Virtual card
aka virtual debit card, digital card, single-use card
A card number, expiry date, and CVV issued digitally without a physical card. Spend management platforms issue virtual cards per employee or per vendor to enforce budget controls without waiting for a physical card.
Last reviewed May 2026
Definition
A virtual card is a complete payment card credential - 16-digit number, expiry date, CVV - that exists only in digital form. It can be used immediately for online transactions and loaded into Apple Pay, Google Pay, or any mobile wallet for contactless payments. Unlike a physical card, a virtual card can be issued in seconds, locked or cancelled instantly, and scoped to a specific merchant, merchant category, currency, or spending limit. In Irish fintech and spend management platforms, virtual cards serve several practical functions: 1. Employee expense control: Pleo, Soldo, and Revolut Business all allow finance teams to issue virtual cards to employees with a preset monthly or per-transaction limit. The employee uses the card for approved spend categories; anything outside scope is declined at point of sale before the expense is incurred. 2. Vendor-locked cards: A virtual card can be scoped to a single merchant - for example, issuing a dedicated card for a Google Ads account or a SaaS subscription, making it easier to cancel a subscription (cancel the card) and preventing a vendor from charging after a contract ends. 3. Single-use virtual cards: Some platforms issue cards that expire after one transaction, useful for one-off vendor payments where the business does not want a recurring charge possible. 4. Remote and distributed teams: Irish businesses with remote employees can issue virtual cards instantly without posting a physical card, which is particularly practical for international contractors. Most Irish fintech platforms - Revolut Business, Pleo, and Soldo - include virtual card issuance as a standard feature across their plans. Revolut Business includes virtual cards on all plans. Pleo issues virtual cards as part of its card-management layer. Soldo includes virtual card issuance subject to plan limits. Virtual cards are Mastercard or Visa network credentials and are accepted wherever those networks are accepted online. They do not appear on the Central Bank of Ireland's register as a separate product - they are issued under the e-money or banking licence of the underlying platform.
Why it matters for software choice
For Irish finance leads managing distributed spend, virtual cards eliminate the lead time on physical card issuance and allow budget controls to be enforced at point of sale rather than retrospectively through expense claim review. The combination of virtual card issuance plus receipt capture in platforms like Pleo and Soldo is the core replacement for petty cash and corporate credit card reimbursement workflows.
Authority sources
- Mastercard: Virtual card overview (www.mastercard.com)
- Central Bank of Ireland: Register of authorised electronic money institutions (www.centralbank.ie)
Software categories this affects
Vendors covered by this term
Revolut Business
EU-licensed business banking with Irish IBANs, SEPA Instant, and multi-currency accounts
Pleo
Smart company cards and automated expense management for European businesses
Soldo
Irish-regulated prepaid card and spend management platform for European SMEs
Related terms
Expense reconciliation
The process of matching employee or company card spend against receipts, bank statements, and accounting entries to confirm that all business expenditure is properly categorised, approved, and recorded before a VAT return or audit.
Merchant Category Code
A four-digit code assigned by Mastercard and Visa to every merchant based on the type of goods or services they sell. Spend management platforms use MCC codes to auto-categorise card transactions and enforce per-category budget controls before purchase.
Electronic Money Institution (EMI)
A specific Central Bank of Ireland authorisation that permits a firm to issue electronic money (prepaid balances, e-wallets, cards) and provide payment services. EMIs cannot take deposits and customer funds are safeguarded, not insured.