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Modulr glossary

Virtual Credit Card (VCC)

A Virtual credit card (VCC) is a digital card with a unique card number, expiration date, and security code. Confusingly, VCC is widely used in the payments industry to refer to both virtual debit and virtual credit cards. VCCs are used for secure online transactions and offer enhanced control over spending compared to a physical payment card. Modulr is a primary issuer of both Mastercard and Visa cards, and combines safeguarded EMI account services with VCC issuance to address the historical inefficiencies of the card issuing process and the costs of managing separate stakeholders. There's no complex reconciliation or coordination between multiple partners - instead customers can leverage our existing relationships. Customers can tap into the potential of virtual cards on a platform that delivers real benefits. While they may be non-physical (the 16 digit PAN, expiry date and security code are returned via API), virtual cards can be used for a range of real-world use cases such as booking travel, disbursing loans quickly and corporate spending.

Applications

E-commerce:

Reduces fraud in online card payments by verifying the cardholder's identity

Banking and fintech:

Helps issuers and payment providers comply with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements.

Advantages

  • Enhanced security: Reduces unauthorised transactions by verifying that the genuine account holder is authorising the payment
  • Fraud prevention: Helps reduce chargebacks related to fraud.

Challenges

  • User Experience: Additional authentication steps can cause friction and increase checkout abandonment
  • Implementation complexity: Requires integration with card schemes and issuer systems.

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