Virtual Cards on Purchase Orders

Ramp now allows you to issue virtual cards directly attached to Purchase Orders. This feature combines the spending controls of a Purchase Order with the speed, convenience, and rewards of virtual card payments.

Configuring Spend Programs

Admins can set up specific Spend Programs to facilitate virtual card issuance on POs. When editing or creating a program, you have three key configuration options:

1. Request Form Questions: You can add a question to the request form asking, "Would you like to pay for this with a virtual card?" This allows the requester to signal their payment preference upfront.
2. Automatic Issuance: You can toggle "Automatically issue virtual cards" on. If enabled, a virtual card is instantly created once the Purchase Order request is approved. If disabled (or if the user selects "No" to the payment question), the card must be issued manually by an admin after approval.
3. Default Card Settings: You can configure the default behavior for these cards, including start/end dates, merchant restrictions, and approval policies.

Permissions

By default, Admins have the ability to issue cards on POs. To grant this ability to other users (such as department heads or procurement managers), you must assign a specific permission within Company Settings > User Roles.

Under the Procurement section of a custom role, check the box for "Issue and edit virtual cards on purchase orders."

For more information on custom roles see Roles and Permissions on Ramp.

Auto-Coding and accounting

To streamline reconciliation, virtual cards issued on a PO automatically inherit the accounting logic from that PO.

When you set the Accounting Category, Department, or other coding fields on the PO line items, those settings will be applied to any issued virtual card. Any transaction made on that card will automatically be coded to match the Purchase Order.

Note: You must configure these ahead of issuing the card for the card to inherit it by default.

Managing limits and change orders

Ramp ensures that your Purchase Order and Virtual Card remain in sync.

• Change Orders: If the amount on a Purchase Order is updated (e.g., increased via a change order), the limit on the associated virtual card is automatically updated to reflect the new PO total.
• Requesting Changes: Users can request a limit increase directly from the card interface. This triggers a change order request flow for the underlying Purchase Order.

Using PO cards with Bill Pay

You can use the funds from a PO virtual card within Ramp Bill Pay.

When reviewing a bill, select "Pay with Ramp Card" as your payment method. You will see an option to select the "Existing purchase order card" associated with that vendor. This allows you to pay the invoice instantly while earning cashback and keeping the transaction tied to the original PO.

Procurement programs now default to purchase order + virtual card

Procurement Spend Programs now always issue a Purchase Order alongside an optional Virtual Card by default. If you previously had a procurement program configured to issue only Virtual Cards, that program will now automatically create a Purchase Order in addition to the Virtual Card for every approved request. This change ensures that all procurement purchases benefit from consistent controls, centralized invoice management, and full spend visibility through the PO workflow.

What if I only need virtual cards?

If your use case does not require Purchase Orders — for example, lower-dollar spend, subscriptions, or situations where invoice-based approvals are unnecessary — you can create a non-procurement Spend Program instead. Navigate to Spend Programs, select "New Spend Program", and choose a card-based program type such as "Expenses & Benefits". These programs issue Virtual Cards without generating Purchase Orders, giving requesters a card for the approved amount as soon as the request is approved.

Virtual card termination

Do not terminate a PO's virtual card as a troubleshooting step for bill-to-PO matching. Terminating a PO's virtual card is permanent and deletes the associated purchase order. If you need to match a bill to the PO, use the Bill Pay PO matching flow instead.

Frequently asked questions

Can I link a bill to a purchase order that was originally issued as a virtual card?

Yes. Use the Bill Pay PO matching flow or choose the Existing purchase order card when paying a bill by card.