How A Virtual Card API Can Help Your Business
What is a virtual card API?
A virtual card API is a type of application programming interface that developers can integrate with your software programs so that you can generate and manage virtual credit or debit card numbers. These are randomly generated card numbers and CVV codes that can be used to securely make purchases remotely. Virtual card APIs can be either virtual debit card APIs or virtual credit card APIs.
An API allows you to instantly generate as many virtual numbers as you need. The numbers can be used to make single purchases from a chosen merchant. Once you use the numbers to make a purchase, they will expire. This makes a virtual card an excellent tool to use to prevent fraud. If someone steals the number, it won’t work and cannot be traced back to your business or to your accounts.
Payment processing trends and online payments
Payment processing methods continue to change. During one four-year period, online payments grew at a rate of 64 percent. The rate of online payments increased four times as fast as retail payments did.
Among consumers, 90 percent report that they have made at least one purchase online during the past 12 months. Among merchants, 71 percent report that their annual mobile and online sales are growing. Despite the increase in online sales, only 10 percent of people report that they believe that websites can keep their credit and debit information secure. Virtual numbers can help to solve this problem for businesses since they cannot be traced back to you or used again after you have used the numbers.
Virtual credit card API
A virtual credit number is a virtual representation of an underlying credit account However, it is not linked directly to the credit account. Instead, it is a random 16-digit string of credit numbers and a CVV code.
A virtual credit API is an application programming interface that can be integrated with your programs. You can use it to instantly generate a virtual credit card so that you can make secure purchases online or by telephone.
When you use the number to make a purchase, the transaction information is routed back to your credit account and is charged to your revolving credit line. As soon as you use the virtual number that you have generated, the number will expire.
This can help to mitigate the risk of fraud when you shop online or over the telephone. If an unscrupulous vendor tries to use the number that you have used to purchase other items, the number will not work. If a hacker manages to steal the number, it also won’t work since it will have already expired.
- Understanding a virtual credit card number API
- A virtual credit card API can simplify business spending
Virtual debit card API
A virtual debit card is not made out of plastic. Instead, it is a string of 16 numbers and a CVV code that represent your underlying account. The numbers cannot be used to access your account, your information, or your money.
When you use a virtual debit card that you have generated to purchase something online, the transaction will be routed through to your debit account. The cost will be subtracted from your existing account balance, and you will not be charged interest.
A virtual debit card API is another type of application programming interface that can be integrated with your programs. This allows you to generate as many numbers as you need, and they will be able to be used within minutes. The numbers will expire once they are used. Unlike a virtual credit card API, purchases are routed to your bank account rather than to your revolving line of credit.
- Use a virtual debit card API to help to prevent fraud and control expenses
- Virtual debit cards plug expense leaks
What is a card API?
There are several types of credit and debit numbers that can be generated with an API, including the following:
Each of these different types are helpful in different situations. Businesses of all sizes use application programming interfaces to generate the numbers that they need. The particular types of numbers that they generate will depend on whether they want the numbers to immediately expire or if they want to give them to specific employees to use over a specific duration. Larger companies might choose to assign ghost numbers to high-volume suppliers or individual departments to track spending on a macro-level.
What is a virtual card API
A virtual card API is an application programming interface that can be integrated by developers with your proprietary programs. It can then be used to generate virtual numbers from within your applications with the click of a button.
You can generate virtual numbers for single purchases that immediately expire after a single use. You can also generate procurement numbers that you can give to individual employees to use to make authorized purchases over a specific duration. Finally, you can generate ghost numbers that you can assign to individual departments or to suppliers with which you contract a high volume of low-value business. This can allow you to easily track spending by the department or with a specific vendor.
Virtual prepaid card API
A virtual prepaid card is a randomly generated string of numbers and a CVV code that let you can determine how much money to place on the number. The amount that you choose will serve as the spending limit. This means that you can generate the numbers and fund it with the exact purchase amount of an item that you want to purchase online.
A virtual prepaid card API allows you to generate these random numbers from within your applications. You can generate as many as you need, choose how much money to place on each one, and give them to your employees so that they can make specific purchases that you have authorized. The numbers will cease to work after they have been used.
Virtual card services API
Virtual card services are services that are offered by issuers. These services allow you to contact the issuer and ask it to generate virtual numbers for you to use. A virtual service might be accessible through an online dashboard. Once you submit the request, the numbers will be generated for you to use.
Some issuers also offer an API. This is an application programming interface that your issuer might make available for developers to use. A developer can integrate it with your programs so that you can generate the virtual numbers that you need from within your applications.
Businesses of all sizes use this type of service so that they can make secure online purchases. Consumers may also use a service to generate numbers that they can use when they shop online.
Visa virtual card API
A Visa virtual credit card is a randomly generated string of 16 digits and a CVV code that represent your Visa account. When you use a Visa virtual credit card, the purchase will be added to your credit line. However, the random number will expire once it is used so that your information remains secure.
A Visa virtual credit card API can be integrated with your applications. It can allow you to instantly generate the virtual numbers that you need to make secure purchases remotely. The numbers will represent your Visa, but they cannot be used to access your line of credit.
There are several reasons to use a Visa API, including the following:
- Secure online payment method
- Prevents fraud
- Allows you to generate as many numbers as you need within minutes
- Helps to track and control business expenses
- Helps to automate your expense management workflow
Using a Visa debit API may provide you with these benefits but provide you with several more when compared with a Visa credit API. With a Visa debit API, you can generate random numbers that will be associated with your debit account. This means that purchases will not be added to a credit line or incur interest charges.
Business virtual debit numbers also might offer an expansive set of expense controls. You can fund them with a specific amount of money and restrict them to a single vendor. This means that the numbers will only work to make a specific purchase from a specific vendor and will be useless to anyone who attempts to purchase something from someone else.
- Use a Visa virtual card API to create your own Visa cards
- A Visa virtual credit card API lets you instantly create virtual Visas
How virtual card services work for companies
A Visa virtual credit card API or debit API works in a number of ways to benefit companies of all sizes. With an application programming interface, companies can enjoy the following:
- Better security
- Reduction in fraud risk
- Automation of invoices and invoice processing
- Can get rid of antiquated payment systems such as cash, reimbursements, and checks
- Automatic uploading of transaction information into accounting software
- Reduction in manual entry
- Time and money savings
Learn more about the benefits of an API
The Bento for Business Visa debit card API offers a number of features that are designed to meet the needs of businesses. The API can be integrated by a developer with your programs. You can then generate as many numbers as you need from your applications so that you can tamp expense leaks and make secure purchases.
You can restrict the spending that can occur with the numbers that you generate as follows:
- Set limits on when the numbers will work
- Turn a number on or off at will
- Restrict a number to a specific vendor
- Assign different numbers to different departments
- Set different spending limits on different numbers
These controls allow you to improve your expense management and to track and control your expenses. The capabilities of the debit products have earned positive reviews from leading business publications such as Forbes, Fortune, and the Wall Street Journal. Plus, we have a large assortment of reviews from hundreds of customers on trusted sites like the BBB, Capterra, and TrustPilot. Try our free 60 day trial of business debit cards so you can try before you buy. Call us at 866.220.8455 to learn more.
