Spending limits

The maximum amount a cardholder can spend within a period, and how Swan calculates those periods.

Spending limits are imposed for several reasons.

1. Companies impose spending limits to reduce fraud risk or to enforce expense rules and budgets.
2. Individual cardholders and companies might impose spending limits over a period to protect their funds when issuing cards to other people.
   • A company might impose a €100 spending limit over 7 days for travel expenses.
   • A parent might give a card to their child, imposing a €50 spending limit to protect their own money.
3. Financial institutions (like Swan) impose spending limits to protect themselves from liability.

For the amounts Swan imposes and the periods account holders can choose, refer to the spending limits reference. To set or lower a card's limit, update the card.

Rolling vs. calendar periods

Swan supports two types of spending limit periods: rolling and calendar.

Rolling periods track the total spent over a moving window of time, such as the last 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. Rolling is the default period type and is best suited for continuous fraud protection or when spending patterns don't follow a fixed schedule.

Calendar periods reset at a fixed date and time, such as the 1st of every month or every Monday at a specific hour. Calendar periods are best suited for budgeting cycles, expense management, or when spending needs to align with payroll or billing schedules.

Non-existent dates

If a calendar period's reset date doesn't exist in a given month, the limit resets on the closest available day in the same month. For example, if you set a monthly limit to reset on the 31st, in February the limit resets on the 28th (since February doesn't have a 31st).

Hour-level aggregation

Aggregate spending limits track the total amount spent within a defined period. Each new payment is added to the total spending for the defined period. Swan computes these limits at the hour level for all cards with Daily, Weekly, and Monthly limits (both rolling and calendar periods), which makes period calculations more precise and consistent.

Hour-level aggregation impact

Only spending limit calculations are affected; actual transaction timestamps and records remain unchanged.

How hour-level aggregation works

When a payment is processed, it's rounded down to the start of the hour (HH:00:00) it occurred for spending limit calculations. The rolling window is then calculated from that hour mark, not the exact transaction time.

Example 1: Daily rolling limit

A payment is made today at 16:30 on a card with a daily spending limit.

• For computation, the payment is recorded as today at 16:00.
• The 24-hour (daily) rolling window closes tomorrow at 16:00.
• After this time, the payment is no longer included in the daily spending calculation.

Example 2: Weekly rolling limit

A payment is made on Monday at 11:45 with a 7-day rolling limit.

• For computation, the payment is recorded as Monday at 11:00.
• The 7-day (weekly) rolling window closes on the following Monday at 11:00.
• After this time, the payment is no longer included in the weekly spending calculation.

Affected spending limit periods

Payments are timestamped to the hour for the following periods (both rolling and calendar):

• 24 hours (Daily)
• 7 days (Weekly)
• 1 month (Monthly)

Other limits

Lifetime (Always) limits and Swan-imposed spending limits aren't impacted.

Cards with a lifetime limit

Cards with a lifetime limit allow companies and individual account holders to give a card with a limited lifetime spending amount (period Always). After the amount is spent, the card is no longer valid and can't be recharged.

Cards with a lifetime limit must still respect Swan's spending limits, though there's no maximum on the lifetime amount you can set.