Virtual Cards

How do I create a single card?
  1. Place your mouse pointer over the Cards menu.
    The Cards menu options are displayed.
  2. Place your mouse pointer over the Create Card menu option.
    More menu options are displayed.
  3. Click the Single menu option.
    The Create Card page is opened.
  4. Select the Card Type to be used to generate the card.
  5. Select the Currency of the new card.
  6. Enter the Amount that is to be loaded onto the card after the card is generated.
    Click the Forex calculator link to estimate the load amount based on Forex rates.
  7. Select the Funding Account to load the card from.
  8. Optionally, click the Scheduled Loads [+] link to have the card loaded with funds later.
    For more information on scheduled loads, see What are scheduled loads? and Do I need to load the card at creation?.
  9. Optionally, set the Clearance Date.
    You can only set the Clearance Date if you create at least one scheduled load. For more information on the clearance date, see What is a clearance date?.
  10. Optionally, click the Additional Details [+] link to add more details.
    For more information on additional details, see What are additional details used for?.
  11. Click the Create button to create the new card.
    The card is created and the Card Details page is displayed.
How do I create multiple cards at once using a file?
  1. Place your mouse pointer over the Cards menu.
    The Cards menu options are displayed.
  2. Place your mouse pointer over the Create Card menu option.
    More menu options are displayed.
  3. Click the Batch menu option.
    The Create Cards page is opened.
  4. Enter a unique Batch Reference.
  5. Download a Sample CSV file.
  6. According to your preferences, create your CSV file, including the input data necessary for Virtual Cards creation.
  7. Upload your CSV file and trigger the bulk process for Create Cards in Bulk if all preliminary validations are passed.

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Notes

  1. The name of the file should be unique. We have implemented a protection layer to ensure that the same file is not uploaded again by mistake.

  2. The system will validate all mandatory inputs filled per card request. The required, optional and conditional data are marked in the CSV sample file. If some mandatory data are missing, the system will return an error log.

  3. CSV file has 250 entries limitation. If you have more than 250 virtual card requests, you need to split the Create Cards in Batch via a file in multiple batches.

What is the external ID?

When you create virtual cards, you can enter an External ID. You can use this field to identify the created card later. This identifier is designed to be unique for each card that is created, so you cannot provide it when you create a batch of cards.

What is a clearance date?
  • Cards that you create will be automatically deleted on the clearance date. By doing so, any funds on cards will be automatically transferred to your funding account.
  • Single-spend virtual cards are automatically deleted as soon as they are used for a payment. Having an automated clearance date will ensure that any funds on forgotten/lost cards are transferred back to your funding account too
  • The maximum automated clearance date for single spend cards is usually 6 months.
  • Multiple-spend virtual cards are automatically deleted by the system once the maximum clearance date period elapses
  • The maximum automated clearance date for multi spend cards is usually after 12 months.
Why weren't my cards created?

If you started a batch card creation process (see How do I create multiple cards at once?) and your cards are not created, follow these troubleshooting steps:

  1. Check the status of the batch process:

    1. Click the Cards menu.
    2. Click the Card Batches menu option.
    3. Search for your batch process.
  2. If the batch process is still running, wait for it to finish.

  3. If the batch process is finished, and you receive a message Request completed with Failures, some cards could not be generated.

There may be different reasons why cards could not be generated, for example, insufficient funds in funding accounts. A value in the Unfulfilled Cards column represents the number of cards that were not generated.

What is a batch reference?

A batch reference is an internal identifier that you use to uniquely identify the batch operation. You can use the batch reference to check the status of your batch after the batch process begins. The user enters a batch reference when creating cards or is automatically generated by Nium Payments for all other batch operations.

What are additional details used for?

When you create virtual cards, you can input any data you like into additional fields. This data is entered as a name:value pairs. This data is exclusively for your use for any purpose. For example, if you want to keep information on which client to pay using the created cards, you can enter custom data in the form: Name: Client, Value: Acme Company.

You can add more entries using the Add Additional Details link. You can delete unneeded entries using the delete icon to the right of the field. You can have a maximum of 20 entries in the additional details section. Your installation may have some entries pre-filled with default values, and some of them are mandatory. Mandatory entries have a darker background and cannot be deleted.

Do I need to load the card at creation?

No, you do not have to load funds onto the card at the time when you create the card. To avoid loading funds, enter zero as the Amount.

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Note:

If a minimum amount is set for a card type, you can skip loading or load a minimum amount. You cannot load a positive amount that is below the minimum value. For example, if the minimum is 10 Euro, you can load the card with 10 or more Euro or zero but you cannot load the card with 5 Euro.

Click the Scheduled Loads [+] link to auto-load the card later. You can schedule up to three load operations (see What are scheduled loads?). Enter amounts and dates in respective fields: Scheduled Load Amount and Load Date. The system will auto-load funds on selected days.

What is a card type?

A card type is a group of card settings and conditions used to create virtual cards. These settings are managed by your administrator for your installation. When you create a card, you can choose one of the available card types to create cards that offer the best conditions for your purposes.

What are scheduled loads?

A load is an operation during which the system loads a virtual card using money from a funding account. A scheduled load is a load that the system executes on an assigned day. The system executes all scheduled loads at midnight UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

In practice, you create scheduled loads, usually when you create a virtual card. It means you create a virtual card immediately but have it auto-loaded with funds in the future.