Virtual Cards, explained - A new feature for Monzo Business Pro

Virtual cards are brand new to Monzo Business and now available on Monzo Business Pro. We designed virtual cards to help Business owners and members to stay in control of their business spend and spend safely online.

Running a business requires a lot of time and effort and it's sometimes hard to keep track of business spend. This is where virtual cards can help. And when it comes to virtual cards, we’ve got you covered with our guide below to our new Monzo Business Pro feature.

A virtual card is pretty much what it sounds like. It’s a debit card that exists digitally instead of being one you can hold in your hand. They also give you more control over how you spend your money, as you can set individual expiry dates for each virtual card. Plus, if you have virtual cards on Pots, you can only ever spend the money that’s available in the Pot, so you never spend more than intended! All virtual cards have unique card details, so you can keep your physical card details hidden.

They help you stay in control

Because virtual cards can be assigned to each of your Pots, it helps your business control where money is being spent from. If you want to pay for some stationery from your stationery pot rather than your main account- virtual cards make this easier. They’re speedy

Because virtual cards are issued digitally, they take virtually no time to deliver (see what we did there). With Monzo, they only take a couple of minutes to set up. They’re secure 

Virtual cards are less likely to be lost or stolen than physical cards, meaning you’re less likely to fall victim to fraud. They also give you relative anonymity if you don’t want to share the details of your real card online. 

They’re sustainable 

As the name suggests, virtual cards are issued digitally. That means no plastic waste, minimal direct environmental impact and no harmful means of distribution. 

What virtual cards do Monzo offer? Amongst other benefits, our Pro customers can have up to 5 virtual cards at any time (if you have multiple business members, each of you gets 5). Not only can you personalise them by choosing their names and colours, you can also set them up to pay directly from Pots to manage different categories of spend. For example, pay for your tax bill from your ‘Tax’ card. You can even set an auto-delete date on your card so you can easily manage free trials. 

So you know, for businesses who have multiple users, you can only view the virtual cards you create yourself. 

Like physical cards, you can use Monzo Business virtual cards online or in real-life. Use your card details to pay online, or add a virtual card (or cards!) to a Pot and then add it to  your digital wallet through Apple Pay or Google Pay to make purchases in-store using your phone. Virtual cards should work pretty much anywhere that accepts contactless card payments. 

To create your first virtual card, make sure you’re on the Pro account. Virtual cards are in your Home screen in the Monzo Business Pro features list.

For people with IOS devices, follow the below steps to a add a virtual card to your Apple Wallet:

For people with Android, the process of adding a virtual card to Google Pay is similar. Simply: 

Read our FAQs on using Virtual Cards for Business.