Audience:
Physical cards
An optional plastic card ordered for a virtual card, usable for swipe, chip and PIN, contactless, and online payments.
Plastic payment card that can be used for point-of-sale transactions using swipe, chip and PIN, and contactless (EMV) methods, as well as for online transactions.
You can order a physical card for each virtual card. Your design is printed on all physical cards.
Printing physical cards with the API
You can use one of several mutations to print physical cards with the API.
| Mutation | Use case | Guide |
|---|---|---|
printPhysicalCard | Print one physical card for one account member. The virtual card must already be added. | Print a physical card |
addCards | Add up to 200 total cards with the same API call. You can:
| Print a physical card when adding a virtual card |
addCardsWithGroupDelivery | Ship a group of physical cards together to the same address. | Print multiple physical cards with group delivery |
∗ You can only add cards for multiple account members in a single API call if they belong to the same account.
Card number
Each physical card has a unique card number, different even from the virtual card added before the physical card was printed.
Swan makes the physical card's number, CVC, expiry date, and the PIN available in Web Banking. The card number, CVC, and PIN are considered sensitive data and must be masked by default. The cardholder must complete a consent request before the numbers can be unmasked.
Why do virtual and physical cards have different card numbers and CVCs? The two card types function as independent entities. Each has its own transaction history, can be added to the same digital wallet, and more.
This also means that if a cardholder loses their physical card, they can suspend or cancel the physical card without losing access to their virtual card.