How push-to-card works
The sender, a platform, a bank or a money transfer business, collects the recipient's card number or a token that stands for it. Its acquirer or a specialised provider submits a credit transaction to the card network, which routes it to the bank that issued the card.
The issuer approves the transaction and posts the funds to the account behind the card. Visa's service is Visa Direct, where the push is called an original credit transaction (OCT), and Mastercard's is Mastercard Send.
How fast the money appears depends on the issuer: many post at once, some take longer, and not every card can receive.
Who uses push-to-card
Gig platforms and marketplaces paying earnings, insurers paying claims, lenders disbursing loans, trading apps paying withdrawals, and remittance services delivering to a card abroad. People know their card number and rarely their IBAN, and the money can arrive outside banking hours.
What push-to-card means for the sender
A card number is card data, so storing or transmitting it brings PCI DSS into play unless a provider tokenises it. A push is not a purchase: the sender cannot simply reverse it, and carries the risk of paying the wrong card or a fraudster's.
Limits and eligibility are set by the networks and by each programme, and differ by country.
Push-to-card, refund or bank transfer?
- Refund
- Returns an earlier purchase to the same card and is tied to that transaction. Push-to-card is a standalone credit that needs no earlier purchase.
- Instant bank transfer
- Goes to an account number over a bank rail. Where instant payments reach every account, a transfer does the same job without the card networks.
- Account funding transaction
- Pulls money from a card to fund a wallet or a transfer: the opposite direction.
Where push-to-card shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- PayoutsMoney out to bank accounts, cards and wallets, on the rail that fits each payment.
- Card acquiringCard acceptance on the phone, in store and online, through the acquirer you choose.
- Card issuingVirtual and physical cards, wallets and controls, on the issuer processor you choose.
- Fraud & riskReal-time fraud scoring, limits and case management, with the risk engines you already trust.
Platforms that need it
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.