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.

If required, we also have endpoints that allow you to retrieve a list of your open card orders.\

The Card Program resource

A Card Program is what Wise refers to all the cards that you will be issuing with us, grouped by product type and by issuing country.

nametext

The name of the card program

schemetext

The network of the card program. One of MASTERCARD or VISA

defaultCurrencytext

The default currency assigned to the card program

cardTypetext

The type of the card. It can be one of VIRTUAL_NON_UPGRADEABLE or PHYSICAL

Card Program Resource
{
  "cardPrograms": [
    {
      "name": "VISA_DEBIT_BUSINESS_UK_1_CARDS_API",
      "scheme": "VISA",
      "defaultCurrency": "GBP",
      "cardType" : "VIRTUAL_NON_UPGRADEABLE"
    }
  ]
}

The Card Order resource

For physical card order, we are using billingAddress in the request and in the response to set the delivery address. This will be deprecated, please use address field instead
idtext

ID of the card order

profileIdnumber

Profile ID

clientIdtext

Client ID

cardProgramCardProgram

Card Program of the card holder.

addressAddress

Address set during card order

billingAddress (deprecated)Address

Address set during card order

cardType (deprecated)text

Type of the card order. E.g. PHYSICAL or VIRTUAL_<type>

cardTokentext

Token of the card associated with card order. Nullable.

replacesCardtext

A string for replacement card. Not supported at the moment.

creationTimetext

Time when the card order is created

modificationTimetext

Time when the card order was last modified

statusCardStatus

Status of the card order before card is issued.
Checkout card order statuses for more information.

cardHolderNametext

Name of the card holder.

phoneNumbertext

Phone number associated with the card order.

lifetimeLimitnumber

Maximum amount of spending on the card once issued. Nullable.

deliveryEstimatetext (ISO-8601)

The estimated time when the card will be delivered. There are few scenarios to be mindful of:

  1. For virtual card the delivery estimate will be close to the creationTime. As it does not require delivery.
  2. For physical card in PLACED status, the delivery estimate is calculated assuming that the order requirements will be fulfilled today (refreshed daily).
  3. For physical card after PLACED status, we provide a best effort estimation, and it should not be used as delivery timing as we will have separate delivery tracking (subject to region availability) for physical card that is coming soon.
Card order Response
{
  "id": 142,
  "profileId": 123456,
  "clientId": "{{clientId}}",
  "cardProgram": {
    "name": "VISA_DEBIT_BUSINESS_UK_1_CARDS_API",
    "scheme": "VISA",
    "defaultCurrency": "GBP",
    "cardType" : "VIRTUAL_NON_UPGRADEABLE"
  },
  "address": {
    "firstLine": "56 Shoreditch High St",
    "secondLine": "The Tea Bldg",
    "thirdLine": null,
    "city": "London",
    "postCode": "E1 6JJ",
    "state": null,
    "country": "GB"
  },
  "billingAddress": { // deprecated on the 16/10/2023
    "firstLine": "56 Shoreditch High St",
    "secondLine": "The Tea Bldg",
    "thirdLine": null,
    "city": "London",
    "postCode": "E1 6JJ",
    "state": null,
    "country": "GB"
  },
  "cardType": "VIRTUAL_NON_UPGRADEABLE", // deprecated - field moved to cardProgram
  "cardToken": "4dc0be88-903f-49e4-8237-735f1139e3dd",
  "replacesCard": null,
  "creationTime": "2023-07-31T01:43:24.596321434Z",
  "modificationTime": "2023-07-31T01:43:24.596321825Z",
  "status": "CARD_DETAILS_CREATED",
  "cardHolderName": "John Smith",
  "phoneNumber": "+441234567890",
  "lifetimeLimit": 100,
  "deliveryEstimate": "2023-10-30T07:11:00.848681Z"
}

Retrieve available card programs for a profile

GET /v3/spend/profiles/{{profileId}}/card-orders/availability

Retrieves the list of available card programs for each profileId.

Example Request
curl -X GET https://api.sandbox.transferwise.tech/v3/spend/profiles/{{profileId}}/card-orders/availability \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <your api token>' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json'

Response

Returns a collection of CardProgram resources available to the profileId.

Example Response
{
  "cardPrograms": [
    {
      "name": "VISA_DEBIT_BUSINESS_UK_1_CARDS_API",
      "scheme": "VISA",
      "defaultCurrency": "GBP",
      "cardType" : "VIRTUAL_NON_UPGRADEABLE"
    }
  ]
}

Create a card order

POST /v3/spend/profiles/{{profileId}}/card-orders

Orders a new card for a given profileId. The program should be retrieved via the /card-orders/availability endpoint.

The cardType determines what type of card is issued with a program. cardType value would be PHYSICAL if the program issue physical cards.

This request requires an extra field in the header, X-idempotence-uuid. This should be generated and used for any subsequent retries in the event that the initial request fails.
Request
programtext

The name of the card program

cardHolderNametext

The card holder's name

embossedNametext

The card holder's name to print on the card (physical card only)

phoneNumbertext

Must be a valid phone number prefixed with + and country code. An example of a valid phone number would be +6588888888

addressAddress

The card holder's billing address or delivery address. See Address

billingAddress (deprecated)Address

The card holder's billing address or delivery address. See Address

lifetimeLimit (optional)integer

Optionally sets a lifetime spending limit on the card. A lifetime limit of 0 means that a card cannot be used until the lifetime limit is updated.

Response

Returns a Card Order.

Create card order Request
curl -X POST https://api.sandbox.transferwise.tech/v3/spend/profiles/{{profileId}}/card-orders \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <your api token>' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -H 'X-idempotence-uuid: 054064c9-e01e-49fb-8fd9-b0990b9442f4' \
     -d '{
            "program": "VISA_DEBIT_BUSINESS_UK_1_PHYSICAL_CARDS_API",
            "cardHolderName": "John Smith,
            "embossedName": "Smith John", // Physical card order
            "phoneNumber": "+441234567890",
            "address": {
              "firstLine": "56 Shoreditch High St",
              "secondLine": "The Tea Bldg",
              "thirdLine": null,
              "city": "London",
              "postCode": "E1 6JJ",
              "state": null,
              "country": "GB"
            },
            "billingAddress": { // deprecated on the 16/10/2023
              "firstLine": "56 Shoreditch High St",
              "secondLine": "The Tea Bldg",
              "thirdLine": null,
              "city": "London",
              "postCode": "E1 6JJ",
              "state": null,
              "country": "GB"
            },
            "lifetimeLimit": 100,
         }'

Retrieve a list of card orders by profile

Returns a list of card orders created for the profileId specified in the endpoint.

GET /v3/spend/profiles/{{profileId}}/card-orders?pageSize=10&pageNumber=1

Request
pageSize (optional)integer

The maximum number of card orders to return per page. This number can be between 10 - 100, and will default to 10

pageNumber (optional)integer

The page number to retrieve the next set of card orders. The number has to be greater than 1, and will default to 1

Example Request
curl -X GET https://api.sandbox.transferwise.tech/v3/spend/profiles/{{profileId}}/card-orders?pageSize=10&pageNumber=1 \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <your api token>'

Response

Request
totalCountinteger

The total number of card orders for this profileId

cardOrderslist of card orders

A collection of CardOrder for this profileId

Example Response
{
     "cardOrders": [
          {
               "id": 142,
               "profileId": 123456,
               "clientId": "wise_api_docs",
               "cardProgram": {
                 "name": "VISA_DEBIT_BUSINESS_UK_1_CARDS_API",
                 "scheme": "VISA",
                 "defaultCurrency": "GBP",
                 "cardType" : "VIRTUAL_NON_UPGRADEABLE",
               },
               "address": {
                 "firstLine": "56 Shoreditch High St",
                 "secondLine": "The Tea Bldg",
                 "thirdLine": null,
                 "city": "London",
                 "postCode": "E1 6JJ",
                 "state": null,
                 "country": "GB"
               },
               "billingAddress": { // deprecated on the 16/10/2023
                 "firstLine": "56 Shoreditch High St",
                 "secondLine": "The Tea Building",
                 "thirdLine": null,
                 "city": "London",
                 "postCode": "E1 6JJ",
                 "state": null,
                 "country": "GB",
               },
               "cardType" : "VIRTUAL_NON_UPGRADEABLE", // deprecated - field moved to cardProgram
               "cardToken": null,
               "replacesCard": null,
               "creationTime": "2022-05-31T01:43:24.596321434Z",
               "modificationTime": "2022-05-31T01:43:24.596321825Z",
               "status": "REQUIREMENTS_FULFILLED",
               "cardHolderName": "John Smith",
               "phoneNumber": "+441234567890",
               "lifetimeLimit": 100
          }
     ],
     "totalCount": 100
}

Retrieve a card order by ID

GET /v3/spend/profiles/{{profileId}}/card-orders/{{cardOrderId}}

Retrieves a card order based on the cardOrderId.

Example Request
curl -X GET https://api.sandbox.transferwise.tech/v3/spend/profiles/{{profileId}}/card-orders/{{cardOrderId}} \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <your api token>'

Response

Returns a Card Order.