Customizable spending with Mastercard’s InControl

Soon, having your credit card declined could make you sigh with relief rather than stress over your finances. Mastercard is introducing new features to help consumers protect against identity theft and manage their monthly spending budgets, and one of the more interesting options includes a spending limit for each month.

This limit service, known as inControl, has been used for a couple of years in Great Britain already, but is only now making its way across the pond. If you're concerned about your spending habits, you can request that your card is rejected if you spend over a certain amount; so, for example, you can prevent yourself from going over what you actually earn in a month as disposable income. A further degree of customization even allows you to ensure that your card can only be used for certain necessity purchases if you go over your limit, meaning that you could buy groceries with your card, but the card would be declined at a restaurant.

Not all of Mastercard's new options are geared toward protecting consumers from themselves, though. There are additional features that are intended to guard against fraud. If you have been subject to suspect charges in the past, you can request that your bank automatically reject all charges originating from certain countries, especially those notorious for fraudulent activity. If you happen to go on vacation, you can ensure that your bank makes exceptions for that time frame, so that you don't suddenly find yourself unable to book a hotel room overseas.

Corporate cards will have the option to only be used at certain locations; for example, a construction company card may only work at hardware stores, or the employer can set the cards to make sure that they only work during business hours on weekdays.

Mastercard's inControl service will first be added to cards issued by Citigroup, and expand to other banks later. The initial trials of inControl will only feature warnings when you go over a limit or receive a suspicious charge, but after a few months, the program will expand to include the automatic blocking features described above.

-Seth Berger