How do team cards work?
Last verified October 18, 2026
Someone with the Manage cards permission adds a team member as a cardholder on Money > Cardholders. The member finishes a short profile and their virtual card is issued automatically. By default a card spends against the whole team balance; turn on an allowance to make that person ask before spending.
You need: Manage cards permission to add cardholders, issue cards and set limits (Owners have it by default)
Add a cardholder
- Open Money, then Cardholders.
- Click Add cardholder, pick a member and click Add cardholder again.
- The member is notified. Next time they open Cardholders, they click Complete your profile and enter their legal name exactly as on their ID, their date of birth and a phone number like +15555550123.
- They accept Stripe's Authorized User Terms and the Cardholder Agreement, then click Submit.
Their first virtual card is issued straight away. Cardholders must be 13 or older. Purchase verification codes can only be texted to +1 and +44 numbers.
Card types
| Virtual | Physical | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to the team balance | $0.10 | $3.50 |
| Available to | Every team | Teams with a US address |
| Ready | Immediately | Ships by standard mail, arrives switched off |
To add another card, click Issue another on the cardholder's row. A physical card is turned on from Cardholders with I have it, activate once it's in hand.
Using a card
The cardholder opens Cardholders and uses the buttons under their card:
- Reveal shows the full number, expiry and CVC. For card managers it also shows the billing address to use at checkout.
- Set PIN sets a 4-digit PIN.
- Freeze stops every purchase on the card. A cardholder can freeze their own card, but only a card manager can unfreeze it.
Every purchase needs a receipt within 14 days.
Controlling spending
There are three controls, all on the Cardholders page.
Monthly limit. Click Set limit on a card to cap what it can spend each month.
Allowance. Each cardholder starts on Spends against the team balance. Click Require approval to give them an allowance: a lifetime total they're cleared to spend, shown as "left to spend". It starts with nothing left, so they have to ask before buying. Use Edit to set the total, or Remove limit to go back to spending against the team balance. If another card manager is on the team, you can't change your own allowance.
Spending requests. A cardholder enters an amount and what it's for under Spending requests and clicks Ask. Members with the Approve & place orders permission are notified and can pick:
- Add to their allowance, which adds that amount to what the cardholder can spend
- Approve as a grant, which puts the money on a card of its own (this also needs Manage cards)
- Turn down
If the team has a second approver, nobody can approve their own request. Approving a parts order also adds its total to the requester's allowance, if they have one.
Money promised through allowances and grants is set aside, so other cards can't spend it.
Removing someone
Click the bin icon on their row. Every card they hold stops working, and you can Reactivate them later.
If your page says cards are managed by Robolyst
Some teams have cards issued outside Stripe. Their Cardholders page says Cards for this team are issued and managed by Robolyst. On those teams, ask the Foundation for a card or a change to one. Allowances, grants, spending requests, limits, PINs and freezing aren't available there. Receipts work the same way.