What is a Virtual (Credit) Card?

So, what is a virtual card? Almost identical to a normal plastic credit card with one exception, a virtual card only exists in digital form. There is no plastic.

A virtual card has a Virtual Card Number (VCN), a 16-digit number which is used in the same way as the number on the front of a normal plastic credit card. The plastic card in your wallet is just a vehicle to carry that 16-digit card number around you, but that plastic card has to be printed, shipped, received, and carried around by you.

In addition to a VCN, a virtual card has an expiration date, a security code, and a spend limit. It can be used to make purchases anywhere online, in mobile apps, and in any store where credit card information can be keyed in by you or the merchant. With virtual cards, the days of uncomfortably handing over credit cards or expecting employees to rely on personal cards for business expenses are over.

Heighten security

Based on a J.P. Morgan survey report in 2018, a record 78% of companies were hit by payments fraud the year before, with the most targeted methods being checks, wires, and corporate cards.

But there is a way to protect you and your company: virtual cards that have a temporary VCN that is different from the credit card associated with it. In contrast to checks and ACH payments, with card, you don’t have to share your bank account information. Even better, with virtual cards, you don’t even have to share your credit card. Virtual cards are set to a specific spending amount and time limit by the Cardholder who sends the virtual card to a Recipient. If a thief obtains a VCN and wants to spend more than its maximum spending limit, and/or do so outside the time window during which it is valid, the virtual card would be essentially unusable.

Incredible flexibility

Despite that nowadays most employees have to make purchases for their business, even occasionally, our survey indicates that approximately only 20% of millennials have a corporate credit card. In that context, virtual cards become a great alternative to corporate cards or using personal cards as they allow Cardholders (e.g. companies) to seamlessly equip employees and contingent workers with a temporary virtual card when they need one.

A cardholder can create and distribute any number of virtual cards, modifying or canceling them at any point. Additionally, with virtual credit cards there is no hassle in having it mailed, delivered, received, carried, or destroyed, and there is no need to implement processes to make sure employees have paid their corporate card or are being reimbursed for expenses they made on their personal card. Finally, with virtual cards, you don’t need to wait for your bank to underwrite Recipients as Cardholders provide limited access to their own and existing credit line.

Enhanced spend visibility

It’s no surprise that spend on shared corporate credit cards can often be ambiguous or unmanaged. By using virtual cards into business purchasing, employees gain the ability to buy from anywhere while companies can eliminate the much-abused shared corporate credit cards. With virtual cards, the spend limit is set and enforced in advance, not after the transaction took place. In addition, all transactions that take place on virtual cards appear on the cardholder’s online card statement along with the name of the Recipients and other metadata.

More Rewards!

To make things even better, in addition to gaining tremendous visibility and control on virtual card transactions, Companies/Cardholders earn all the points, cashback or rebate that these transactions generate. And, as studies have shown, with 40% of the total purchase amount expensed by employees spent on personal cards, that’s a lot of rewards that Cardholders (companies) could earn!

How to get a Virtual (Credit) Card for your company?

Currently, only select banks offer Extend. Reach out to your bank or directly to Extend at paywithextend.com to find out if your bank is available on Extend. And if you want to receive virtual cards from a Cardholder that already uses Extend, just download the Extend app on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Watch this video below to learn more about virtual cards.