Virtual Cards

What is this page about: How to request, issue, use, and manage virtual cards in Light, including spending limits, approvals, security, and how transactions reconcile to your books. Written for both employees requesting a card and finance teams administering the programme.

# On this page

• Understanding virtual cards
• When to use a virtual card
• Requesting a virtual card
• Using a virtual card
• Managing a virtual card
• Security features
• Reconciliation and categorisation
• Approval workflows
• Related articles

# Understanding virtual cards

A virtual card in the Light app is:

• Digital only. No physical card is issued or shipped.
• Ready instantly. You can use it as soon as it's approved.
• Limited by design. Every card carries its own spending limit, set per transaction, weekly, or monthly.
• Wallet-ready. Add it to Apple Pay or Google Pay for mobile payments.
• Auto-reconciling. Transactions post to the expense module automatically, no manual entry required.

Why teams use them:

• Security. Each card has its own unique number. If one card is exposed, it doesn't put any other card at risk.
• Control. Spending can't exceed the card's set limit.
• Compliance. Policy rules are enforced automatically at the point of spend, not after the fact.

# When to use a virtual card

Reach for a virtual card when:

• Paying for a SaaS subscription. Issue one dedicated card per subscription so each charge is easy to trace.
• Buying from a single online vendor, such as Amazon or Salesforce.
• Starting a vendor trial that requires a card. Freeze or close the card once the trial ends to stop it from converting to a paid charge automatically.
• Paying a less-established or one-off vendor.
• Spending in higher-risk categories, such as travel or entertainment, where fraud risk is higher.
• Paying 1099 contractors electronically.

# Requesting a virtual card

Light supports three ways to get a card issued, depending on who needs it and who's requesting it.

# Request your own card

1. Open the Light app.

2. Go to Cards and select Request vendor card.

3. Enter:

   • Vendor: who you're buying from (for example, "Salesforce").
   • Card description: what the card is for (for example, "Software subscription").
   • Amount: the spending limit (for example, $500).
   • Limit interval: per transaction, weekly, or monthly.
   • Message: any note to your approver.

4. Submit the request.

Your request goes to the card approval workflow. Once approved, Light issues the card with a 16-digit card number, an expiration date, and a 3-digit CVV. View these details securely in the Light app whenever you need them for an online purchase.

# Request a card for someone else

The same request form includes an owner selector, so a manager can request a card on an employee's behalf instead of the employee requesting it themselves.

1. Open Cards in the Light app.
2. Select Request vendor card.
3. Set the owner to the employee who will use the card.
4. Enter the vendor, card description, amount, limit interval, and message, the same fields as a self-service request.
5. Submit. The card follows the same approval workflow, and once approved, the employee can view the card details securely in their own Light app.

# Create a card as finance or an admin

1. Open Cards in the Light app and select Create card.

2. Choose the card type:

   • Employee card: for an employee's ongoing business expenses.
   • Vendor card: dedicated to one vendor or subscription.

3. Set the amount, limit interval, and who the card is assigned to.

4. Generate the card and share the access details with the employee.

# Using a virtual card

# Paying online

1. Open the card details in the Light app to view the card number, expiration date (MM/YY), and CVV.
2. At the vendor's checkout, enter these details along with your company's billing address if requested.
3. Complete the purchase. Light processes the payment and the transaction posts to your expense module within hours.

You can also add the card to Apple Pay or Google Pay and pay with your phone instead of typing in the card number.

# Paying a recurring subscription

1. Create a dedicated vendor card for the subscription.
2. Set a monthly limit that matches the expected charge.
3. The same card is charged each billing cycle. Any charge above the limit is declined automatically, so an unexpected price increase doesn't go through unnoticed.
4. To stop future charges, freeze or close the card.

# Managing a virtual card

# Viewing your cards

1. Go to Cards > Virtual Cards in the Light app.
2. The list shows each card's vendor, spending limit, amount used, amount remaining, and expiry.
3. Open a card to see its full number, expiration date, CVV, and transaction history.

# Adjusting a limit

Admins with card-editing permissions can change a card's limit after it's issued.

1. Open the card's details.
2. Edit the spending limit and, if needed, the limit interval (per transaction, weekly, or monthly).
3. Any transaction that would exceed the new limit is declined, so spending never runs ahead of the updated limit.

# Freezing or closing a card

1. Open the card's details.
2. Freeze the card to block all transactions temporarily. You can unfreeze it later.
3. Close the card to deactivate it permanently. A closed card can't be reused.

Freeze a card when you need to pause spending but might use it again. Close it once you're certain it's no longer needed, for example, after a vendor trial ends or an employee leaves.

# Security features

• Unique card numbers. Every virtual card has its own number, so exposure on one card never affects another.
• Secure reveal. Card number, expiration, and CVV are only ever shown inside the Light app, never sent by email or chat.
• Non-transferable. Only the assigned user can use the card.
• Tokenization. Apple Pay and Google Pay transactions use an encrypted network token instead of transmitting the real card number.
• Velocity checks. Light flags multiple transactions on the same card in a short window.
• Instant freeze. Freeze a card immediately in the app if you suspect misuse.
• Reduced PCI exposure. Because each card is single-purpose and single-use per vendor, a compromised merchant never has access to your other company cards or payment methods, and card details are encrypted in transit.

# Reconciliation and categorisation

Virtual card transactions post to your expense module automatically, usually within a few hours of the charge.

Each transaction shows the vendor, amount, date, and which card was used, so it's ready to review without manual entry.

From there, a transaction is:

1. Categorised, either automatically (Light applies the category used for prior transactions from the same vendor) or manually by the employee.
2. Approved by a manager through your normal approval workflow.
3. Posted to the general ledger under that category.

Cost centre tracking: cost centre is assigned on the transaction itself, not when the card is created. Set it during categorisation to track spend by cost centre or department.

# Approval workflows

Light supports two points where a virtual card purchase can require sign-off, and you can use either or both.

Before the card is issued: set a policy so that card requests are routed to a manager for approval before Light generates the card. If the manager rejects the request, no card is created.

After a transaction posts: require manager approval on the transaction itself, separately from the card-issuance approval. The manager reviews the transaction in their normal queue and approves or rejects it.

Some approval behaviours, including dollar-threshold rules for pre-approval and what happens to a rejected transaction, vary by workspace configuration. Check your workspace's policy settings or talk to your Light contact to confirm what applies to your account.

# Related Articles

• Issuing and managing corporate cards
• Apple Pay and Google Pay
• Setting up Light cards (KYC)

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