How Virtual Prepaid Cards Can Solve International Recurring Payments Issues

India's rapidly evolving financial landscape is throwing strong headwinds at all businesses that require disbursing payments to remote gig workers/contractors or agencies.

You must have heard about the recently updated Reserve Bank of India guidelines around auto-debits from debit and credit cards. According to the new mandate, customers must provide an e-mandate as an additional factor of authentication (AFA).

Cette étape supplémentaire signifie que les banques émettrices de cartes sont désormais tenues d'envoyer un message de pré-débit pour alerter leurs clients 24 heures avant la date de paiement. Les titulaires de cartes doivent donc approuver les transactions qui dépassent 15 000 ₹ via un mot de passe à usage unique pour que le paiement par autodébit soit effectué avec succès.

Les nouvelles directives sur l'autodébit publiées par la Reserve Bank of India s'appliquent aux transactions récurrentes nationales et internationales. Toutefois, l'extension du champ d'application aux transactions nationales et internationales signifie que le mandat de débit automatique établi sur toute carte de crédit ou de débit, qu'elle soit nationale ou internationale, ne sera pas traité sans le facteur d'authentification supplémentaire (AFA).

Vous devez vous demander s'il existe des solutions qui vous aideraient à effectuer vos paiements en temps voulu et à éviter d'éroder la confiance et la croissance de votre entreprise. Les cartes prépayées virtuelles pourraient constituer une excellente alternative. Nous allons donc en apprendre davantage à leur sujet.

What are virtual prepaid cards?

Virtual prepaid cards are an amalgamation of virtual cards and prepaid cards. So, let’s break it down one concept at a time to get a holistic view of how they function.

Virtual card

A virtual card is simply an online version of a plastic bank card. They work in the same fashion as regular plastic cards for online transactions. The pertinent details that distinguish a specific card, such as the 16-digit number, expiry date, and CVV number, are accessible by logging into your account online. Although linked to your business card account, these virtual numbers cannot be traced back.

Prepaid card

Les cartes prépayées sont chargées d'une certaine somme d'argent et n'ont aucun lien avec le compte bancaire de votre entreprise. C'est votre service de gestion des dépenses qui décide du montant des "liquidités" allouées à la carte, et cette limite ne peut pas être dépassée.

Virtual prepaid card

These are an amalgamation of the previous two card types. Virtual prepaid cards scale your security to the maximum. You can top up each virtual prepaid card with an allocated budget. Since this card has the benefits of a virtual card, there’s no physical theft, and the card cannot be traced back to the bank account. Furthermore, virtual prepaid cards do not allow unauthorized access to spending funds more than the established rules.

How virtual prepaid cards solve international recurring payment challenges

Handling international recurring payments can be a significant hurdle for many businesses. Whether you're managing global subscriptions, paying international vendors, or running multinational ad campaigns, common issues like payment declines, high transaction fees, and complex banking regulations can disrupt cash flow and impact customer satisfaction.

This is where virtual prepaid cards step in as a game-changer. Here’s how they help overcome key challenges:

1. Simplifying cross-border transactions

Virtual prepaid cards provide a seamless way to manage cross-border transactions. Unlike traditional bank transfers, which often involve high fees and delays, virtual cards enable instant payments across currencies.

Businesses can load cards in the local currency of the vendor or partner, making transactions faster and smoother. This not only cuts down on operational headaches but also eliminates hefty foreign transaction fees typically charged by banks.

2. Avoiding high fees

One of the biggest pain points in international payments is the cost. Wire transfers and traditional foreign currency payments come with hidden fees and unfavorable exchange rates. Virtual prepaid cards allow you to preload funds at a favorable rate and lock in your spending—avoiding fluctuating costs and saving money on every transaction.

3. Improving payment security

Virtual prepaid cards enhance payment security by reducing the risk of fraud. Since these cards can be set for single-use or restricted to specific merchants or categories, they minimize exposure if the card details are compromised. This is especially important for recurring international payments, where card-on-file fraud can be a major concern.

4. Ensuring reliable payment processing

Payment declines due to currency mismatches or international restrictions are a frequent issue in global transactions. With virtual prepaid cards, businesses can issue cards specific to each region or currency, ensuring a much higher success rate for recurring payments—whether it’s for SaaS subscriptions, cloud services, or digital ad spending.

5. Flexibility for subscriptions and recurring payments

Virtual prepaid cards are ideal for managing subscriptions and recurring payments, especially with international vendors. You can set controls like monthly spending limits or expiry dates, ensuring that your payment methods don’t get overcharged and remain fully under your control.

Benefits of using virtual prepaid cards

Les lignes directrices de la Reserve Bank of India prévoient qu'une authentification supplémentaire est nécessaire pour les transactions récurrentes, et non pour les paiements uniques. En outre, les instructions permanentes doivent concerner le paiement à partir de votre carte de débit/crédit. Cette distinction fait de l'utilisation de cartes prépayées virtuelles une excellente alternative !

Virtual prepaid cards make the process of recurring payments effortless. They eliminate the hassles of OTP-based authorization, auto-debit failures, overdraft fees, and approval delays while paying your gig workers and contractors or maintaining subscription access to crucial business tools.

En savoir plus sur ces avantages :

1. Instant 24x7 payments

Virtual prepaid cards allow round-the-clock and uninterrupted payment facilities. You do not have to worry about holidays or delays in the communications/payment networks. Carry on business, as usual!

2. Easy to use

L'un des grands avantages des paiements effectués au moyen de cartes prépayées virtuelles est qu'il n'est pas nécessaire de passer par le processus formel de demande et d'approbation des paiements. Les cartes prépayées virtuelles peuvent être créées rapidement et utilisées immédiatement. Le fait d'être présent élimine virtuellement la nécessité de se préoccuper des coûts de production et de livraison.

3. Accepted across geographies

Vous vous sentez frustré par l'exécution de paiements transfrontaliers ? Ne stressez plus ! Les cartes prépayées virtuelles vous permettent d'effectuer des paiements transfrontaliers sans problème.

4. Zero fraud liability

Virtual prepaid cards aren’t physical items, so they dramatically reduce the chances of cloning and different types of payment fraud. Additionally, hackers can’t trace the details back to the original account. You also get the benefit of remotely freezing the card in real time.

Integrating rewards & incentives through virtual prepaid cards

Beyond just simplifying recurring international payments, virtual prepaid cards can also serve as powerful tools for rewarding and incentivizing employees, gig workers, and contractors across borders. With platforms like Xoxoday Plum, you can use virtual prepaid cards not only to manage payouts but also to disburse digital rewards—instantly and on a scale.

Whether you're recognizing a top-performing freelancer, running a milestone-based incentive campaign, or sending a thank-you reward to your agency partners, virtual prepaid cards offer a secure, flexible, and brand-friendly way to show appreciation.

Here are a few ways you can use them for rewards:

• Performance-based bonuses – Send timely incentives based on output or project completion.
• Milestone rewards – Celebrate anniversaries, campaign successes, or client wins with virtual cash.
• Festive gifting – Share prepaid card rewards during holidays, local festivals, or personal occasions.
• Referral incentives – Encourage word-of-mouth hiring by rewarding successful referrals.

This dual-purpose utility—handling payments and driving engagement through rewards—makes virtual prepaid cards a smart, multifunctional solution for modern global businesses.

How can Xoxoday Plum help you with virtual prepaid cards?

Xoxoday Plum lets you instantly issue virtual prepaid cards from popular networks like Visa and Mastercard to your payroll department, anytime and anywhere, to help your company make timely payments and remain a dependable business partner in these times of constant change.

What’s more, using Xoxoday Plum’s virtual prepaid cards, you unlock savings on processing fees and manual costs while getting the benefits of minimal processing and integration fees. These features allow you to avoid hassles like OTP-based authorizations and approval delays and continue uninterrupted payments to your business partners.