Disclaimer: I’m the founder of a virtual card platform, so weight this post accordingly.
I think they may have been using third party verification providers as a fall-back for a few years now. See this thread from Feb 2025.
There is unfortunately no other way to do it. The ID requirements within US financial regulations are concrete. If you issue a card on behalf of a bank, you must verify every customer using either:
- a non-documentary method i.e. Running your SSN against a database/credit bureau and verifying existing banking data (this is where Plaid comes in), or
- a documentary method i.e Scanning your identity document
If you can’t fulfil the obligations using a non-documentary method, or that check was done some time ago, a documentary check may be required.
It’s important to note, the regulations don’t strictly require a selfie or liveness check (where the biometric data comes in). This is a fraud control used to confirm the person making the request is the one on the identity document. Without it, anyone could just submit a photo of a stolen ID and verify on someone else’s behalf, which would be… in a word… undesirable.
We also require identity verification, albeit with a different vendor, and none of them are outstanding. They all largely face the same threat from AI producing near flawless, falsified digital images (deepfakes). The only way to stay ahead is to constantly evolve how their own AI algorithms identify genuine vs fake applications based on biometric data.
Agree wholeheartedly.
If your objective is private payments to protect your primary card details and personal information online, the convenience of having virtual debit or credit cards that work everywhere you need them has to, unfortunately, be traded off with the legal requirement to verify your identity.
If your objective is anonymous payments then gift cards, crypto (monero) and cash are the best options, however they’re less convenient and/or not accepted ubiquitously.