What Are Virtual Card Payments, And What Are Their Benefits?
Virtual models influence daily life, from home offices to the metaverse. The use of digitization in business has opened the windows of data-driven decisions and automation in the way of doing business. So when these virtual models disrupt the norm of making payments in the business world, there is a need to mull over making virtual card payments as a business innovation.
A virtual card is a unique 16-digit number designed for a single payment transaction between the payer (sender) and the payee (receiver). It is a digital payment solution created to speed up processing times, decrease errors, and improve obsolete procedures. However, virtual card payments in an effective way such that they are fully secure.
Unlike physical cards, you can not use virtual cards in physical form. Virtual card payments are becoming increasingly common in business, especially in making cross-border payments, as they enhance business productivity through the features of a swift and secure payment system.
Business-to-business (B2B) payments are predicted to make up 71% of virtual card payments by 2026, albeit accounting for a much lesser rate of all transactions.
Before we further look into where you can use your virtual card and all of its numerous benefits, let’s look briefly into the different virtual dollar cards you can choose from, with the “Mintyn Virtual Dollar Card” being one of the best and most reliable.
| S/N | VIRTUAL DOLLAR CARD |
| 1. | Mintyn Virtual Dollar Card |
| 2. | Fundall Virtual Dollar Card |
| 3. | Bitsika Virtual Visa Dollar Card |
| 4. | Eversend Virtual Dollar Card |
| 5. | Wallets Africa Virtual Dollar Card |
| 6. | ALAT Virtual Dollar Card |
| 7. | Barter by Flutterwave Virtual Dollar Card |
| 8. | Kuda Bank Virtual Dollar Card |
| 9. | Payday Virtual Dollar Card |
| 10. | Chipper Cash Visa Virtual |
| 11. | CashBuddy Virtual Dollar Card |
Where Can I Use My Virtual Card?
Since virtual cards function similarly to physical cards, any organization that accepts traditional credit card payments should also be able to take virtual card payments. You can use a virtual card number when you use a regular credit card to pay for products and services.
However, it is always important to check if a business brand supports digital payment methods like virtual card payment, PayPal, or even bank transfer before proceeding with the transaction with the platform. Also, you can use virtual cards to withdraw from bank ATMs and other online purchases.
It is noteworthy that you can only use virtual cards once. A virtual card has a card verification value (CVV) number, an expiration date, and a unique number. This, in turn, limits the virtual card’s use to amount, date of use, and business.
Benefits Of Virtual Card Payments
1. Improved Accountability
As a business, you can track your expenditure better by providing some of your partners or workers with virtual cards. You will receive the transaction information of every payment or purchase in your payment system, giving you an account overview of your spending in a given period.
When you use virtual card payments, you do not have to manually track or reconcile your expenses, as these can be achieved automatically. Also, this electronic payment helps to put an end to keeping paper receipts, interpreting complex credit statements, or matching transactions to purchase orders.
2. Enhanced Security
When you have virtual payment cards, you may not be requested by anyone to divulge your bank account details. This is owed to the fact that your bank account is never connected to payment details. The virtual credit card number is mainly made for a single transaction and given a predetermined value.
Virtual credit cards are permanently restricted to a set amount, time frame, and credit limit. For instance, the virtual card will not work if a scammer steals the details of the virtual card and tries to use it outside the time window of the card.
Many people have been victims of loss of funds due to card theft, but the virtual card is designed to facilitate such risk. Virtual gift cards can not be compromised like the vulnerability of physical cards to robbery.
3. Additional Transaction Details
Wire transfers and bank transfers are other alternatives to virtual card payments, but both of these two payment methods need to provide more space for remittance data. A wire transfer allows 140 characters for transaction data, and bank transfers allow 80 characters for transaction data; as such, they lack remittance data.
In the case of virtual payment cards, there is no space or character restriction on remittance data, so the transaction data is likely to be tailored to your need and system.
4. Better Expenditure Management
Despite businesses’ widespread adoption of digital technology, supplier payments are still frequently performed with physical cards or paper checks. The world of digital record keeping and almost instant payments makes expenditure control much more difficult due to these manual processes that can be monotonous.
Moreover, your business can only selectively approve virtual cards by some workers or partners. Transaction data by virtual card payments help track every spending detail of your employee while upholding your company’s policy compliance and controlling your cardholder’s spending behavior.
5. Reduced Processing Cost
Virtual cards have the potential to save costs. These electronic cards need more human processes that may have the propensity for delays or mistakes as they also have a short expiration time that reduces transaction processing time.
In similitude to other digital payments, virtual payments are not characterized by inconsistencies between invoices and payments, reconciliation errors, and whatnot. Therefore, the seamless integration of virtual card payments with AP automation always reduces processing costs for buyers and suppliers.
Conclusion
Future-proof solutions are necessary for modern business, particularly in the financial sector. Therefore, virtual card payments are the best method of processing payments with many cost-saving advantages.
However, businesses must do the due diligence of thorough research on how virtual card payments may improve their business transactions, from improving accountability to reducing processing costs.