Physical Cards

Updated at August 9th, 2025

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Table of Contents

Physical vs Virtual Physical Cards in the ProTem Card Request and the ProSpend Card Request Direct Issuance of a Physical Card Delivery Address of the Cards Tracking the Status of Physical Card Orders What Gets Delivered Activating Physical Cards Changes to Card Holder’s Cards List Page Changes to Manage Cards Page

This article covers in detail the changes we are making to our system to introduce physical cards. This article is written to build on top of your understanding and knowledge of how our virtual cards work. So it covers what is changing to accommodate physical cards.

To know more about how virtual cards work, please click below.

Physical vs Virtual

Physical cards are not the same as virtual cards. Physical cards being issued are not just a physical version of existing virtual cards. When a physical card is issued, it is a new card that is classified as a Physical Card in the back end. This means it has its own card number, irrespective of whether this user already had a virtual card. Physical cards can also be added to Google and Apple apps to use them through the phone.

Physical Cards in the ProTem Card Request and the ProSpend Card Request

Prior to this, ProSpend offered just 2 types of cards: Virtual ProTem Cards and Virtual ProSpend Cards.

Virtual ProTem Cards are cards that can only be issued against approved ProTem Card Requests, which are akin to Purchase Orders. For these requests, users have to first identify what they intend to use the card for on a request. Only after this request is approved via ProSpend’s multi-step dynamic approval flow is a card issued. The card being issued is tightly bound by the amounts and dates specific in the request, such that the card automatically freezes when either the requested amount has been reached or the date by which the funds were expected to be spent is reached.

When the card transactions actually happen, our built in algorithms automatically recognise that these transactions are the ones that were requested on the particular ProTem Card Request that issued the card, and automatically link the ProTem Card Claim these transactions are on with the ProTem Card Request. This allows for efficient copying of transaction coding from the Request to the Claim, as well as in depth analysis of variances between the Request and the actual spend.

Our other card type, the Virtual ProSpend Card, can be issued via our direct-issuing page, such that no requests and approvals are required. These are typically ongoing cards issued to employees that are expected to have a level of continuous spend that doesn’t need to be pre-approved everytime. These cards can also be requested and approved via those requests before they are issued, however the ProSpend Card Request does not need to be a detailed record of what is expected to be spent on the ProSpend Card.

Both ProTem Card Requests and ProSpend Card Requests can be used to get new cards, as well as get existing frozen cards reactivated. ProSpend Card requests can also be used to request edits to card limits of already-active cards.

With the addition of Physical Cards to ProSpend, we have now enabled 4 types of cards:

Virtual ProTem Cards
Physical ProTem Cards
Virtual ProSpend Cards
Physical ProSpend Cards

The following changes have been made to the requests to accommodate for this:

In the Choose Card field across both requests, we are now adding the option to Choose New Card - Physical. Choosing this will result in a Physical Card being issued after the approval and finalising process.
We are also adding additional information in the Choose Card field for existing cards such that the cards will indicate whether they are virtual or physical.

Please note that active physical cards can also be used virtually via Google Wallet and Apple Pay if a user chooses to add the card to their app.
The information required for Virtual Cards is also required for Physical Cards (Card Limits and Card Details). However, for Physical Cards, an additional field is required called “Embossed Name on Card”.
This is the name that will be printed on the card and the maximum number of characters allowed is 22.
For Physical Cards, we currently lock the deliverable address field such that it can only be the address as entered on the company page in ProSpend. When a physical card is being requested, the address fields on the request will automatically be filled with the address fields as they are entered on the company settings page and cannot be edited.

This address doubles up as the billing address and the delivery address of the card
The rest of the request, approval and card issuance process present for Virtual Cards remains the same for Physical Cards.

Direct Issuance of a Physical Card

Certain users with the right permissions are able to “Direct Issue” cards to claimants without having to go through the request and approval process. This is typically the fastest way to issue a card and is done via the Direct Issue page accessible via the Manage Cards screen. The only cards that can be issued via this method are Virtual ProSpend Cards and now, Physical ProSpend Cards. Here are the changes we’ve made:

On Direct-Issuing screen, in the Card Type field, we have now added the Physical Card option, seen as “ProSpend Card - Physical”.
The information required for Virtual Cards is also required for Physical Cards (Card Limits and Card Details). However, for Physical Cards, an additional field is required called “Embossed Name on Card”.

This is the name that will be printed on the card and the maximum number of characters allowed is 22.
For Physical Cards, we currently lock the deliverable address field such that it can only be the address as entered on the company page in ProSpend. When a physical card is being issued, the address fields on the direct-issuing screen will automatically be filled with the address fields as they are entered on the company settings page and cannot be edited.

This address doubles up as the billing address and the delivery address of the card.

Delivery Address of the Cards

Physical cards need to be delivered to a valid address and this address needs to be provided when ordering a physical card. In our system, this is provided via the request and direct issue forms, and the address entered there doubles up as the delivery address and the card’s billing address.

For the first cut, whenever a new physical card is being requested or issued, we are autofilling the address from what has been entered against the company in the company settings page, and locking it down such that it cannot be edited.

For customer databases where the treasury module has been enabled, when a user with the right permissions edits the company address, we are validating the address for character length checking that the entered State is valid to ensure that the company address will get accepted by our provider as a delivery address. For any customer taking on physical cards, it is extremely crucial that the ProSpend employee setting up the customer visits the company settings page with the customer and re-enters the address there to trigger the validation - ultimately making sure that no errors are being thrown at this stage.

This will ensure that when the address entered on the company settings page is used as the delivery address on physical card requests and when direct-issuing a physical card, the card order goes through smoothly without errors.

Tracking the Status of Physical Card Orders

Once a physical card has been ordered, the Card Order Status field is populated on the Manage Cards page. It serves as the way for users to track the progress of their card order as it progresses from being the order being accepted, through the card being produced and ultimately delivered. This is how it works:

User clicks the “More Columns” toggle on the Manage Cards page.
Then user can view the actual Card Order Status of each card, Virtual and Physical.
Here are what each of these statuses mean:
1. Placed: Order has been created.
2. Accepted: Order accepted and card being created.
3. Available Virtually: Virtual Card created and available for virtual use.
4. Dispatched: Physical Card created and on its way.
5. Competed: Card order completed.
6. Cancelled: Card order cancelled by user.
7. Delivery Failed: Physical Card could not be delivered and will be blocked.

What Gets Delivered

Physical Cards have to be posted and delivered. These are delivered in a standard white envelope and inside the envelope are the card and a ProSpend branded card carrier.

The card carrier provided in the envelope has clear instructions on how to activate, and a QR code that takes users to our dedicated cards help page: https://prospend.com/cards-help

Activating Physical Cards

When a Physical Card is issued, the details of the Physical Card are generated instantly such that they can be used straight away for online transactions, as well as in store by adding it to a Google Wallet or Apple Pay app and using the phone to transact. For the actual Physical Card, before it can be used for tap-and-go payments it needs to be activated.

To activate a physical card, users have to complete their first transaction in store or at an ATM by inserting their card into a physical card terminal, choosing “credit”.

Some terminals from the company Tyro cannot be used to activate cards. When a card is inserted, these terminals always enforce a tap and go type transaction. This means these terminals cannot be used to activate these physical cards as the user doesn’t get the option to choose “credit”. Please ensure that you're able to choose “credit”.
They will be prompted to enter a PIN and this is available to them in the ProSpend mobile and desktop apps.
Users may have to set up their 2FA to be able to access their PIN. Click here for instructions on how that is done.

Changes to Card Holder’s Cards List Page

As a part of the Physical Cards release, we have also released changes to the Card Holder’s Cards List page. These changes are:

Filters across the top
1. This change is independent of enabling physical cards and has been rolled out across all customers that have enabled the treasury module.
2. Card Status:
  1. Blocked: Card cannot be used and cannot be reactivated
    Frozen: Card cannot be used but can be reactivated
    Active: Card is available to be used
3. Card Order Status:
  1. Placed: Order has been created.
  2. Accepted: Order accepted and card being created.
  3. Available Virtually: Virtual Card created and available for virtual use.
  4. Dispatched: Physical Card created and on its way.
  5. Competed: Card order completed.
  6. Cancelled: Card order cancelled by user.
  7. Delivery Failed: Physical Card could not be delivered and will be blocked.
4. Card Type:
  1. ProTem Virtual
  2. ProTem Physical
  3. ProSpend Virtual
  4. ProSpend Physical
Card Order Status field and the Tracking URL on Physical Cards.

The Card Order Status field has been covered in point 1 c above.

Changes to Manage Cards Page

As a part of the Physical Cards release, we have also released changes to the Manage Cards page. This changes are:

Physical VS Virtual distinction in the Card Type filters at the top.
More Columns toggle to reduce the number of columns shown by default.
Card Order Status column to show the status of the Card Order. This is not to be confused with Card Status, which is the status of the card itself. The Card Order shows the status of where a particular card is in terms of being generated, and delivered for physical cards.
1. Card Order Status:
  1. Placed: Order has been created
  2. Accepted: Order accepted and card being created.
  3. Available Virtually: Virtual Card created and available for virtual use.
  4. Dispatched: Physical Card created and on its way.
  5. Competed: Card order completed.
  6. Cancelled: Card order cancelled by user.
  7. Delivery Failed: Physical Card could not be delivered and will be blocked.

ProSpend customers are able to take on just virtual cards or virtual and physical cards.

Please reach out to us if you want to know more about this and want to enable this for your company.

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