Cards

API Documentation

Cards are the payment instruments that cardholders use to access the funds or credit associated with their card account.

Column supports both physical cards (plastic cards that can be carried in a wallet) and virtual cards (digital card credentials that exist only electronically).

Each card is linked to a specific card account and inherits the rules, limits, and functionality defined at both the program and account levels.

Card Types

Virtual Cards

Virtual cards are digital payment credentials that exist only electronically, offering immediate issuance capabilities and enhanced security to securely deliver card credentials to your customers.

Physical Cards

Physical cards are plastic payment cards that cardholders can carry in their wallet.

Column partners directly with card manufacturers to handle the entire physical card fulfillment process. This covers every stage—from card personalization, to secure production, and shipping to cardholders.

Each physical card is produced from a card template that belongs to its card program. To see the templates you can choose from, list the card program's card templates. Pass a template's id as card_template_id when creating a card to choose one; otherwise the card program's default_card_template_id is used. The card's card_template_id field returns the template it was created with, and renewed and replaced cards keep the original card's template.

Card Renewal and Replacement

Renewal

Renewals are used when a card is approaching expiration and you want a seamless transition for the cardholder. A renewed card is issued as a successor to the existing card. The original card remains usable until the renewed card is activated. Upon activation of the renewed card, the original card is automatically deactivated with the deactivation reason renewed, and its card tokens are moved to the renewed card, preserving continuity for the cardholder. If the renewed card is created as active, this happens immediately.

Replacement

Replacements are used when a card is lost, stolen, fraudulent, or voluntarily replaced by request. During replacement, the original card is deactivated as part of the operation and linked to the new card as the replacement target to ensure immediate protection.

PCI Compliance

There are several fields on cards objects that are under PCI scope, such as the PAN and CVV2 value. We make these fields available for access for card programs who are certified as PCI-compliant.

Statuses and Events

Statuses

Events

Card event payloads contain the card object.

Renewing or replacing a card creates a new card, which emits its own issuing.card.created event. The original card emits issuing.card.inactive when it is deactivated.