Virtual cards are like your regular payment cards, but with a cool twist – they don't exist in a physical form. But hey, why would you want one of these virtual debit cards? Turns out, they're pretty useful for a bunch of reasons.
What is a virtual card?
A virtual card is a payment card that only exists in a virtual form. You can use it to purchase mobility online and in apps. It works for the exact same mobility merchants as a physical Mbrella Pay card.
It just lacks the usual magstripe or Chip & Pin action since it's not a physical card. So you cannot purchase mobility at physical stores (like an SNCB machine) for the moment (we're busy on introducing Google Pay and Apple Pay to offer this). That's the only difference with a physical Mbrella Pay card.
Other than that, it's got a 16-digit number, an expiry date, and a CVV, just like your regular card.
Why would you prefer a virtual card?
Budget better: if you have different mobility budgets, you want to have 1 card per budget type. But with physical cards, only 1 physical card per user is allowed. To avoid issues that people have to carry multiple cards in their wallet and don’t know which card is linked to which budget type, leading to expenses being created on wrong budgets.
With virtual cards, we solve this! It allows you to have one virtual card per budget and better control what comes out of your account and for what purposes.
Use a different card for each type of budget (ex: one card for your Legal Mobility Budget and one card for your Business Mobility budget) – and set a limit on what each can spend. The money all comes out of the same place, but virtual cards give you a clearer sense of precisely where your money goes.
No more card lost: Physical cards have a magical way of disappearing. But fear not! Virtual cards stay put on your phone, making the card hunt a thing of the past. Sure, you could lose your phone, but your virtual card will be chilling in your Mbrella account as soon as you log in from another device.
No printing and shipping cost: Physical cards come at a shipping cost of €5 each. Virtual cards are free from any charge.
Sustainability: Virtual cards also prevent a useless piece of plastic from being produced and shipped, which isn’t exactly sustainable.