Create a card order

You can issue 2 types of cards:

  • Virtual card: This card is issued with a program when the cardType value starts with VIRTUAL_. A virtual card exists in your Wise account and is ready to be used.
  • Physical card: This card is issued with a program when the cardType value is PHYSICAL. The card is sent to the delivery address specified when ordering the card. On top of virtual card capabilities, physical cards also have chip and PIN, magstripe and contactless payments capabilities.

All cards will arrive pre-activated. Pre-activated cards mean that the card details can be used immediately for all online transactions. In order for your users to use their card for contactless/point-of-sale purchases, they will have to make their first transaction in store - by inserting the card into the terminal and keying in the PIN that's been generated for them on Wise. Be aware that ordering a virtual card and a physical card results in 2 distinctive cards.

To issue physical card, approach the Sales team for more information

To issue cards to your users with Cards API, you'll need to create a card order. A card order is linked to a card program and a profile. It is key to identify the profileId of the user, as well as the different balance account currencies that exist on that profile.

The general workflow to create a card order is a two-step process:

  1. Get available card programs - This allows you to retrieve all the available card programs for the user's profile. A card program gives information on the name of the card program, the type of card, the network that the card is on, as well as the default currency for that card. The cardType determines what type of card is issued with a program.
  2. Create a card order:
    1. Create a virtual card order - This creates a Virtual card for the profileId, with the program being one of the card programs returned in step 1.
    2. Create a physical card order - This creates a Physical card for the profileId, with the program being one of the card programs returned in step 1.

In order to control the number of cards a profile can create, we have card order limits in place. On production, the number of card orders is limited to 1 physical card and 3 virtual cards per personal profile. On sandbox, we allow up 10 physical cards and 30 virtual cards for testing. Additionally, no more than 3 virtual cards can be ordered per day. This limit includes existing cards and card orders.