Concerns about using credit cards online

A new study has found that there are now 22 million adults in the UK who manage their accounts online, more than half of all regular Internet users, despite Internet banking not even existing a decade ago.

The report by the Payments Council, on how the modern UK consumer spends and receives their money, also found that even more shop online, with about two thirds of all adults, 32 million people, using the web for home purchases. However, it also revealed that people are now more confident about shopping online and believe it is safer than ever before, which isn’t necessarily the case.

With the number of viruses doing the rounds growing and online fraud on the rise, the report found that, although using credit cards online does provide some additional consumer protection on goods, payment methods such as Paypal do not offer consumers the protection of the Consumer Credit Act .

While an advantage of Paypal is that the retailer doesn't get to know your card or bank details, thus making ID fraud harder, it doesn’t place the responsibility for faulty or damaged goods onto the credit card provider and the supplier. This problem is the same for buying through Amazon Marketplace and other third-party retailers. The buyer should still beware, especially on the Internet.