Card limits and spend programs

Overview

Card limits and spend programs allow cardholders and admins to link their physical card to any enabled virtual card limit and charge or reimburse against this limit. This gives the company additional control over budgets and the cardholder an easy way to spend from one or more limits with a single card.

This powerful functionality makes spending and tracking even more effortless.

• What are card limits and spend programs?
• How do card limits affect current settings?
• How do I use card limits and spend programs?
  • Have Ramp automatically match your physical card transactions.
  • How to turn automatic matching on or off.
  • How automatic limit matching works.
  • A few other items to note.
  • Move a transaction to another virtual card limit.
  • Reimburse against card limits.

What are card limits and spend programs?

A card limit is another way to refer to a virtual card. Limits, restrictions, and settings are stored on virtual cards, which can be used independently or linked to a physical card. When you link a card limit to a physical card, the physical card inherits the virtual card settings. Any charges that use the physical card credentials are posted and applied to that card limit. Reimbursements can be applied against card limits as well. Let’s look at an example:

Your company invites employees to an offsite in Miami and gives everyone $1000 to spend on the virtual card "Miami Offsite 2024." When your team eats at an in-person dinner, they can use a physical Ramp card to spend against a virtual card limit. Your team members can also request reimbursement against the virtual card limit if there is out-of-pocket spend.

Spend programs (previously card programs) let you issue cards at scale by department, location, and other groupings.

How do card limits affect current settings?

Settings at the spend program and card level allow admins and cardholders to link virtual card limits to physical cards and control if reimbursements can be applied against the virtual card limit. Each virtual card retains its original card number. 

Below is a screenshot of where you change these settings in a spend program:

Below is a screenshot of where you change these settings on an individual virtual card limit by editing the card:

How do I use card limits and spend programs?

1. Have Ramp automatically route your physical card transactions.

2. How to turn automatic matching on or off.

3. How automatic limit matching works.

4. Move a transaction to another virtual card limit.

5. Reimburse against card limits.

Have Ramp automatically match your physical card transactions

If you have more than one virtual card limit, Ramp can automatically match physical card transactions to the appropriate limit on your behalf. Automatic matching makes it easier for employees to move spend to the right card limit in the following ways:

1. Transactions are more likely to match to the correct card limit. We use machine learning to match spend to the right card limit based on the rules and available balance for each limit. Automatic matching is 95% accurate today and is constantly improving. 
2. More admin control. Without automatic matching, transactions have a higher chance of being applied to the wrong limit, necessitating manual correction for the finance team. Automatic matching solves this. You can set up robust spend controls on card limits without worrying about the trouble and confusion of manually juggling multiple virtual cards.
3. No holding up the line while you swap limits or declines at the point of sale. With automatic matching, employees just swipe their physical card, and we match the transaction to a limit for them. Employees can be reactive instead of proactive -- after a purchase, they receive a text to confirm which spend limit the charge was matched to and can make corrections then. It is easier than ever to ensure transactions go to the correct card limit.

How to turn automatic matching on or off

To turn automatic card matching on:

1. Go to the My Ramp tab and click your physical card.
2. Click the Automatic card-matching button.
3. Click the Enable button on the lower right.

To turn automatic card matching off:

1. Go to the My Ramp tab and click your physical card.
2. Click the Swap manually button.
3. Click the virtual card limit you want to link. If you cannot click it, edit the virtual card and check if the Enable physical card linking toggle is on. 
4. Click the Enable button on the lower right.

You can also link an enabled virtual card limit straight to your physical card:

1. Go to the My Ramp tab and click the virtual card,
2. Click the Link to physical card button on the lower right.

We strongly recommend adding your mobile phone number and enabling SMS messages for in-person and online transactions so that you have immediate visibility into the virtual limit your transaction is matched to. 

Please note: Admins can turn automatic matching on and off for any user in Ramp. You can see who changed the setting on the card’s Activity tab.

How automatic limit matching works

Either make a transaction with your physical card or use your physical card details to make an online transaction. 

1. The transaction will go through as long as:
   • You have a virtual card limit with remaining spend greater than the transaction amount.
   • The transaction meets all requirements or restrictions on that virtual card limit. 
2. If your transaction doesn't meet the above criteria and is declined, you are notified by a text message containing:
   • The amount of the charge.
   • The merchant.
   • The virtual card limit the charge was matched to.
   • The remaining spend on that card.
   • Any missing items for the transaction.
3. You can move the transaction to another available limit by:
   • Responding to the text message you receive after the transaction.
   • On the My Ramp tab on the web.
   • You can only move a transaction to another virtual card limit if the transaction was made with your physical card.

A few other items to note

1. Automatic card matching cannot be paused, though you can turn it on or off. 
2. You can remove cards from automatic card matching by editing the card and toggling Enable physical card linking off. 
3. A physical card must have a virtual card limit available to function. 
4. If the virtual card limit linked to your physical card is terminated, the physical card will be declined because it no longer inherits the limit or settings from the virtual card limit. You must either link another virtual card limit or request a virtual card limit for the physical card to link to. 

Move a transaction to another virtual card limit after your transaction goes through

If a transaction goes through on the wrong virtual card limit, you, your manager, or an admin on your Ramp account can move the transaction to another available limit:

Cardholders:

1. Go to the My Ramp tab.
2. Click on the transaction in question.
3. Click the More button at the bottom left.
4. Select Change limit.
5. Click on an available limit.
6. Click the Reassign transaction button on the bottom right.

For Managers or Admins:

1. Go to the Transactions subtab under the Expenses tab.
2. Click on the transaction in question.
3. Click the More button at the bottom left.
4. Select Change limit.
5. Click the desired limit.
6. Click the Reassign transaction button. 

A few important notes: 

1. Only transactions made using the physical card or its credentials can be moved to another virtual card limit.
2. When a transaction is moved onto a new virtual card, policies and approval chain now apply to the moved transaction. For example, if you move your transaction from your Wellness card to your Learning and Development card, the Learning and Development card’s policies now apply.
3. Cardholders and managers can only move transactions to another virtual card limit before the transaction is synced to the accounting provider. Only admins can change the limit after the transaction is synced.
4. When a physical card is issued to a user, through the invitation stage, a virtual card is issued automatically. This card will remain active even after the physical card is activated.

Reimburse against card limits

If you have out-of-pocket spend and need to reimburse against a virtual card limit, select the relevant card limit while creating the reimbursement request. If the card limit is unavailable, check spend program and card settings to see if the Automatic card matching toggle is on. If approved, the reimbursement is deducted from the virtual card limit, allowing more transparency and better spend tracking. 

Important: If you’d like to reimburse towards a previous reimbursement period, please note that Ramp reimburses from the reimbursement period the transaction date is in.

For example, suppose you have a virtual card whose limit resets monthly and a reimbursement with a transaction date of last month you forgot to enter. If this month is August and the transaction occurred in July, the reimbursement is applied against the July virtual card limit. 

You can also create a reimbursement from within a virtual card, as long as the card has Allow reimbursements against this card toggled on in the card settings.

1. Select a virtual card from the My Ramp tab.
2. Click the three-dot icon at the bottom.
3. Select Submit reimbursement to create a draft reimbursement.