Those are usually virtual cards that are issued for one-time use or for a certain period of time. Disposable virtual cards are easy to issue as there are no physical cards involved and a card will live in the issuer’s app or then in the digital wallet. The issuer can get new revenue streams with this product by charging the cardholder for using it, by adding an opening fee for example. This can also increase spending through an added security layer.

A disposable card or a temporary card is a virtual card that is issued for a certain time period. Compared to physical cards, disposable cards are generated digitally and can be used for e-commerce purchases and enrolled in digital wallets such as Google Pay or Apple Pay. Even disposable cards are usually virtual cards due to the cost savings, Enfuce supports also the feature of time-based closing for physical cards. If issuers wish to have disposable cards, it needs to be agreed separately with Enfuce.

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Key benefits of disposable cards for issuers

  • Security: One of the primary reasons and benefits for offering a virtual disposable payment card is enhanced security. Since these cards are typically issued for a limited time period, they reduce the risk of fraud use. As even the card details would be compromised, usually also disposable cards hold less balance like prepaid or credit cards, so the potential losses can be limited
  • Flexibility: Disposable cards also offer flexibility for short-term transactions, such as e-commerce purchases or traveling. Virtual cards are easy to issue and the time-based closing can be defined by the issuer.

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Key benefits of disposable cards for the customer

  • Security: The customer does not need to worry about closing the card after a certain time period as the card will be automatically closed.
  • Flexibility: Disposable cards also offer flexibility for short-term transactions, such as e-commerce purchases or traveling. Virtual cards are easy to issue and the time-based closing can be defined by the issuer.
  • Seamless experience: Even though there might be cases of needing to use the card only for a certain time period, it does not take away the need and importance of having the payment card. With disposable cards customers don’t need to carry or wait for physical cards to arrive – cards can be immediately taken into use.

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Use case examples for disposable cards

  • Expense management: Companies can use disposable payment cards to limit the risk of fraud. Employees can be given temporary card numbers that can only be used for specific purchases within certain time frame
  • Travel: Companies can give their employees a travel card, which is valid only during the trip, for example, for 2 weeks. This is a great way to ensure the employee has the company money available during their trip, but not anymore after the trip has ended. Also, one aspect would be to limit the amount of spending, but this can be controlled via managed authorisation control feature.
  • Subscription services: Many subscription-based services require entering the card details. Providing separate virtual card details that can be valid for a specific time frame, secures separate transaction flow and also separates the usage from the primary card.
  • Gift cards: Virtual cards work well as gift cards and as they can be valid for some period of time, the issuer does not need to worry about fraud or unauthorized transactions.

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Card lifecycle management

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Creating a card

Disposable cards need to be defined during the creation of a virtual card. It is available for the following endpoints:

Create card API endpoints have an object called scheduledClosing with fields time and type. These need to be defined. Time defines the date and time when the card will be closed and the type needs to be TIMEBASED. For example, if an issuer would like the card to be closed on the 1st of June 2026, the time would be then as 2026-06-01T03:00:00.000Z and type as TIMEBASED.

The time specified in the closing time must adhere to the UTC time zone. When the closing date arrives, the card status will be automatically changed to Card Closed. More about card statuses here.

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Updating a card

If the scheduledClosing has been set during the virtual card creation, it can be updated at any point in the card lifecycle until the closing time comes and the card is closed. This can be achieved by calling one of the following API endpoints:

  Update card API has the same field, type, and time which needs to be updated if the change of closing time needs to be changed.

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To view the set value - Get Card

When the scheduled closing time has been set via API, it can be viewed via Get Card API.

},
“scheduledClosing”: {
“time”: “2030-06-01T03:00:00.000Z”,
“type”: “TIMEBASED”
},

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To view the set value - Enfuce data export files

The disposable card has a value called SCH_CLOSING which will be included in the Card Properties file.

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