This article is for: admins, finance teams and employees.
Factorial cards for Expenses are company cards for your team. Every payment shows up in Expenses as an expense for the cardholder, with the amount, date and merchant already filled in. Nobody advances money, and finance stops chasing and retyping card spend.
Factorial cards across products
Overview
Factorial cards work across Factorial products. Each product has its own way to issue cards:
- Expenses: you give cards to employees, and every payment becomes an expense for the cardholder.
- Software: every payment with a card set up for a software tool shows as spending in that software's details.
- Benefits: employees pay with their benefits card, and each payment is recorded in their benefits.
Other actions, such as setting limits or deactivating a card, are shared. This section covers cards for Expenses.
Factorial cards
Overview
What you get
- Nothing to pay back. Employees pay with a company card, not their own money.
- Expenses that fill themselves in. Each payment creates the expense, and the cardholder only adds the receipt. See How are card payments matched to expenses and receipts?.
- Control at the source. Set a spending limit and the merchant categories where each card works, and change them any time. See How do I control how much a card can spend, and where?.
How they work
- Cards spend money you add first, not a credit line, and they aren't linked to your company bank account. Each legal entity has its own cards account (a separate balance), and you add funds by bank transfer. When it runs out, payments are declined until you add more.
- One card belongs to one person, and its payments become that person's expenses.
- Cards can be used abroad; fees can apply to payments abroad or in another currency, so ask your Account Manager. Cardholders can add them to Apple Pay or Google Pay from the Factorial app.
What you need first
- Expenses. Cards are issued only to Expenses users (people who can create expenses).
- A paying legal entity in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain or the United Kingdom.
Who does what
- Admins and finance with Can manage cards: open the cards account, add funds, create and cancel cards, set limits and decide on card requests.
- Employees: request a single-use card, see their cards and payments, activate a physical card, and deactivate or cancel their own card.
See Who can manage and request Factorial cards?.
Choose the right card (Expenses)
Overview
In Expenses, pick the card that matches how the money will be spent.
| Card | Use it for | Ready to use |
|---|---|---|
| Physical card | Shops and online, for someone who spends regularly | Arrives by post (the app says within a week). The cardholder activates it |
| Virtual card | Online purchases and subscriptions | As soon as it's issued |
| Single-use card | One purchase up to a set amount. It closes after it's used | As soon as it's issued |
To get started: How do I open a Factorial cards account, add funds and check the balance?, then How do I create or request a virtual, physical or single-use card?, then How do I control how much a card can spend, and where?. Each payment appears in My spending > My expenses.
Tips and Best Practices
- Give each person who spends regularly their own card instead of sharing one: every payment then lands in the right person's expenses.
- For a subscription, use a Virtual card with a monthly limit and an alias with the service's name.
- For a one-off purchase, use a Single-use card: nothing to cancel afterwards.
- Keep enough funds in the cards account so payments aren't declined.
Troubleshooting and FAQ
Troubleshooting
- I can't issue a Factorial card to someone. The employee must be an Expenses user and have an email in their profile. See How do I add people to Expenses?.
- I don't see Cards in Treasury. Cards in Treasury is for people with Can manage cards, and it only appears when your company's main legal entity is in a country where cards are available (list above). Ask an admin for the permission.
- My country isn't on the list. Cards accounts are available only in the countries listed above for now.
- A payment was declined because of insufficient funds. Add funds to the cards account. See How do I open a Factorial cards account, add funds and check the balance?.
FAQ
1. Are Factorial cards credit cards?
No. A Factorial card is a company debit card: it spends the money you've added to your cards account.
2. Do Factorial cards have a PIN?
Physical cards do, and an active physical card's cardholder can see the PIN in Factorial. Virtual and single-use cards don't have a PIN. See How do I activate my Factorial card and see my PIN?.
3. Can I use a Factorial card in a shop and online?
A physical card works in shops and online. A virtual card is for online purchases and subscriptions, and a single-use card works for any type of purchase up to its amount. Cardholders can add a card to Apple Pay or Google Pay from the Factorial app.
4. Can I withdraw cash with a Factorial card?
Factorial cards are for purchases. Cash withdrawals and cash advances can be declined.
5. An employee moved to another legal entity. Do they need a new card?
Their current card keeps paying from the cards account of the legal entity it was issued on. If the new legal entity should pay, issue a new card, choose that legal entity when you create it, and cancel the old card.
6. Can I use Factorial cards without opening a cards account?
No. Cards spend from a cards account. You can manage expenses without cards, so the account is only needed to issue Factorial cards.
7. Is this the same as my benefits card?
No. These articles are about Factorial cards for Expenses. Benefits cards are issued from Benefits and spend from their own benefits account.
8. Can we give cards to more people, for example delivery drivers?
A card goes to an employee in Factorial who is an Expenses user and has an email in their profile. People who aren't employees in Factorial can't receive one. Whether someone can be an Expenses user depends on your plan. Your Account Manager can confirm.