Filling out payment details every time you want to buy something online is a hassle. Chrome wants to solve this problem by storing your card details, so you can pay for goods faster and get back to browsing the web. It’s a convenient feature but, if security is your priority, you might not want Chrome to remember your payment details.
Chrome’s Autofill Feature Can Save Your Payment Details
Chrome’s built-in autofill featureis designed to help you complete forms faster. Instead of manually typing out your name, email address, and other details, autofill can store your information and help you complete entire forms with a few simple clicks.
Aside from storing personal details like your name and address, Chrome can also store your credit card details–so all you really need to do is type in the CVV/CVC on the back of your card and hit enter.
So, even if you’re visiting a new website for the first time, you can quickly pay for goods. Basically, Chrome provides the same kind of experience you would get by returning to a site you’ve bought from before and kept your card details on record for faster payments.
The key difference is that by storing your card details on Chrome, you may get the same kind of faster shopping experience on sites you’ve never visited before. Best of all, if you’re using Chrome and other Google services across all of your devices (YouTube, Google TV, etc.), you can almost pay for everything online without manually typing card details.
Autofill Makes Shopping Faster, But It’s Also a Security Risk
As convenient as it feels to visit a site and pay for something almost instantly, storing your payment details in Chrome comes with some security risks. To be clear, Chrome and most major browsers with similar features do everything possible to protect your data.
Firstly, your personal information is stored securely, and every input is encrypted, protecting you against interceptions. Also, Chrome’s implementation of autofill protects you against most threats by requiring your CVV/CVC or biometric data to complete payments. In this regard, autofill is pretty secure, and it can even protect you from basic attacks.
The dangers with Chrome autofill(and similar features) emerge when someone else gains access to your device, either physically or by using malware. In this scenario, the only thing standing between scammers and your money is a CVV/CVC or biometric data.
The two most common strategies hackers use to get your CVV/CVC are phishing and keylogging. Phishing generally captures information by redirecting you to dodgy or clone websites, so while you think you’re shopping on Amazon, you’re handing over data to scammers. Meanwhile, keylogging uses software to track keystrokes to capture those all-important three digits.
Things get even more complicated if you’re using a bunch of Chrome extensions or even payment services like PayPal that are regularly targeted.
How to Remove Your Payment Details From Chrome
Only you can decide whether the pros of storing payment details on Chrome outweigh the cons. If you’re not comfortable with the browser autofilling your card details, you can remove them by opening Chrome on desktop and selecting the three-dot icon at the top-right of the screen.
Next, selectSettings > Autofill and passwords > Payment methods, and you should see all of your stored cards on the following screen.
screenshot by Aaron Brooks, no attribution required
From here, you can simply switch theSave and fill payment methodstoggle to prevent Chrome from automatically filling out payment forms for you. However, you might wish to remove your card details completely from Chrome to protect your payment details in the event of a device being stolen.
To do this, click on the open new tab icon next to the Google Pay logo to the right of any card stored underPayment methods. This will take you to the Google payments center in your Google Account, where you should see all the payment methods stored on your account.
Click theRemovebutton on the card you want to remove. If you’re using this card to pay for any ongoing subscriptions, Google will ask you to select a new payment method, but you can selectGoogle Play balanceto avoid adding a new card (you’ll need to make sure you have the required balance available ahead of renewal dates).
How to Stop Chrome Saving Future Payment Details
If you’ve removed existing payment methods, or you’re using Chrome for the first time, you might want to stop the browser saving future payment details. With the standard settings, Chrome will ask you if you want to save your card details every time you use an unsaved one to pay for something.
Of course, you may simply decline each time, but this gets annoying pretty fast and there’s always the chance you could click theSavebutton by mistake.
Thankfully, you can stop Chrome from asking to save your card details by changing these settings. Once again, you’ll want to open up Chrome on desktop and click the three-dot icon at the top-right of the browser window. Next, clickSettings > Autofill and passwords > Payment methodsto access the same payment methods settings we looked at earlier.
Now, this time, you want to turn off bothSave and fill payment methodsandAllow sites to check if you have payment methods saved.
By turning offSave and fill payment methods, you stop Chrome from trying to save your card details and automatically fill in payment details without disabling the other autofill features–eg: email addresses, passwords, etc.
Meanwhile, turning offAllow sites to check if you have payment methods savedprevents Chrome from telling websites whether you have any cards or other payment methods stored on your account or not.
We recommend this, even if you don’t have payment methods stored on your Google Account, but the setting also helps you prevent autofill without deleting payment methods–if that’s how you wish to proceed.
Always Weight Up the Risk vs Convenience
Chrome is filled with convenient features to make the web easier and faster to browse. However, it’s important to always weigh up the risk vs the reward of any feature that uses your personal information (email address, passwords, payment details, etc.). Especially when many of these features are activated by default in Chrome.
