Where, When and How to Get a Virtual Card for Yourself or Business

How to get a virtual card is becoming one of the most common questions for anyone juggling subscriptions, online purchases, ad campaigns, or business expenses in the US. Physical cards simply weren’t built for the speed, automation, and global nature of today’s spending. Digital card usage has surged more than 300% in the past four years, with businesses reporting up to 70% fewer unauthorized charges after switching to virtual cards for online payments. 

These cards can be created instantly, controlled in real time, and assigned to specific vendors, campaigns, or team members. Platforms like Bycard take this further by offering multi-card setups, higher approval rates, and advanced controls that traditional banks and basic fintech tools still lack.

Where to Get a Virtual Card

When researching how to get a virtual card, you’ll see three major categories. Each has strengths, but they’re not equally built for modern use cases.

1. Traditional US Banks

Almost all major US banks now issue virtual cards, Chase, Capital One, Bank of America, Citi, mainly for personal customers.

Pros:

• Familiar institutions
  
• FDIC-insured accounts
  
• Works well for personal online purchases
  

Limitations:

• Slow card creation
  
• One or two cards max
  
• Not designed for teams, ads, vendor tracking, or high-volume online spend
  

2. FinTech Platforms

Platforms like PayPal, Wise, Revolut, and Bycard offer accessible virtual cards for broad, everyday use, but each serves a different type of user. While PayPal, Wise, and Revolut are convenient for basic consumer spending, Bycard stands out for users who need stronger approval rates, better controls, and business-grade flexibility.

Pros:

• Instant card creation
  
• Easy funding
  
• Great for personal subscriptions
  
• Bycard adds multi-currency and USDT funding, plus stronger acceptance for US ad platforms
  

Limitations:

• Not built for multi-card setups (PayPal, Wise, Revolut)
  
• Limited controls
  
• Lower approval rates for US ads
  
• No campaign-level financial structure
  
• This is where Bycard is different, it’s designed for multi-card workflows, ad spend, vendor controls, and team budgets
  

These mainstream platforms work well for consumers, but Bycard is the better fit when you need multiple cards, advanced controls, or business-ready payment infrastructure.

3. Business Spend & Virtual Card Platforms 

This is where platforms like Bycard stand out. If you’re researching how to get a virtual card built for modern US businesses, ads, SaaS tools, eCommerce, remote teams, this category has the depth you need.

Bycard fills several gaps that most virtual card pages on Google don’t cover:

• Instant multi-card creation
  
• 30+ BINs for higher approval rates on US platforms
  
• US-based, FinCEN-registered, MSB-regulated
  
• MCC controls for card-level rules
  
• One card per subscription/vendor
  
• Exportable statements for month-end close
  
• Multi-currency and USDT funding
  

When You Should Use a Virtual Card

Knowing how to get a virtual card is one thing, knowing when to use it unlocks the real value.

1. Subscriptions & SaaS Payments

Over 60% of cardholders now prefer virtual cards for subscriptions because it prevents surprises and makes cancellation easier.

Why it works:

• One card per tool (Adobe, Zoom, Slack, HubSpot)
  
• Easy to freeze or delete if pricing changes
  
• Clean records for tax & audits
  

2. Media Buying & Online Advertising

Google, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, all these platforms rely heavily on card authorization. Virtual cards make this cleaner.

Why marketers use virtual cards:

• One card per campaign
  
• One card per ad account
  
• Higher approval rates with multi-BINs
  
• Better fraud protection
  
• Faster spend recovery when disabling cards
  

Bycard’s structure was built specifically to reduce declines and keep campaigns live.

3. Vendor Payments

Using one card for everything is a recipe for financial clutter.

Virtual cards solve this:

• Assign each vendor their own card
  
• Set monthly spend caps
  
• Terminate cards the moment a vendor ends
  

4. Team & Department Spending

If your business has multiple roles, marketing, engineering, operations, support, virtual cards let each unit operate independently without losing oversight.

Teams can:

• Receive their own cards
  
• Track spending in real time
  
• Export monthly reports
  
• Separate budgets without opening multiple accounts
  

5. International Spending

Virtual cards avoid the risk of exposing your primary business card to unfamiliar sites or overseas platforms.

With Bycard, US businesses can pay globally using:

• USD
  
• EUR
  
• GBP
  
• USDT
  

This makes cross-border SaaS spending easier.

How to Get a Virtual Card For Personal Use

If you’re wondering how to get a virtual card for personal shopping, subscriptions, or secure online payments, the process is straightforward.

1. Choose a virtual card provider (bank, fintech, or platform like Bycard).
   
2. Create an account and verify your identity.
   
3. Add funds using ACH, debit card, or bank transfer.
   
4. Generate a virtual card instantly.
   
5. Set limits or merchant rules.
   
6. Start using the card anywhere online.
   

People often say the biggest benefit is that their “main card stays safe,” especially on new websites.

How to Get a Virtual Card for Business 

Knowing how to get a virtual card for business means understanding the operations behind it, not just how to generate the card.

Step 1: Choose a Platform Built for Business Spend

For US teams, this means ensuring the provider is:

• Registered with FinCEN
  
• Operating legally as an MSB
  
• Capable of high-volume processing
  
• Flexible with funding methods
  

Bycard meets these compliance standards and supports unlimited virtual cards.

Step 2: Create Cards Based on Structure

Most companies use one card per:

• Vendor
  
• Subscription
  
• Team member
  
• Department
  
• Ad campaign
  
• Project
  

Step 3: Set Custom Controls

With a platform like Bycard, you can apply:

• Spend caps
  
• Daily/weekly limits
  
• MCC locking
  
• Card freeze rules
  
• Card naming conventions
  
• Auto-termination on end dates
  

Step 4: Monitor Spend in Real Time

Live notifications allow finance teams to track usage across:

• Marketing
  
• Engineering
  
• Admin
  
• Sales
  
• Support
  

Every team’s card becomes its own dataset.

Step 5: Reconciliation & Exporting

This is the biggest operational gap most Google guides ignore.

Bycard supports:

• Monthly statements
  
• Exportable CSVs for accounting tools
  
• Transaction tagging
  
• Vendor-level reporting
  
• Card lifecycle history
  

This is critical for tax prep, audits, and monthly reporting.

Personal vs Business Virtual Cards 

Category	Personal Virtual Card	Business Virtual Card
Best For	Shopping & subscriptions	Ads, vendors, SaaS, teams
Controls	Basic	Advanced (MCC, limits, approvals)
Number of Cards	1–3	Unlimited
Reporting	Minimal	Full financial structure
Funding	Bank/debit	ACH, wire, USDT, bank transfers