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Pre-Funded Virtual Cards are network-branded (Visa / Mastercard) cards issued instantly via the Fluz API. They earn cashback at every merchant that accepts the network — and can be layered with gift-card routing at 400+ brands for even higher rewards.

What Is a Fluz Virtual Card?

A Fluz Pre-Funded Virtual Card is a network-branded, instantly issued card that lives entirely in software. Unlike a physical card:

• No plastic, no shipping — the card is available the moment createVirtualCard resolves.
• Pre-funded — the spend limit is reserved at creation time from a Fluz Wallet, gift-card balance, rewards balance, or a linked bank account.
• Scoped — each card has its own spend limit, duration, lock date, and optional single-use flag, so you control exactly how much can be charged and for how long.
• Full network acceptance — issued on Mastercard (debit or prepaid) or Visa rails, usable anywhere those networks are accepted online or in-store.

Cards earn a base cashback on all spend via interchange economics. At supported merchants, card-linked offers can layer on additional returns.

Card Types

Use getVirtualCardOffers to enumerate all programs available to your account, including network type (Mastercard / Visa), card type (debit / prepaid), issuing bank, and per-program spend limits.

Card Lifecycle

A card moves through the following states:

createVirtualCard
      │
      ▼
   ACTIVE ──── lockVirtualCard ───► LOCKED
      │                                │
      │         unlockVirtualCard ◄────┘
      │
      ▼
  CLOSED / EXPIRED
  (lockDate reached, or manually cancelled)

A card set with lockCardNextUse: true transitions automatically from ACTIVE to LOCKED after its first successful authorization — no additional API call required. See Edit Virtual Card for how to modify this setting post-creation.

Required Scopes

All virtual card operations require a User Access Token generated with the appropriate scopes. The three core scopes are:

Generate a token with all three scopes before calling any virtual card endpoint:

curl -X POST https://transactional-graph.staging.fluzapp.com/api/v1/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Basic <YOUR_SANDBOX_API_KEY>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "mutation generateUserAccessToken($userId: UUID!, $accountId: UUID!, $scopes: [ScopeType!]!) { generateUserAccessToken(userId: $userId, accountId: $accountId, scopes: $scopes) { token scopes } }",
    "variables": {
      "userId": "<YOUR_SANDBOX_USER_ID>",
      "accountId": "<YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID>",
      "scopes": ["CREATE_VIRTUALCARD", "REVEAL_VIRTUALCARD", "EDIT_VIRTUALCARD"]
    }
  }'

Pass the returned token as Authorization: Bearer <token> on all subsequent calls. See Refresh an Expired User Access Token when you receive a 401.

How Funding Works

When a card is charged, Fluz draws funds in this priority order by default:

1. The designated spend account (userCashBalanceId)
2. Prepaid (gift card) balance — unless usePrepaymentBalance: false
3. Rewards balance — unless useRewardsBalance: false

You can also fund directly from a linked bank account by setting primaryFundingSource: BANK_ACCOUNT. Full input details and examples are on Create Virtual Card.

Spend Limit Durations

The spendLimit you set applies per the chosen spendLimitDuration:

You are only charged for the amount actually spent — the spend limit is an authorization ceiling, not a pre-charge. Unused balance stays in your wallet.

Single-Use Cards

Set lockCardNextUse: true at creation (or update it via editVirtualCard) to lock the card automatically after its first authorization. This is the recommended pattern for:

• One-time vendor payments
• Single-transaction disbursements
• Agentic payment flows where a card should be consumed after one use

All Virtual Card Operations

Guides to Build things With Virtual Card