Four practical use cases for a virtual business credit card

In short

• One-off orders: you create a virtual business credit card in seconds, so employees never have to pay out of pocket.
• Subscriptions: you use one Card per subscription. Want to cancel? Simply pause the Card.
• Marketing expenses: you create a separate Card per campaign or channel, with a fixed budget limit.
• One-off suppliers: you pay directly, without setting up a new supplier or starting a procurement process.
• ICS offers virtual credit cards under the name Virtual Cards, as part of ICS Payment Control.

Where and how to use a virtual business credit card

Many companies have a well-organised procurement process for their regular suppliers. Other expenses are trickier: a one-off purchase, an online order, an urgent payment or a purchase made on-site. Employees often end up paying out of pocket for these, which creates extra manual work.

A virtual business credit card has sixteen digits, an expiry date and a CVC code. You link the credit card to one central account for your organisation, and set your own conditions for each one, such as a maximum amount, a validity period and a specific supplier. You decide how broadly or specifically to set up each credit card. Use it for a single payment, or for a longer period with multiple transactions within a project.

Curious how this compares to physical business credit cards? Read our comparison of virtual and physical credit cards.

Four situations for a virtual business credit card

Virtual business credit cards offer several benefits. So when exactly should you use one? These are the four most common situations.

1. Online orders and one-off expenses

Let’s say you’re starting a temporary project or expanding part of your organisation. This involves several online purchases. You want to cap these expenses in advance, and track them separately in your bookkeeping.

With a virtual business credit card, you create a new one in seconds, right when you place the order. This replaces three inconvenient alternatives:

• An employee pays out of pocket and claims the cost back afterwards
• An employee requests an advance and repays it later
• An employee borrows a manager’s physical credit card

Instead, you create a virtual business credit card with a maximum amount and a validity period of, say, one month. You also link the credit card to the right cost centre. The employee uses this Card number for that specific expense only, such as a laptop or a software licence for a new team member. It won’t work for anything else.

The finance team stays in control, and the employee never has to pay out of pocket.

2. Managing software and digital subscriptions

Many companies pay for SaaS tools, cloud services and software licences using one shared credit card or manual bank transfers. That creates three challenges:

• Subscriptions keep running without anyone noticing
• Licences stay active after a staff change
• An expired physical credit card disrupts several services at once

With a virtual business credit card, you link one Card to each subscription. Costs are always visible per tool and per department. Want to cancel a subscription? Simply pause the credit card. You control the validity period of a virtual credit card, unlike physical credit cards, which usually have a fixed term.

3. Tracking marketing expenses by campaign

Marketing and sales teams often work with online advertising platforms such as Google, Meta or LinkedIn. Campaign budgets vary widely by project or period. If everything runs through one shared credit card, three problems can arise:

• Campaigns keep running without a hard budget cap
• A problem with that one credit card brings several campaigns to a halt at once
• It’s difficult to work out afterwards what a campaign actually cost

With a virtual business credit card, you create a separate credit card per campaign or channel, with a hard monthly limit. Payments stop automatically once the maximum amount is reached. If one credit card stops working, it only affects that one campaign. The rest keeps running as normal.

You link a cost centre or project code to each credit card straight away. This gives you clear insight into your budgets and makes it easier to process payments afterwards, so you know exactly what each campaign cost.

4. Paying one-off suppliers directly

You can also use a virtual business credit card for invoices from suppliers that accept credit cards. This means you skip the full procurement and payment process, and pay directly instead.

This comes in handy for one-off suppliers or suppliers without a contract, such as an external consultant, a supplier for a temporary project or a vendor for a one-off event.

The supplier receives payment quickly, and you see it reflected on your account statement. This means fewer steps for new or one-off suppliers.

ICS has you covered with Virtual Cards

ICS developed virtual business credit cards specifically for these four situations. Virtual Cards are part of ICS Payment Control.

Whether it's an urgent purchase, an ongoing subscription, a marketing campaign or a one-off supplier, you can quickly and easily create a Virtual Card for that expense.

All transactions land in one central Virtual Card Account, giving your finance team immediate visibility. Since the cost centre and project number are already attached to every transaction, there’s nothing left to work out afterwards.

Want to know more about Virtual Cards from ICS? Get in touch with one of our account managers (link in Dutch).