When activating Mbrella Pay for your employees you can decide to offer only virtual cards, or offer both virtual and physical cards. When you offer both options, it will be up to your employee to choose which card he/she wants. It is not possible to have both a virtual and a physical card for the same kind of budget.

But what is then the difference between an virtual and physical card? Glad you're asking!

A physical Mbrella Pay card can be used in the same way as a normal payment card. You can use it when paying for mobility solutions in a shop, or you can use the information on the card to link your card to an online app.

You will not be able to use the card at your local bakery or Uber Eats (yes, we know you tried...).

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). That's the only difference with a physical Mbrella Pay card.

Adding your virtual card to the Apple Wallet, Google Pay, etc. is not possible.

Other than that, it's got a 16-digit number, an expiry date, and a CVV, just like your regular card.

Note that there are different costs related to the different types of card.

Virtual card

Physical card

As an employer, you choose who pays these fees, the employee or the employer. You can set this yourself by going to the Mobility Hub > Mbrella Pay > Settings