What is a ghost card? Benefits, examples, and use cases

A ghost card is a digital or virtual credit card number tied to a business's account, not a physical card. The term “ghost” reflects the card's intangible nature: it exists only electronically, not as plastic. Unlike traditional corporate cards that employees carry in their wallets, ghost cards (sometimes called virtual credit cards or lodge cards) live entirely in the digital realm.

Each ghost card features the same components as a regular credit card: a unique 16-digit number, expiration date, and CVV code. The key difference is that these credentials are generated electronically through a company's financial management system. Ghost cards are typically linked to the company's main credit account, with all charges billed centrally. This means multiple ghost cards can exist under one account rather than separate individual card accounts.

Ghost cards are primarily used by businesses, not individual consumers. Rather than being assigned to a specific person, they're often designated for a particular department, project, or vendor. For example, a marketing department might have its own ghost card number for all marketing-related expenses, while the IT department uses a different ghost card for software subscriptions and technology purchases. This structure allows companies to track spending by category without issuing physical cards to every employee or manager.

From the user's perspective, using a ghost card is similar to using any credit card online. You provide the card number, expiration date, and CVV to make payments. The key difference is that unlike a personal card, a ghost card is issued internally within the company's corporate account. When an employee needs to make a purchase for their department, they simply enter the ghost card details just as they would with any other credit card.

Ghost cards are typically issued by a financial institution or payment platform at the business's request. A company administrator can generate a new ghost card number for a department or vendor instantly through their banking portal or a platform like Brex. Each card can be customized with specific settings, including spending limits, allowed merchant types, or even a set expiration date. For instance, a company might create a ghost card with a $5,000 monthly limit that only works with office supply vendors.

All ghost card charges funnel into the company's main account, making billing centralized. When transactions are made with a ghost card, they're automatically tagged or labeled (often by card number or department) in the account statements. This means that while the marketing team's ghost card purchases and the facilities team's ghost card purchases all appear on the same master bill, each transaction clearly shows which card was used. This segregation by card number simplifies tracking and expense management.

Ghost cards do not have a physical form. No plastic is issued. They are meant for online, phone, or vendor payments only. You can't swipe a ghost card at a restaurant or use it at an ATM because there's no actual card to present. This limitation makes ghost cards ideal for recurring payments, online subscriptions, and vendor relationships, but unsuitable for situations requiring a physical card.

They're nicknamed "ghost cards" because they have no physical presence. The name perfectly captures their intangible nature. A ghost card exists only virtually and digitally, with no plastic or metal card that you can hold, swipe, or store in your wallet. This ethereal quality distinguishes them from traditional corporate credit cards for employees that they physically carry.

Ghost cards leave a trace in your financial records without having a physical body, operating quietly in the background to facilitate purchases and track spending. Just as ghosts are said to appear and disappear at will, ghost cards can be created instantly when needed and vanish just as quickly when their purpose ends. A ghost card for a three-month project materializes at the project's start and disappears when it concludes. This flexibility, combined with their invisible nature, makes "ghost card" the perfect way to describe digital payment tools that do their work without ever taking physical form.

Ghost cards offer several advantages that address common pain points in corporate expense management. From security enhancements to streamlined bookkeeping, these digital payment tools provide solutions that traditional corporate cards often cannot match.

Enhanced security

Ghost cards reduce fraud risk by limiting exposure of the company's main account details. If a ghost card number is compromised or misused, it can be quickly canceled without affecting the primary corporate credit line. This containment feature means a security breach stays isolated to one card rather than threatening the entire corporate account. Many ghost card platforms allow cards to be locked to a single vendor or purpose, so any attempted charge outside the defined scope is automatically declined. For example, a ghost card designated for Amazon purchases will be automatically declined if used to pay another vendor. This vendor-specific locking adds a security layer that traditional cards lack.

Since there's no physical card, there's no risk of it being lost or stolen from someone's wallet. This eliminates certain types of fraud, like card skimming. Companies worried about security breaches from lost or stolen cards can rest easier knowing their ghost cards exist only in digital form. The absence of a physical card removes an entire category of security vulnerabilities that businesses typically face with traditional corporate cards.

Custom spending controls

Ghost cards empower finance teams with granular spending controls. Companies can define maximum spending limits per card, control how often cards can be used, or restrict transactions to certain merchant categories. Some advanced platforms even allow restrictions based on time of day or specific vendor lists. These controls ensure employees or departments cannot exceed their allotted budgets.

Businesses can set expiration dates or time windows on ghost cards. For example, a ghost card issued for a three-month marketing campaign will automatically stop working when the campaign ends. This prevents runaway costs and ensures cards aren't misused after their intended purpose has been fulfilled.

These limits and controls create clear accountability. Employees using ghost cards know there's a cap on spending, and every transaction is transparently tracked. This visibility discourages misuse and keeps spending within approved bounds, protecting the company's financial health.

Simplified expense tracking

Ghost cards make bookkeeping significantly easier because each card is dedicated to a specific department or vendor, ensuring you can more effectively track business expenses. All expenses on that card are automatically grouped for that category. Finance teams can see at a glance that the marketing team's card spent $5,000 this month without sorting through miscellaneous charges from multiple sources.

Without ghost cards, multiple team members might share one corporate card or use personal cards and file expense reports. Ghost cards eliminate this complexity by giving each team or expense category its own card number. Reconciliation becomes as simple as matching each card's statement to its budget, eliminating the need to sift through individual expense reports.

Most ghost card providers update transactions in real time, allowing financial managers to monitor spending live by card number. If an unusual charge appears, it can be caught and addressed immediately rather than weeks later during monthly expense reconciliation. This immediate visibility helps prevent small issues from becoming major problems.

Efficiency and cost savings

Ghost cards speed up and automate payments. Companies can pay vendors or subscriptions instantly, avoiding slower methods like paper checks. This saves time and may reduce processing costs, as some providers charge lower fees for virtual card transactions compared to traditional payment methods.

With ghost cards handling recurring payments and automatic categorization, there's less manual work in processing invoices and expense reimbursements. Staff no longer need to process as many reimbursement requests or manage petty cash, since purchases can be made directly via designated ghost cards. Over time, this reduction in administrative tasks translates into labor cost savings and fewer errors.

End-of-month bookkeeping becomes faster because each ghost card's transactions are already grouped logically. Finance teams can reconcile accounts without hunting down receipts from multiple employees, significantly reducing the financial closing cycle time. This efficiency proves especially valuable for lean teams or fast-growing businesses managing numerous small transactions.

Scalability

Ghost cards are highly scalable. Issuing a new card number for a new team or project typically requires just a few clicks, with no need to wait for physical cards to be printed and shipped. As businesses grow or needs change, their payment methods can adapt instantly to meet new requirements. Because ghost cards are digital, they work perfectly for modern distributed workplaces. Remote employees or different branch offices can all use ghost cards without needing a central office to distribute physical cards. This ensures every team member who needs to make a business purchase can do so quickly, complete with appropriate controls.

Ghost cards prevent the risky practice of sharing one corporate card number among many people. Instead, each team or vendor gets its own card number. This reduces confusion and security risks. When an employee leaves a project or company, their ghost card access can be deactivated without disrupting other team members' ability to make necessary purchases. This individual control makes ghost cards ideal for businesses with high employee turnover or frequent project-based work.

Ghost cards solve real business challenges across various industries and company sizes. The following examples illustrate how organizations use these digital payment tools to streamline operations and maintain financial control.

Example 1: Marketing team budget management

Imagine a marketing team at a growing startup. Instead of giving one manager a general company card or asking individuals to pay out of pocket and submit reimbursement requests, the finance department issues a ghost card specifically for the marketing department's expenses. All marketing-related purchases go on this card, whether that's buying advertising space on social media platforms, paying for design software subscriptions, or compensating freelance graphic designers. The team knows their spending limit is $10,000 per month, and the finance manager can monitor the card's usage in real time.

The marketing team can easily make necessary purchases without bureaucratic delays, while the finance department easily tracks all marketing spending in one centralized location. At month's end, reconciling the marketing budget takes minutes instead of hours. The team stays within budget limits automatically, and everyone knows immediately when spending approaches the cap. This arrangement gives the marketing department the autonomy it needs to move fast while maintaining financial oversight and control.

Example 2: Vendor-specific payment automation

Consider a manufacturing company that frequently orders materials from Vendor X, its primary supplier of aluminum components. Rather than processing individual purchase orders and payments, the team sets up a ghost card dedicated exclusively to Vendor X transactions. The card is configured to work only with that specific vendor and has a monthly limit of $50,000, matching their typical raw material budget. The vendor keeps this ghost card number on file, and whenever anyone at the company places an order, Vendor X simply charges the designated card.

This arrangement streamlines the entire procurement process. There's no need to cut checks or manually initiate bank transfers for each order. The accounting team receives consolidated statements showing all Vendor X purchases, making it simple to track supplier spending patterns. If Vendor X's payment processing ever faces a security breach, the company's main accounts remain protected since only the limited ghost card is exposed. The compromised card can be canceled and replaced within minutes, with a new number issued to the vendor immediately. Meanwhile, the automatic monthly statements provide instant visibility into exactly how much the company spends with this key supplier, supporting better vendor negotiations and budgeting decisions.

Businesses across industries have discovered numerous applications for ghost cards that streamline operations and improve financial control. From managing subscriptions to vendor payment automation, these digital tools adapt to various corporate needs and solve everyday payment challenges.

Recurring bills and subscriptions

One of the most popular uses for ghost cards involves managing the growing number of recurring expenses modern businesses face. Companies often dedicate specific ghost cards to handle software subscriptions, cloud services, and utility bills. This approach transforms subscription management from a monthly headache into a streamlined process. Each subscription gets its own dedicated card number, making it simple to see the exact Adobe Creative Suite or Amazon Web Services costs each month without digging through statements.

The real advantage becomes apparent with free trials and month-to-month services. By setting a short expiration date or low spending limit on a ghost card used for trials, companies protect themselves from those all-too-common forgotten subscriptions. When the trial period ends, the ghost card automatically declines renewal charges, preventing mystery bills from appearing months later when no one remembers who signed up for that productivity app in the first place.

Vendor payments

Ghost cards have revolutionized how businesses handle vendor relationships by accelerating the entire accounts payable process. Rather than relying on paper checks that take days to clear or sharing one corporate card number among multiple suppliers, companies now assign dedicated ghost cards to their key vendors. This shift means suppliers get paid faster while businesses maintain better control and visibility over vendor spending.

The accounts payable reconciliation benefits alone justify this approach for many finance teams. When the monthly statement for the "Office Depot Ghost Card" arrives, it contains only Office Depot purchases. There's no need to sort through hundreds of transactions trying to identify which ones belong to which vendor. Finance teams can quickly match statements to invoices and allocate costs to the appropriate budgets. What once took hours of manual sorting now happens automatically, freeing accounting staff to focus on more strategic tasks.

Employee travel and expense management

Business travel presents unique challenges that ghost cards elegantly address. When employees attend conferences or visit clients, companies can issue temporary ghost cards specifically for those trips. These cards come pre-loaded with appropriate spending limits and expiration dates that align with travel dates. A three-day conference might warrant a $2,000 ghost card that expires the day after the event ends.

This approach transforms the travel expense experience for everyone involved. Employees no longer float company charges on personal credit cards while waiting for expense reimbursement. They don't collect receipts in envelopes or spend hours filling out expense reports. Meanwhile, finance teams receive clean statements showing only trip-related expenses, making policy compliance easy to verify. The preset spending limits and merchant restrictions ensure employees stay within travel guidelines automatically, without constant oversight.

Online purchasing

In an era when data breaches regularly make headlines, ghost cards provide essential protection for online business purchases. Whether buying office supplies from an ecommerce site or purchasing digital advertising, using a ghost card creates a buffer between vendors and the company's main financial accounts. If a vendor's payment system gets compromised, hackers access only a limited ghost card number rather than the primary corporate account.

The beauty of this approach is its simplicity. When a breach occurs, the affected ghost card can be canceled immediately and replaced within minutes. Business operations continue uninterrupted while the old card number becomes useless to fraudsters. This isolation of risk has become increasingly important as businesses make more purchases online and cyber threats become more sophisticated.

Departmental budgets

Perhaps the most transformative use of ghost cards involves managing departmental and project spending. Large organizations with multiple teams or client projects can issue unique ghost cards for each group or initiative. The marketing department gets one card, the IT department another, and special projects receive their own as needed. This segmentation creates natural boundaries that align with how businesses actually operate.

The budget control benefits include more than simple organization. Each ghost card can carry spending limits that match approved budgets, creating automatic guardrails. When the product development team's ghost card reaches its $50,000 quarterly limit, it stops working, signaling that the budget has been exhausted. This real-time budget enforcement helps teams take ownership of their spending while preventing the surprise overruns that plague many projects. Department heads gain autonomy to manage their resources while finance maintains oversight through spending limits and transaction monitoring.

Getting started with ghost cards doesn't require a complete overhaul of your financial processes. Most businesses can implement them gradually, starting with their most pressing payment challenges. Follow these steps to begin using ghost cards in your organization.

1. Define your needs

Begin by identifying why and where you want to use ghost cards in your organization. Audit your current payment processes and pain points. Do certain departments rack up lots of expenses? Are you dealing with too many reimbursements or managing multiple subscriptions? Pinpoint the use cases that apply most to your business, whether that's vendor payments, departmental budgets, or subscription management. This initial assessment will guide your entire setup process.

2. Select a ghost card provider

The top business credit cards offer ghost cards or virtual card programs, so you’ll want to research financial institutions or fintech platforms that fit your business needs. Important factors to consider include ease of card issuance, available spending controls, integration with your accounting software, and any associated fees. Look for providers that support multiple cards under one account with real-time tracking capabilities. Compare options based on your company's size, transaction volume, and specific feature requirements.

3. Set up policies and controls

Once you have a provider, configure your ghost cards with appropriate spending limits, usage restrictions, and approval workflows. Decide who will be authorized to use each ghost card and establish monthly or per-transaction limits. Determine whether cards should be restricted to certain vendors or merchant categories. Setting these rules upfront enforces good spending habits and maintains security from day one.

4. Train your team

Educate employees about how to use the new ghost cards and the benefits they provide to both individuals and the company. Provide clear expense policies on appropriate usage, such as which expenses belong on departmental ghost cards versus other payment methods. Cover basic security practices like avoiding saving card numbers on unsecured websites and establish reporting procedures for any issues. When teams understand that ghost cards streamline purchases while maintaining budget oversight, adoption happens naturally.

5. Monitor and refine

After implementation, regularly review ghost card usage and adjust settings as needed. Check monthly statements or dashboards for each card to ensure spending limits remain appropriate. Watch for unusual transactions or spending patterns. Use reporting tools to identify trends, such as projects consistently underusing budgets or teams frequently hitting spending caps. Continuous optimization ensures ghost cards deliver maximum value and maintain cost control over time.

The transition to ghost cards typically proves smoother than most financial process changes. With the right provider, generating your first ghost cards takes just minutes, not weeks of setup and training. Once implemented, the time savings from automated expense tracking and reimbursements quickly add up. Most businesses find that after the initial setup, ghost cards practically manage themselves, requiring only periodic reviews to ensure limits and controls remain aligned with company needs. The hardest part is simply taking that first step to explore what ghost cards can do for your organization.

Not exactly. Ghost cards are a type of virtual card, but they come with specific business-oriented features that set them apart. Both ghost cards and virtual credit cards exist digitally without any physical plastic form, sharing the same basic function of enabling electronic payments. The key difference is their intended use and functionality.

Ghost cards are typically multi-use payment tools tied to a department or vendor, remaining active for repeated transactions over extended periods. In contrast, many virtual cards, especially those marketed to consumers, are designed for single-use or short-term purposes. These consumer virtual cards might expire after one transaction or purchase, providing security for one-time online shopping but lacking the ongoing utility businesses need. Ghost cards also roll up into one central company account, allowing unified billing and oversight across all cards, while individual virtual cards might each generate separate statements or require separate approval processes.

In summary, all ghost cards are virtual cards, but not all virtual cards have the persistent, controlled nature of ghost cards. Think of ghost cards as the business-optimized version of virtual card technology, designed specifically for ongoing corporate use rather than occasional consumer purchases. This specialization makes ghost cards particularly valuable for companies looking to modernize their payment processes while maintaining financial control.

To get started with ghost cards, your business will need to work with a card issuer or platform that provides virtual card services. Many corporate card providers, banks, and fintech services offer ghost cards as part of expense management programs. Brex is one such provider that has made ghost cards a central feature of corporate card offerings. Businesses can typically open an account and begin generating virtual cards through an online dashboard within days.

If you choose a provider like Brex, the process involves first applying for a corporate card program that includes virtual card capabilities. Once approved, businesses can create ghost cards through the platform's interface by specifying parameters such as spending limits, merchant restrictions, and expiration dates. Each ghost card receives a unique 16-digit number, CVV, and expiration date for immediate use. Most modern providers, including Brex, offer features like real-time transaction monitoring and integration with accounting software, which can help streamline expense tracking. When evaluating providers, consider factors such as ease of card creation, available controls, reporting capabilities, and how well the platform integrates with your existing financial tools.

Ghost cards represent a significant evolution in how businesses manage expenses and vendor payments. By eliminating physical cards in favor of digital payment tools, companies gain unprecedented control over spending while simplifying accounting processes. From departmental budgets to vendor-specific payments, ghost cards address the payment challenges that have long plagued finance teams. The ability to set precise spending limits, restrict usage to specific merchants, and track expenses in real time transforms expense management from a reactive process to a proactive one.

The benefits extend throughout the organization. Finance teams spend less time reconciling statements and chasing down receipts. Employees enjoy faster purchasing power without the burden of expense reports. Departments gain autonomy within defined boundaries, and vendors receive payments more quickly. As businesses continue to digitize operations, ghost cards provide the payment infrastructure needed to keep pace with modern commerce. Whether managing subscriptions, controlling project budgets, or securing online transactions, ghost cards offer solutions that traditional payment methods simply cannot match.

For businesses ready to modernize expense management, Brex corporate cards are a particularly compelling ghost card solution. With unlimited virtual cards included at no extra cost, real-time expense tracking, and seamless integration with popular accounting software, Brex removes the complexity from corporate spending. The platform's intuitive interface allows finance teams to generate new ghost cards in seconds, while automated categorization and reporting eliminate hours of manual work each month. Companies using Brex report significant time savings and better visibility into spending patterns across departments.

Valarie Zometa, Accountant at First Responder Health, says Brex ghost cards were a major upgrade from the company’s previous corporate credit card program: “Managing our Amex card program was a nightmare. We had no control over who was spending on what, and we kept getting charged for subscriptions nobody knew we had. Plus, we were chasing people for receipts at the end of every month. The day we started using Brex was the day we regained control of our spending.”

Marc Raphael, Founder of 911Cyber, uses Brex ghost cards to try out new software: “With Brex, we can create unique virtual cards for software free trials and set expiration dates that close the card before any billing occurs. This has saved us from countless subscription fees and ensures we stay in control of our spending."

Ready to transform how your business handles expenses? Sign up for Brex today and start using ghost cards immediately.