Credit card security details are no trivial matter.

Knowing precisely what the security features of your credit card are is as important as knowing its interest rates. With credit card theft and fraud on the rise, it’s still best to be as secure as possible.

So what security features come with the Virgin Money credit cards?

Visa’s zero liability policy

Virgin Money credit cards grant you access to Visa’s zero liability policy.

What this means is that in the event that fraud should occur, you may not be held accountable for the purchases or charges you never authorised. Exceptions and terms and conditions do apply, so it’s well worth reading the policy to see what is covered.

If you keep a regular eye on your monthly transaction statements, spot something out of the ordinary and report it, we will take action. Your old card can be cancelled, and a new one issued within five business days of notification.

Secure chip technology

You may have noticed that cards are changing mostly to chips, rather than the old-fashioned swipe strips. This is because cards utilising microchip computing technology are far safer than their ageing counterparts.

Visa itself helped establish the EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) standard for credit card microchips. These small components, when combined with your personalised PIN, are much harder to counterfeit. When used in a transaction, the transmission sent by the chip to be authorised by VisaNet does not contain any data that could be used to make illegal purchases with the card. Also, your PIN guarantees anyone who steals your card cannot physically use it – so long as you keep your PIN number safe.

24/7 assistance

There’s nothing worse than knowing your credit card or credit card details have been compromised, other than being unable to contact the company that issued your said card to inform them of the situation, especially when you’re using your credit card overseas.

We know those struggles, so that’s why when you are issued a card by Virgin Money, you have access to assistance all day, every day. This also means we can easily cancel your card, should worst come to worst, help sort out an issue under the zero liability policy, or issue a replacement card so you are inconvenienced for as little time as possible. When you apply for the Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Card or Velocity High Flyer Credit Card, you could also be eligible to access your very own personal assistant through the Visa Platinum Concierge Service.

Verified by Visa

Yet another security feature of a Virgin Money credit card is access to Verified by Visa – Visa’s secure online shopping protection. Verified by Visa is a global authentication service which provides you, the cardholder, with an SMS Code to ensure that only you may complete an internet transaction.

If an incorrect SMS Code is entered during your online purchase, the purchase will not be completed. Even if someone knows your credit card number, they can’t complete a purchase without an SMS Code.

Virgin Money credit card holders are automatically registered for Verified by Visa.

Visa payWave

There are many people who are nervous about the contactless transaction system of Visa payWave cards.

A transaction limit of $100 applies to payWave, meaning nothing greater can be accidentally withdrawn through this function. In addition, a payWave transaction must happen within four centimetres of the reader, according to Visa’s website, and only one transaction can occur at any given time.

Also, every transaction made by payWave is monitored in real time by the company’s processing network, VisaNet, and is scored based on its fraud potential.

What security features do you love in a credit card?