August 8, 2025 • 26 mins
Helpful episodes to listen to firstQuestions we answer in this episode
What is Makani's most used online shopping tool?
What are 2 key features it provides?
What 3 subscription problems does it fix?
Episode summaryPrivacy.com offers super powered Privacy Cards that you can use to shop online. You create a unique Privacy Card for each business, then pause and set a spending limit for each card as needed.
No more free trials that turn into surprise bills, no more forgotten cancellations, and no more awkward phone calls just to say no.
Call to actionIf you've ever been burned by a subscription, this is the tool you didn't know you needed. Start by listening to Episode 14, so there's no surprises when you signup.
Then click here if you want us both to get a $5 signup bonus. Or click here for the non-referral link where neither of us get a bonus. Either way is great, I just want you protected.
LinksTODO: create my official referral policy somewhere and link to it here
Signup for Privacy.com here and we both get $5
Signup for Privacy.com here and neither of us get $5
More tips from Privacy.com on subscription management
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Super Simple Security Principles. I'm Nick Jackson.
(00:05):
I want to love computers. I just seem to break them a lot.
I'm learning how to stay safe online from my good buddy and Master Guardian, Makani Mason.
He wrote his first computer program when he was just a little lad.
Six years old? Yeah, you're writing computer programs at six.
You know what's destined for you.
You know this stuff, folks. He spends his time teaching people like me and you how to stay safe ahead of the digital threats from the bad guys.
(00:35):
Hallelujah. He keeps it simple and we love it. Learn along with me each week.
I'll ask questions and make sure he keeps it simple, relevant, and right for us.
Those that need to learn this stuff. So if I can do it, you can do it.
So here we go. We're diving right in. This is episode 75.
(00:57):
How to fix all the problems with subscriptions. Dude, you had me sold right there.
I hate subscriptions.
They're making so much money charging subscriptions.
I'm like, wait, let's figure out how to fix the problems with subscriptions. Let's go.
So here's the questions we're going to be answering in today's episode.
(01:18):
What is makani's most used online shopping tool?
Second, what are the two key features it provides?
What three subscription problems does it fix?
Let's go. One tool, two key features it provides, and three subscription problems it fixes.
(01:48):
Yes. Now that's a way to start an episode, son. Well done.
Nice.
You know, I debated a little bit about the title. It felt like a little clickbaity, you know.
Dude, man, I would have renamed it one, two, three strikes, subscriptions. You're out.
(02:13):
Yeah, I didn't catch on. I actually, like, intentionally knew the one, two, three thing so.
Oh, you didn't?
No, that was cool. No.
Oh, well. There you go.
Well, and, you know, at the end of the day, like, you know, subscriptions, there's still going to be people who hate them because we can only fix so many problems with them.
Right.
And, you know, the fact is they're a viable model in some ways. It's just they're implemented, you know, kind of in a scammy way, I guess, a little bit sometimes.
(02:44):
They have some problems. So, but obviously you have some feelings about this. So, I don't know, what problems have you had that you'd like to share with us before we...
Oh, man. Do you know how many times I've forgotten to cancel a free so-called TV trial of some sport or something like this or some channels or some app?
(03:08):
Yeah.
Dude, I've wasted hundreds of dollars forgetting about those. Like, so for me, like, I just miss the good old days, like, cable. Like, I want to pay for something with no commercials.
Like, just put the crap. I just want to watch my programs. But anyways, we are at the streaming mecca now, you know?
(03:43):
Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, forgetting to cancel is definitely a big one. So, now, the solution we're talking about today is one you're very familiar with and we've talked about before. Privacy cards from privacy.com.
Privacy.com. I don't know if that was obvious, if you were guessing that.
I wasn't. I wasn't. But shout out again to privacy cards. Well done.
(04:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. So, let's hear what other problems they take care of. This is great.
Yeah. So, right. Back in, in episode 14, we talked mostly about how they kept your credit card safe.
Right? And we talked about some of their features. So, the two features for today are, in addition to those, they have quite a few features.
(04:30):
But, subscription relevant that we didn't already cover in episode 14, there's two specific ones that we either didn't touch on or really glossed over quickly there. So, that's what we're going to kind of focus on today.
Excellent. Excellent.
So, before we dive into that, though, I want to just give one, you know, our kind of disclaimer. They're not paying me to make this episode. You know, no sponsorship or anything. I just, I've been using them since 2018.
(05:01):
Right.
Right.
And like I said, I mean, it's my most used tool, at least that's like specific to shopping. Obviously, I use my password manager as part of shopping and my password manager everywhere. But, one that's just a tool or, you know, shopping, this is absolutely the one. And I use it anytime I shop online.
So, excellent. So, before we get into the two features, though, we need to just explain very briefly, like a couple sentences worth, I'm thinking, to what a privacy card is so we can build on what those features are. Do you want to give it a go or do you want me to? Happy either way. Okay.
(05:39):
You're going to give it a go. All right. So, let's see. Do we want me to give the rough explanation or the person that's been using it since 2018 to give us a simple explanation? Let's go with your route.
Fair enough. Well, you know, sometimes you have like, I don't know, just you explain it in a way that, I don't know, I think is really useful. So, no worries. You know, it just always depends on your thoughts. So, it's all good. So, it's just, it's a card works like a credit card or a debit card.
(06:09):
Exactly. Exact same thing. I mean, you'll have a card number, but instead of, like, it pulls from your bank account.
Right.
So, and most importantly, though, it comes packed with a ton of extra features.
Okay.
And like I said, today we're focusing on two specific features, but definitely listen to episode 14 if any of this sounds at all interesting.
(06:32):
Yeah.
Because we go into a lot more about privacy in general, some of the other features, and they have a ton of good articles on their website about it as well.
But, so, feature number one is pause, the ability to pause and unpause a privacy card at any time.
(06:52):
And if it's paused, it just means that no payments can be pulled from it.
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah.
Now, I have other cards, like my, you know, my main, like, credit union card, it can be paused.
Right?
So, that's not a super uncommon feature, but the critical difference here is that you can generate a new privacy card anytime you want, which is, that's the default recommended approach, and that's what I do, is I have a different privacy card for every business, you know, every website that I shop at online.
(07:26):
Right.
Right.
So, that changes the whole nature of what pause looks like, because then, you know, normally, I wouldn't want to pause my card generally, because that's going to break, you know, all the, yeah.
Yeah.
That was why I held up that one finger, as I thought you were going to highlight that, is the fact that, yeah.
Anyways.
(07:47):
Oh, yeah.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
This is fantastic.
This is a great way to pause it immediately, like, if, you know, you want it.
Yeah.
Right.
You can control, you know, your spending with an individual business without impacting any of the others.
Yep.
I love it.
So, and, you know, again, you can, of course, unpause it anytime you want.
(08:09):
You can change your mind about that.
Perfect.
Yeah.
Well, and then I forgot to mention, so we're going to talk about the two features, and then we're going to talk about three problems.
Oh, yeah.
We know that was in the opening question, but that's what we're doing.
Two features and three problems.
So, feature number two is spending limits.
You can set a monthly, yearly, per transaction, or just an overall total spending limit for each card.
(08:35):
You can only set one kind of spending limit.
You can't, like, do a monthly and a yearly or a monthly and per transaction or whatever.
But at least in my experience, and I use them heavily, it's, I found it to be flexible enough to do everything that I've wanted.
Okay.
Because you can adjust that at any time, too.
(08:56):
You can change it between types.
You can raise the amounts.
You know, you can give them $5 to begin with, and then decide, okay, I trust them, so now we're going to raise it to $100 or whatever.
Gotcha.
And I really love this feature.
It gives you proactive budgeting, scam protection, and really just kind of good general protection against any sort of unexpected charges.
(09:20):
Yeah.
We good?
We're good.
Yeah.
Okay.
I might have to tell my son not to get my Bronco.
Nice.
Nice.
Real world sometimes interferes.
No worries.
Yes, it does.
(09:41):
That's totally fine.
So, I'll just keep chatting at you, though, while we're doing it.
Okay, please.
Sorry.
No, totally fine.
So, now we've got those.
We're going to look at the three problems and see how these two specific features can help fix them.
I did want to just throw one note out is that these problems mostly don't apply to the mobile app-based subscriptions that are, like, managed by Apple and Google on your, you know, on your iPhone or your Android phone.
(10:17):
I don't know why they have a lot of complaints, but they used to have a lot of complaints, but they're mostly really pretty good these days, a lot better.
Okay.
So, just keep that in mind, like, yeah, like, yeah, like, you can cancel ahead of time.
Anyway, I don't want to talk about those, but just know that they're a lot better, and so none of these three problems really apply too much there for the most part, for the most part.
(10:46):
So, problem one is the one that you talked about, free trials that don't end up being free.
Yep.
Right, so here's how it works with a privacy card.
So, you know, you want to sign up for a free trial, you create a new privacy card to use just with that business, and, of course, in order to start that trial, the company will run a check against that card to make sure it's a valid card.
(11:15):
Once that check is done, your free trial has started, then all you have to do is pause that card.
Nice.
And you can immediately do it, like, as soon as it validates it.
You know, it's all part of that same thing.
You don't have to wait 10 minutes later or whatever, like, you do it there, and then once the free trial's up, even if you forget to cancel, they'll never get a penny from you, unless you change your mind and want to let them.
(11:41):
Nice.
I like that.
So, spending limits also come in here handy, and I can't remember if I've told you this story.
I put it in a guide I built a while ago, but I thought it was really worth sharing here, because this was back in 2021.
I was house shopping, and my wife was interested in looking at possibly foreclosures, which I think is totally insane, but that's a different story.
(12:07):
So, there was a website that, I can't remember if I found it or she found it, but there was a $1 trial, you know, it wasn't a free trial, it was actually a $1 trial.
And so, I looked at it, you know, and I'm like, it's a little bit sketchy, I'm not sure this website's totally legit.
(12:29):
But, you know, I can do the privacy card, $1 trial, worst case, I lose a buck, whatever, I'm willing to gamble.
I was kind of morbidly curious anyway, you know, because I like to learn about scams and whatever, so I figure if I pay $1 and learn something more about some scams, that's okay too, right?
(12:50):
So, anyway, I set up a new card, set it with a $1 spending limit, and long story short, turns out I was right.
It was pretty scammy.
Like, we got a little bit of useful information out of it, can't remember the details, but it was definitely a scam, and if you go look for it now, it's gone.
(13:12):
It took, like, six months, a year, I can't remember before it shut down, but it was not legit.
Yes, so, but, you know, like, I love that, that, you know, having that power that I don't have to, like, my credit card is, like, this totally, you know, thing, I give it out in the world, and then it's just free control, you know, access to my money, you know?
(13:36):
Yep.
So.
Privacy card's killing it.
Yeah.
Shout out to them.
Well done.
Yep.
So, problem number two.
Yep.
We're getting the cancel, right?
Now, this is kind of separate.
What I'm talking about here is not after a free trial, but, like, you know, you have something that you're like, okay, it's been good, but I'm ready to be done with it.
(14:01):
And the problem is, in a lot of cases, and this is, this was one of those things, like, on phone, and this is mostly not true anymore, but on websites a lot of time, if you go to cancel, they'll want to suspend your privileges right then.
You're like, okay, I want it still to the end of the month or the end of the year or whatever the subscription period is, but I know now I don't want to pay again.
(14:22):
I'm ready to cancel it now, but I can't because otherwise I'll, I still, you know, I still want the benefits to the end of the period.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, oh, it makes total sense.
Yeah, and it's just, it's a pretty lame business practice in my mind, but still I find fairly common, you know?
Well, it forces you to wait until the last minute to cancel, which, you know, of course, dramatically increases the chances you're just going to forget or miss the deadline.
(14:52):
You know, I've had it where, like, it thinks the day is going to, the payment is going to pull a day earlier than it kind of looks like it would based on the renewal or whatever.
I mean, I don't know.
Anyway, it's just so easy to have that.
Anyway, so, of course, a privacy card fixes this easily.
Right, exactly.
(15:12):
You pause it.
As soon as you realize, right, you want to cancel, you can just pause it because when you pause it on that end, like the business, that doesn't tell the business anything.
They don't know about that pause.
Right.
You know, and you don't have to rely on your memory or even a reminder or whatever.
Your subscription will stay active.
And when it comes time to renew, the payment will fail, at which point I'm sure you'll hear from them, you know, and give you the opportunity to cancel.
(15:43):
Right.
Yep.
So the other thing I was thinking about is it can, you know, the spending limit also can come in handy here depending on what you need.
So let's say the subscription is paid monthly and it's $10 per month and you only want it for three months.
You could just set a total spending limit of $30.
(16:05):
Okay.
Right.
Right.
So, like, I think, you know, the pause is, you know, kind of the big button, but it's also just very useful to make sure you don't ever get overcharged or unexpected charges or whatever.
Yeah.
Um, so I like to put spending limits on there whenever, whenever it doesn't limit my flexible.
(16:28):
I don't overuse it.
There are some times when it's just too open-ended and I don't bother with a spending limit.
But if, if I know the limit is going to be and shouldn't be very predictable, then I always do lock it down as tight as I can.
Basically, it's my, my philosophy without causing me to have to go in and up that limit every time.
Yeah.
(16:49):
If that makes sense.
Makes sense.
Okay.
So problem three.
Yep.
And this is my most hated one, but is when they make it hard for you to cancel.
Right.
You, you experienced this one.
Yes.
Like, and this is going to be the lamest one to cancel.
(17:10):
But a carwash subscription was one of the hardest ones.
Oh yeah.
Ever had to cancel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What'd you have to do?
I had to literally, they had to, nobody at the carwash could unsubscribe me.
I had to literally go in and go into their webpage, click on this unsubscribe and jumps or hoops.
(17:39):
I had to create a different set of profiles so they could test my email.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, it was crazy.
It's like, no wonder why people just give up on it.
They're like, ugh, just keep washing my car there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's kind of, there's another one of those practices that I'm just like, that's insane.
(18:01):
You know?
And then there's the ones that one of my pet peeves is, you know, you have to actually talk
to somebody because they want to like, try to talk you out of canceling.
Like, no, no, not going to do it.
So, and so this, I also want to add a little chapter to my scam foreclosure story too, that
(18:24):
relates to this.
Because, as you know, probably comes as no surprise, I never did actually manage to cancel
it with the, you know, the foreclosure scam website because, I mean, I just think they
intentionally made it.
Like, it supposedly was just kept getting errors, right?
But it just was, that was the whole point of it.
(18:46):
So, I didn't, you know, I didn't really try too long because by that point I had already
concluded this was clearly a surprise, a scam.
So, I, I wasn't, I wasn't surprised that I couldn't actually cancel, right?
But here's the most interesting part about this one and that, you know, you kind of find
out because of the way privacy cards work.
So, privacy cards, every time a business tries to charge, it'll tell you.
(19:13):
Okay.
And it'll, you know, it'll say if it's successful or blocked, right?
So, even when it's blocked, like you get notified.
And so, this foreclosure website, they tried charging me.
I kept track of it because I, you know, partly, I mean, I didn't know I'd be doing this, but
it was an interesting story to me.
And I wanted to see exactly how crazy they were going to be.
(19:33):
They tried charging me 19 separate times for like, yeah, and just varying amounts.
Like, it wasn't related to any supposed payment system.
They just like kept seeing that, you know, is it just getting blocked because of lack of
funds?
What can we try to sneak through?
Like, over three-month period, they kept trying.
Oh, my gosh.
That's crazy.
(19:55):
Yeah.
Before they finally gave up.
And actually, so this was, you know, I mean, I'd been using privacy.com for a while, but
it was still early enough that I was like, wow, are they going to like, am I going to get
a bad reputation with, you know, like, I mean, I legitimately was wondering, you know, because
like, yeah, it's bad, right?
So I emailed them.
(20:15):
I emailed privacy.com and said, hey, look, these guys are really dinging me over and over
and over and I can't control it, obviously, you know, and they're total scam and whatever.
And they're like, no, dude, that like, this is the whole point.
This is why we built the service to protect you from jerks like this, essentially.
That's awesome.
So, yeah, so I was like, okay, I mean, that's what I thought, but I just, I don't know.
(20:38):
It was so bad that I was, I worried.
So anyway, that's, that's why I love privacy.com.
They like, they give me back control.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, it doesn't matter what lame things someone tries to do.
Right.
I can stay safe.
And I mean, you know, the only bit of effort really is, you know, you got to create the
account with privacy.com and then you create a new card for each new business.
(21:02):
But I mean, they've got a browser plugin.
Like it's, it's, it's just not a lot of work effort.
And we go into that more, way more detail in episode 14.
So I won't get into that here, but just know it for me, at least, you know, I've, I've talked
to one person one time about this and actually read my, read a guide I made on a long time
(21:23):
ago and they're like, oh, I don't want to have to manage hundreds of cards.
You know, I'm like, yeah, but you don't have to, because it's not like you have to, I mean,
you can just have that, that place, remember the card for one.
Right.
And then because it doesn't matter anymore, it's, it's safe to have them remember the
card.
Right.
You know, and so worst case, and then you go look it up.
(21:44):
If you, if you don't end up, they don't end up saving it for some reason.
It's just, I mean, I have a lot of non-techie, you know, siblings and friends who've used
privacy.com as well.
This is not a computer geek required skill level to use.
They are very happy with it.
So I just want to give a lot of reassurance there.
It is, you know, there is a little bit of more work, but the trade-off and the, all the
(22:09):
work it saves you to me, it is just one of the most no brainer decision tools, you know,
where you get more time for it than you, than you spend on it.
You know, does that make sense?
Yeah.
That was kind of awkwardly stated, but yeah.
So anyway, that's my, that's my rant.
(22:33):
That's your rant.
I like it.
That's a good rant.
Yeah.
Let's go.
Hey, I like those.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
They're, they're just some things that get me worked up, you know, when people take and
try to take advantage of you, you know?
Right.
And especially your money.
Yeah.
(22:55):
So, all right, dude, what's going to be our call to action with this?
Because there's got to be some call to action that's worthwhile.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, you know, it's kind of the obvious one, like, especially if you ever burned by
a, been burned by a subscription, which I suspect these days is pretty large percentage of the
population.
(23:16):
You know, this is the tool that, you know, you didn't know you needed, but you do.
And I have a link in the show notes to sign up.
And actually, I'm going to expand on this just a little bit because there are actually
two links in the show notes.
One is a referral link.
(23:36):
And I have very strict policies about referrals.
I'm actually going to, there's a link in the show notes about my opinions and thoughts on
this, but I do not believe in sponsors and that sort of thing.
But this is a case where, so if you use my referral link, you get a $5 bonus sign up.
I do as well, full disclosure.
(23:58):
So, you know, I do get benefit, but that is absolutely not why I'm doing it.
I use it.
And the only kinds of ones that I'm okay with is when I can get you a benefit.
Like, if I can give, do a referral link where you're going to get some percent off or something
and like this, where you get $5 bonus, then I'm going to do it.
Awesome.
(24:18):
So, but there is the regular link.
If for whatever reason, you know, that bothers you, then you won't get a bonus.
Neither will I.
So either way is, is great.
Um, just want, you know, you to have this tool in your toolkit.
So, um, and as a heads up, it is a financial service.
(24:40):
So they are legally required to ask for a lot of personal information.
You're going to be connecting your bank account.
Um, now I do talk about this more in episode 14.
So I recommend, uh, you listening to that before signing up because, um, especially related
to connecting your bank account, you don't have to give them your bank account credentials,
(25:05):
uh, despite how it appears.
So we'll leave it at that.
But, um, if you have any questions, of course, come see me.
Makani Mason, M-A-K-A-N-I-M-A-S-O-N.com.
Excellent.
I'll turn it back to you.
I love it.
Okay.
(25:26):
Look, we're, we're going to tease them with next episode.
Did you ever want to become a ninja?
Well, I did.
And next time you're going to become an Amazon shopping ninja.
Let's go.
I shop on Amazon all the time.
So makani is going to show you us how to sniff out the bad sellers and skip the junk products.
(25:54):
Dude, I'm in because I bought a lot of crap from Amazon.
Yeah.
Now I knew it was cheap.
I knew I was getting cheap stuff, but it was junk stuff.
What it ended up being.
So, um, that said, I'm excited.
So let's go.
Great episode.
Are you ready to take action and wondering where to start?
(26:17):
Get my Bulletproof My Identity Starter Kit for free.
The seven most vital layers of protection everyone needs.
I'll send you one step at a time and help you if you get stuck.
Just go to bulletproofmyid.com and enter your name and email and I will send you the first step.
(26:38):
Again, that's bulletproofmyid.com.
Welcome to Super Simple Security Principles. I'm Nick Jackson.
(00:05):
I want to love computers. I just seem to break them a lot.
I'm learning how to stay safe online from my good buddy and Master Guardian, Makani Mason.
He wrote his first computer program when he was just a little lad.
Six years old? Yeah, you're writing computer programs at six.
You know what's destined for you.
You know this stuff, folks. He spends his time teaching people like me and you how to stay safe ahead of the digital threats from the bad guys.
(00:35):
Hallelujah. He keeps it simple and we love it. Learn along with me each week.
I'll ask questions and make sure he keeps it simple, relevant, and right for us.
Those that need to learn this stuff. So if I can do it, you can do it.
So here we go. We're diving right in. This is episode 75.
(00:57):
How to fix all the problems with subscriptions. Dude, you had me sold right there.
I hate subscriptions.
They're making so much money charging subscriptions.
I'm like, wait, let's figure out how to fix the problems with subscriptions. Let's go.
So here's the questions we're going to be answering in today's episode.
(01:18):
What is makani's most used online shopping tool?
Second, what are the two key features it provides?
What three subscription problems does it fix?
Let's go. One tool, two key features it provides, and three subscription problems it fixes.
(01:48):
Yes. Now that's a way to start an episode, son. Well done.
Nice.
You know, I debated a little bit about the title. It felt like a little clickbaity, you know.
Dude, man, I would have renamed it one, two, three strikes, subscriptions. You're out.
(02:13):
Yeah, I didn't catch on. I actually, like, intentionally knew the one, two, three thing so.
Oh, you didn't?
No, that was cool. No.
Oh, well. There you go.
Well, and, you know, at the end of the day, like, you know, subscriptions, there's still going to be people who hate them because we can only fix so many problems with them.
Right.
And, you know, the fact is they're a viable model in some ways. It's just they're implemented, you know, kind of in a scammy way, I guess, a little bit sometimes.
(02:44):
They have some problems. So, but obviously you have some feelings about this. So, I don't know, what problems have you had that you'd like to share with us before we...
Oh, man. Do you know how many times I've forgotten to cancel a free so-called TV trial of some sport or something like this or some channels or some app?
(03:08):
Yeah.
Dude, I've wasted hundreds of dollars forgetting about those. Like, so for me, like, I just miss the good old days, like, cable. Like, I want to pay for something with no commercials.
Like, just put the crap. I just want to watch my programs. But anyways, we are at the streaming mecca now, you know?
(03:43):
Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, forgetting to cancel is definitely a big one. So, now, the solution we're talking about today is one you're very familiar with and we've talked about before. Privacy cards from privacy.com.
Privacy.com. I don't know if that was obvious, if you were guessing that.
I wasn't. I wasn't. But shout out again to privacy cards. Well done.
(04:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. So, let's hear what other problems they take care of. This is great.
Yeah. So, right. Back in, in episode 14, we talked mostly about how they kept your credit card safe.
Right? And we talked about some of their features. So, the two features for today are, in addition to those, they have quite a few features.
(04:30):
But, subscription relevant that we didn't already cover in episode 14, there's two specific ones that we either didn't touch on or really glossed over quickly there. So, that's what we're going to kind of focus on today.
Excellent. Excellent.
So, before we dive into that, though, I want to just give one, you know, our kind of disclaimer. They're not paying me to make this episode. You know, no sponsorship or anything. I just, I've been using them since 2018.
(05:01):
Right.
Right.
And like I said, I mean, it's my most used tool, at least that's like specific to shopping. Obviously, I use my password manager as part of shopping and my password manager everywhere. But, one that's just a tool or, you know, shopping, this is absolutely the one. And I use it anytime I shop online.
So, excellent. So, before we get into the two features, though, we need to just explain very briefly, like a couple sentences worth, I'm thinking, to what a privacy card is so we can build on what those features are. Do you want to give it a go or do you want me to? Happy either way. Okay.
(05:39):
You're going to give it a go. All right. So, let's see. Do we want me to give the rough explanation or the person that's been using it since 2018 to give us a simple explanation? Let's go with your route.
Fair enough. Well, you know, sometimes you have like, I don't know, just you explain it in a way that, I don't know, I think is really useful. So, no worries. You know, it just always depends on your thoughts. So, it's all good. So, it's just, it's a card works like a credit card or a debit card.
(06:09):
Exactly. Exact same thing. I mean, you'll have a card number, but instead of, like, it pulls from your bank account.
Right.
So, and most importantly, though, it comes packed with a ton of extra features.
Okay.
And like I said, today we're focusing on two specific features, but definitely listen to episode 14 if any of this sounds at all interesting.
(06:32):
Yeah.
Because we go into a lot more about privacy in general, some of the other features, and they have a ton of good articles on their website about it as well.
But, so, feature number one is pause, the ability to pause and unpause a privacy card at any time.
(06:52):
And if it's paused, it just means that no payments can be pulled from it.
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah.
Now, I have other cards, like my, you know, my main, like, credit union card, it can be paused.
Right?
So, that's not a super uncommon feature, but the critical difference here is that you can generate a new privacy card anytime you want, which is, that's the default recommended approach, and that's what I do, is I have a different privacy card for every business, you know, every website that I shop at online.
(07:26):
Right.
Right.
So, that changes the whole nature of what pause looks like, because then, you know, normally, I wouldn't want to pause my card generally, because that's going to break, you know, all the, yeah.
Yeah.
That was why I held up that one finger, as I thought you were going to highlight that, is the fact that, yeah.
Anyways.
(07:47):
Oh, yeah.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
This is fantastic.
This is a great way to pause it immediately, like, if, you know, you want it.
Yeah.
Right.
You can control, you know, your spending with an individual business without impacting any of the others.
Yep.
I love it.
So, and, you know, again, you can, of course, unpause it anytime you want.
(08:09):
You can change your mind about that.
Perfect.
Yeah.
Well, and then I forgot to mention, so we're going to talk about the two features, and then we're going to talk about three problems.
Oh, yeah.
We know that was in the opening question, but that's what we're doing.
Two features and three problems.
So, feature number two is spending limits.
You can set a monthly, yearly, per transaction, or just an overall total spending limit for each card.
(08:35):
You can only set one kind of spending limit.
You can't, like, do a monthly and a yearly or a monthly and per transaction or whatever.
But at least in my experience, and I use them heavily, it's, I found it to be flexible enough to do everything that I've wanted.
Okay.
Because you can adjust that at any time, too.
(08:56):
You can change it between types.
You can raise the amounts.
You know, you can give them $5 to begin with, and then decide, okay, I trust them, so now we're going to raise it to $100 or whatever.
Gotcha.
And I really love this feature.
It gives you proactive budgeting, scam protection, and really just kind of good general protection against any sort of unexpected charges.
(09:20):
Yeah.
We good?
We're good.
Yeah.
Okay.
I might have to tell my son not to get my Bronco.
Nice.
Nice.
Real world sometimes interferes.
No worries.
Yes, it does.
(09:41):
That's totally fine.
So, I'll just keep chatting at you, though, while we're doing it.
Okay, please.
Sorry.
No, totally fine.
So, now we've got those.
We're going to look at the three problems and see how these two specific features can help fix them.
I did want to just throw one note out is that these problems mostly don't apply to the mobile app-based subscriptions that are, like, managed by Apple and Google on your, you know, on your iPhone or your Android phone.
(10:17):
I don't know why they have a lot of complaints, but they used to have a lot of complaints, but they're mostly really pretty good these days, a lot better.
Okay.
So, just keep that in mind, like, yeah, like, yeah, like, you can cancel ahead of time.
Anyway, I don't want to talk about those, but just know that they're a lot better, and so none of these three problems really apply too much there for the most part, for the most part.
(10:46):
So, problem one is the one that you talked about, free trials that don't end up being free.
Yep.
Right, so here's how it works with a privacy card.
So, you know, you want to sign up for a free trial, you create a new privacy card to use just with that business, and, of course, in order to start that trial, the company will run a check against that card to make sure it's a valid card.
(11:15):
Once that check is done, your free trial has started, then all you have to do is pause that card.
Nice.
And you can immediately do it, like, as soon as it validates it.
You know, it's all part of that same thing.
You don't have to wait 10 minutes later or whatever, like, you do it there, and then once the free trial's up, even if you forget to cancel, they'll never get a penny from you, unless you change your mind and want to let them.
(11:41):
Nice.
I like that.
So, spending limits also come in here handy, and I can't remember if I've told you this story.
I put it in a guide I built a while ago, but I thought it was really worth sharing here, because this was back in 2021.
I was house shopping, and my wife was interested in looking at possibly foreclosures, which I think is totally insane, but that's a different story.
(12:07):
So, there was a website that, I can't remember if I found it or she found it, but there was a $1 trial, you know, it wasn't a free trial, it was actually a $1 trial.
And so, I looked at it, you know, and I'm like, it's a little bit sketchy, I'm not sure this website's totally legit.
(12:29):
But, you know, I can do the privacy card, $1 trial, worst case, I lose a buck, whatever, I'm willing to gamble.
I was kind of morbidly curious anyway, you know, because I like to learn about scams and whatever, so I figure if I pay $1 and learn something more about some scams, that's okay too, right?
(12:50):
So, anyway, I set up a new card, set it with a $1 spending limit, and long story short, turns out I was right.
It was pretty scammy.
Like, we got a little bit of useful information out of it, can't remember the details, but it was definitely a scam, and if you go look for it now, it's gone.
(13:12):
It took, like, six months, a year, I can't remember before it shut down, but it was not legit.
Yes, so, but, you know, like, I love that, that, you know, having that power that I don't have to, like, my credit card is, like, this totally, you know, thing, I give it out in the world, and then it's just free control, you know, access to my money, you know?
(13:36):
Yep.
So.
Privacy card's killing it.
Yeah.
Shout out to them.
Well done.
Yep.
So, problem number two.
Yep.
We're getting the cancel, right?
Now, this is kind of separate.
What I'm talking about here is not after a free trial, but, like, you know, you have something that you're like, okay, it's been good, but I'm ready to be done with it.
(14:01):
And the problem is, in a lot of cases, and this is, this was one of those things, like, on phone, and this is mostly not true anymore, but on websites a lot of time, if you go to cancel, they'll want to suspend your privileges right then.
You're like, okay, I want it still to the end of the month or the end of the year or whatever the subscription period is, but I know now I don't want to pay again.
(14:22):
I'm ready to cancel it now, but I can't because otherwise I'll, I still, you know, I still want the benefits to the end of the period.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, oh, it makes total sense.
Yeah, and it's just, it's a pretty lame business practice in my mind, but still I find fairly common, you know?
Well, it forces you to wait until the last minute to cancel, which, you know, of course, dramatically increases the chances you're just going to forget or miss the deadline.
(14:52):
You know, I've had it where, like, it thinks the day is going to, the payment is going to pull a day earlier than it kind of looks like it would based on the renewal or whatever.
I mean, I don't know.
Anyway, it's just so easy to have that.
Anyway, so, of course, a privacy card fixes this easily.
Right, exactly.
(15:12):
You pause it.
As soon as you realize, right, you want to cancel, you can just pause it because when you pause it on that end, like the business, that doesn't tell the business anything.
They don't know about that pause.
Right.
You know, and you don't have to rely on your memory or even a reminder or whatever.
Your subscription will stay active.
And when it comes time to renew, the payment will fail, at which point I'm sure you'll hear from them, you know, and give you the opportunity to cancel.
(15:43):
Right.
Yep.
So the other thing I was thinking about is it can, you know, the spending limit also can come in handy here depending on what you need.
So let's say the subscription is paid monthly and it's $10 per month and you only want it for three months.
You could just set a total spending limit of $30.
(16:05):
Okay.
Right.
Right.
So, like, I think, you know, the pause is, you know, kind of the big button, but it's also just very useful to make sure you don't ever get overcharged or unexpected charges or whatever.
Yeah.
Um, so I like to put spending limits on there whenever, whenever it doesn't limit my flexible.
(16:28):
I don't overuse it.
There are some times when it's just too open-ended and I don't bother with a spending limit.
But if, if I know the limit is going to be and shouldn't be very predictable, then I always do lock it down as tight as I can.
Basically, it's my, my philosophy without causing me to have to go in and up that limit every time.
Yeah.
(16:49):
If that makes sense.
Makes sense.
Okay.
So problem three.
Yep.
And this is my most hated one, but is when they make it hard for you to cancel.
Right.
You, you experienced this one.
Yes.
Like, and this is going to be the lamest one to cancel.
(17:10):
But a carwash subscription was one of the hardest ones.
Oh yeah.
Ever had to cancel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What'd you have to do?
I had to literally, they had to, nobody at the carwash could unsubscribe me.
I had to literally go in and go into their webpage, click on this unsubscribe and jumps or hoops.
(17:39):
I had to create a different set of profiles so they could test my email.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, it was crazy.
It's like, no wonder why people just give up on it.
They're like, ugh, just keep washing my car there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's kind of, there's another one of those practices that I'm just like, that's insane.
(18:01):
You know?
And then there's the ones that one of my pet peeves is, you know, you have to actually talk
to somebody because they want to like, try to talk you out of canceling.
Like, no, no, not going to do it.
So, and so this, I also want to add a little chapter to my scam foreclosure story too, that
(18:24):
relates to this.
Because, as you know, probably comes as no surprise, I never did actually manage to cancel
it with the, you know, the foreclosure scam website because, I mean, I just think they
intentionally made it.
Like, it supposedly was just kept getting errors, right?
But it just was, that was the whole point of it.
(18:46):
So, I didn't, you know, I didn't really try too long because by that point I had already
concluded this was clearly a surprise, a scam.
So, I, I wasn't, I wasn't surprised that I couldn't actually cancel, right?
But here's the most interesting part about this one and that, you know, you kind of find
out because of the way privacy cards work.
So, privacy cards, every time a business tries to charge, it'll tell you.
(19:13):
Okay.
And it'll, you know, it'll say if it's successful or blocked, right?
So, even when it's blocked, like you get notified.
And so, this foreclosure website, they tried charging me.
I kept track of it because I, you know, partly, I mean, I didn't know I'd be doing this, but
it was an interesting story to me.
And I wanted to see exactly how crazy they were going to be.
(19:33):
They tried charging me 19 separate times for like, yeah, and just varying amounts.
Like, it wasn't related to any supposed payment system.
They just like kept seeing that, you know, is it just getting blocked because of lack of
funds?
What can we try to sneak through?
Like, over three-month period, they kept trying.
Oh, my gosh.
That's crazy.
(19:55):
Yeah.
Before they finally gave up.
And actually, so this was, you know, I mean, I'd been using privacy.com for a while, but
it was still early enough that I was like, wow, are they going to like, am I going to get
a bad reputation with, you know, like, I mean, I legitimately was wondering, you know, because
like, yeah, it's bad, right?
So I emailed them.
(20:15):
I emailed privacy.com and said, hey, look, these guys are really dinging me over and over
and over and I can't control it, obviously, you know, and they're total scam and whatever.
And they're like, no, dude, that like, this is the whole point.
This is why we built the service to protect you from jerks like this, essentially.
That's awesome.
So, yeah, so I was like, okay, I mean, that's what I thought, but I just, I don't know.
(20:38):
It was so bad that I was, I worried.
So anyway, that's, that's why I love privacy.com.
They like, they give me back control.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, it doesn't matter what lame things someone tries to do.
Right.
I can stay safe.
And I mean, you know, the only bit of effort really is, you know, you got to create the
account with privacy.com and then you create a new card for each new business.
(21:02):
But I mean, they've got a browser plugin.
Like it's, it's, it's just not a lot of work effort.
And we go into that more, way more detail in episode 14.
So I won't get into that here, but just know it for me, at least, you know, I've, I've talked
to one person one time about this and actually read my, read a guide I made on a long time
(21:23):
ago and they're like, oh, I don't want to have to manage hundreds of cards.
You know, I'm like, yeah, but you don't have to, because it's not like you have to, I mean,
you can just have that, that place, remember the card for one.
Right.
And then because it doesn't matter anymore, it's, it's safe to have them remember the
card.
Right.
You know, and so worst case, and then you go look it up.
(21:44):
If you, if you don't end up, they don't end up saving it for some reason.
It's just, I mean, I have a lot of non-techie, you know, siblings and friends who've used
privacy.com as well.
This is not a computer geek required skill level to use.
They are very happy with it.
So I just want to give a lot of reassurance there.
It is, you know, there is a little bit of more work, but the trade-off and the, all the
(22:09):
work it saves you to me, it is just one of the most no brainer decision tools, you know,
where you get more time for it than you, than you spend on it.
You know, does that make sense?
Yeah.
That was kind of awkwardly stated, but yeah.
So anyway, that's my, that's my rant.
(22:33):
That's your rant.
I like it.
That's a good rant.
Yeah.
Let's go.
Hey, I like those.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
They're, they're just some things that get me worked up, you know, when people take and
try to take advantage of you, you know?
Right.
And especially your money.
Yeah.
(22:55):
So, all right, dude, what's going to be our call to action with this?
Because there's got to be some call to action that's worthwhile.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, you know, it's kind of the obvious one, like, especially if you ever burned by
a, been burned by a subscription, which I suspect these days is pretty large percentage of the
population.
(23:16):
You know, this is the tool that, you know, you didn't know you needed, but you do.
And I have a link in the show notes to sign up.
And actually, I'm going to expand on this just a little bit because there are actually
two links in the show notes.
One is a referral link.
(23:36):
And I have very strict policies about referrals.
I'm actually going to, there's a link in the show notes about my opinions and thoughts on
this, but I do not believe in sponsors and that sort of thing.
But this is a case where, so if you use my referral link, you get a $5 bonus sign up.
I do as well, full disclosure.
(23:58):
So, you know, I do get benefit, but that is absolutely not why I'm doing it.
I use it.
And the only kinds of ones that I'm okay with is when I can get you a benefit.
Like, if I can give, do a referral link where you're going to get some percent off or something
and like this, where you get $5 bonus, then I'm going to do it.
Awesome.
(24:18):
So, but there is the regular link.
If for whatever reason, you know, that bothers you, then you won't get a bonus.
Neither will I.
So either way is, is great.
Um, just want, you know, you to have this tool in your toolkit.
So, um, and as a heads up, it is a financial service.
(24:40):
So they are legally required to ask for a lot of personal information.
You're going to be connecting your bank account.
Um, now I do talk about this more in episode 14.
So I recommend, uh, you listening to that before signing up because, um, especially related
to connecting your bank account, you don't have to give them your bank account credentials,
(25:05):
uh, despite how it appears.
So we'll leave it at that.
But, um, if you have any questions, of course, come see me.
Makani Mason, M-A-K-A-N-I-M-A-S-O-N.com.
Excellent.
I'll turn it back to you.
I love it.
Okay.
(25:26):
Look, we're, we're going to tease them with next episode.
Did you ever want to become a ninja?
Well, I did.
And next time you're going to become an Amazon shopping ninja.
Let's go.
I shop on Amazon all the time.
So makani is going to show you us how to sniff out the bad sellers and skip the junk products.
(25:54):
Dude, I'm in because I bought a lot of crap from Amazon.
Yeah.
Now I knew it was cheap.
I knew I was getting cheap stuff, but it was junk stuff.
What it ended up being.
So, um, that said, I'm excited.
So let's go.
Great episode.
Are you ready to take action and wondering where to start?
(26:17):
Get my Bulletproof My Identity Starter Kit for free.
The seven most vital layers of protection everyone needs.
I'll send you one step at a time and help you if you get stuck.
Just go to bulletproofmyid.com and enter your name and email and I will send you the first step.
(26:38):
Again, that's bulletproofmyid.com.
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