Partner-bank card issuing for software platforms, not a bank. Stripe program management if Stripe supplies the issuing bank. Processor-only if you bring the BIN sponsor. Live platform access is sales-led.
What it is
Stripe Issuing is Stripe’s API for companies that want to create, manage, and distribute payment cards. The product page sits under Platforms and marketplaces as Issuing (physical and virtual cards). Docs describe a commercial or consumer card program for your users, with no setup fees. Stripe partners with banks and with the Visa and Mastercard networks. Stripe is not a bank.
Two operating models sit on the same issuing stack. Stripe program management: Stripe handles regulatory work, compliance, KYC, AML, fraud management, and the bank relationship. You document the use case, fund the program, integrate the API or Dashboard, and submit card art and marketing for Stripe approval. Processor-only: you keep the bank relationship or licenses, run KYC, AML, compliance, the ledger, and BIN sponsorship, and use Stripe as the issuer processor. Docs recommend program management if you are starting out, and processor-only if you already have a bank, a BIN, and the operations to run the program.
This page is Stripe Issuing for software platforms: cards issued to a platform’s users through connected accounts (each business entity on a Custom connected account with card_issuing and transfers). Dashboard Issuing for your business (cards for a merchant’s own employees, contractors, or agents, including the Standard path that docs say can start with no sales conversation) is Stripe’s. It is not this page. Stripe Treasury for platforms, Stripe Capital, and Stripe’s platform-payments product are Stripe’s. They are not this page.
Who it’s for
Two shapes, from Stripe’s own pages:
- Software platforms on Stripe program management, where the platform issues commercial cards to businesses that are not the platform’s own employees. Docs use expense-management products as the example: each small business is a connected account, then creates cardholders and cards and funds spend from an Issuing balance (or, in the US, from a financial account). Stripe supplies partner banks, KYC, and compliance. Use-case copy covers expense management, software platforms adding spend cards, fleet, perks and rewards, travel supplier payments, and issuing for agents.
- Software platforms on processor-only, where the company already has (or will obtain) a bank relationship, licenses, and a BIN, and wants Stripe’s issuing and authorization APIs without handing program management to Stripe.
Commercial issuing is available in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Economic Area. Consumer issuing is available in the US (private preview). Stablecoin-backed card programs are private preview in more than 30 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
The product page names Ramp, Karat, Chipper, and Better with quotes. It is a fit for a software platform that wants partner-bank commercial cards inside the product for business users, can complete Stripe sales and a compliance review, and does not hold a bank charter.
Standout details
- Physical and virtual cards are first-class. Virtual cards are usable immediately after creation. Physical cards ship as standard or custom designs, individually or in bulk (up to 2,000 cards per box). Choose-cards docs price virtual cards at 0.10 USD (US), 0.10 GBP (UK), or 0.10 EUR (EU), and standard physical cards at 3.50 USD, 3.50 GBP, or 3.50 EUR, plus shipping. The Issuing product page says branded physical cards ship in as little as three days. The pricing page says just two days. Shipping docs give estimated times by service: US domestic priority 2 to 3 business days, express 4 to 5, standard 5 to 8. Currencies on Connect cards:
usd in the US, gbp in the UK, eur in euro-area countries. Single-use cards and freeze or block in real time are sold for agent spend. Charge cards (credit limits and repayment via API) are on the product page as request access. Consumer credit issuing is private preview, US only.
- Funding and authorization. Cards draw from an Issuing balance, which docs say is separate from earnings, payouts, and other Stripe product balances. US pull funding (default) debits a verified external bank account and can take up to 5 business days. Push funding is live in the UK and EU (FPS, CHAPS, Bacs, SEPA) and in preview or beta in the US (wire, ACH credit). Transfer from a connected account’s payments balance into Issuing is a private beta. You can also attach cards to a Treasury for platforms financial account (US). Real-time authorizations use the
issuing_authorization.request webhook. If Stripe does not receive approve or decline within 2 seconds, the authorization follows your timeout settings, or Autopilot if configured (public preview). Spending controls can block merchant categories, countries, merchant IDs (private preview), or card presence, and set amount limits per authorization or per month, on the card or the cardholder. Controls run before the real-time webhook. Insufficient Issuing balance declines the authorization and does not fire the request webhook.
- KYC sits on the connected account and on the cardholder. For platform Issuing, docs require Custom connected accounts (no Stripe-hosted Dashboard, platform collects requirements and takes loss liability). Stripe collects company details, a representative, and beneficial owners at more than 25 percent. Business address cannot be a P.O. box, highway-contract box, or private mailbox. Cardholders are
individual or company. Individuals need legal first and last name. Date of birth is required or strongly encouraged depending on the card-create page. Stripe screens cardholder identity and can block authorizations on watchlist review even when status is active. Phone and email are required for digital wallets. Individual cardholders on Celtic Bank, Cross River Bank, or Fifth Third Bank programs must accept Authorized User Terms before card activation. On Stripe program management, Stripe runs KYC. On processor-only, you do.
- Production for platforms is not self-serve. How Issuing works: determine eligibility by contacting Stripe sales. The onboarding overview for embedded finance, B2B payments, and expense management: submit an intake form, Stripe reaches out within 5 days, then a supportability call, then a yes or no within 5 business days (some use cases take longer). Sandbox is immediate. Live mode follows signed agreements and bank-partner approval. Before public launch, Stripe Compliance must approve application flow, KYC fields, fees, marketing, and user interfaces (review described as within two weeks, or revisions). Marketing and UI changes go through a Change Request Form. That path is this listing. Dashboard Issuing for your business documents a Standard program that can start with no sales conversation and default spend limits. That is the merchant own-spend product. It is not this page.
- Public pricing is on stripe.com/issuing and stripe.com/pricing. Standard: $0.10 per virtual card and $3.50 per standard physical card. Custom cards are extra. Shipping is not included. Disputes: $15.00 per dispute. Exclusions apply, subject to applicable law. Connect users may not pass dispute fees to connected accounts. Cross-border: 1% + 30¢, plus 1% if currency conversion is required. Customized economics and interchange revenue share: contact sales. Product copy says no setup fees.
- License sits with partner banks in the US, not with Stripe. Live Issuing footer: cards are issued by Stripe’s bank partners pursuant to licenses from Visa and Mastercard. Visa and Mastercard commercial credit cards are issued by Celtic Bank and Cross River Bank, Members FDIC. Visa and Mastercard commercial prepaid cards are issued by Sutton Bank and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC. Certain features are subject to bank approval. US Issuing balances are provided by Stripe Payments Company, licensed money transmitter, with funds held at Stripe’s bank partners, Members FDIC. Compliance docs also name Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Member FDIC, as a charge-card issuer, and require Celtic Bank, Cross River Bank, or Fifth Third Bank disclosures depending on the program. UK and EEA onboarding presents Stripe Issuing Accountholder terms rather than a named US partner-bank disclosure. Stripe Payments UK Ltd is an FCA-authorised e-money institution (900461). Stripe Technology Europe, Limited is a Central Bank of Ireland-authorised e-money institution (C187865).
- Geography: commercial issuing is live in the US, UK, and EEA. Global docs list local issuing in 22 countries (including Canada) and tell platforms to contact Stripe to set it up. The product page says Issuing is available in 20+ countries. How Issuing works: in the US, cards go to individuals who live in the same country as the business. If the business is in the EU or UK, cards can go to individuals in EEA countries and the UK. Digital wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, via manual provisioning or in-app or web push provisioning. US Apple Pay needs Apple approval. EU and UK digital wallets need additional Stripe partnership approval. Physical cards from a fiat-funded program can ship to most countries, with a long restricted list in shipping docs.
- Adjacent Stripe products named on Issuing pages: Stripe Treasury for platforms (attach cards to open-loop wallets or financial accounts, US), Stripe’s platform-payments product (move earned funds into Issuing, private beta), Stripe Capital, Dashboard Issuing for your business, and stablecoin-backed Issuing cards (private preview, Bridge-managed cardholders on consumer programs). Those are Stripe’s. They are not this page.
Sources: Issuing, Pricing, Issuing docs, How Issuing works, Issuing and Connect, Cardholders and cards, Fund Issuing balances, Issuing balance, Choose cards, Virtual cards, Ship cards, Spending controls, Real-time authorizations, Digital wallets, Program management, Processor-only, Onboarding overview, Issuing for your business, Global Issuing, US compliance, TOS acceptance, Celtic Bank spend-card terms, Services terms, Contact embedded finance, Earn revenue by issuing cards.
Honest verdict
Stripe Issuing is the listing to read when the job is embedded card issuing for a software platform: branded physical and virtual commercial cards for your business users, spend controls and real-time authorization, funding from an Issuing balance or a financial account, and either Stripe program management or processor-only on a bank relationship you bring. Stripe is not a bank. In the US the charter sits with the issuing bank. Stripe Payments Company is the money transmitter for US Issuing balances.
What it is not: a self-serve live start for a platform card program, or a company that holds the US card-issuing license for you. Sandbox is public. Live keys follow sales, use-case approval, bank-partner approval, and a compliance review of your onboarding and marketing. Dashboard Issuing for a merchant’s own spend is a different Stripe product. If the job is cards at a partner bank inside the product for your users, and you are prepared to talk to sales, start here.