updating all the places you have it on file is a major pain in the ass, many people don’t. That’s a problem, but luckily there’s a fresh new startup called Final that aims to put an end to it — for good.
Here’s a quick rundown of how it works, but in all honesty, the explainer video above is probably the best way to wrap your head around it.
Basically, instead of relying on a single, static, 16-digit card number, Final generates multiple card numbers that the user can restrict, and manages them for you automatically. In the event that there’s a problem with a merchant (data breach, fraudulent charges, etc.), Final cancels the number that’s on file and generates a new one. No worrying about the safety of your account, and no tedious card cancellation process. It all happens automatically.
Related: Home Depot confirms security breach, could be bigger than Target’s
The cool thing is that Final works anywhere. You can keep it in your wallet in the form of a physical, swipe-able card, or on your phone/laptop as a digital payment app. In addition to providing a seamless payment experience, this also means that you can manage Final from anywhere. Whenever one of your cards gets charged for something, the service pushes an alert to your phone to make sure you authorized the transaction. This way, recurring payments won’t slip past you unnoticed, and you’ll be able to keep on top of your finances more effectively.
The service hasn’t officially launched quite yet, but the company is poised to roll everything out in the next few months. So, if you’re interested, you can get further info or sign up for early access by providing your email on Final’s website.
