Westpac Virtual Digital Card. What’s on offer?

Digital cards, also known as a virtual card or an internet card allow you to have access to your bank card without having the physical version at hand. This new way to pay allows you to leave your bank card in your purse, wallet or at home. Westpac Bank is one of the many banks offering digital cards to their customers.

This article will go through all you need to know about what's on offer at Westpac bank in digital cards and introduce you to Wise, an alternative financial institution offering even more perks with their own digital cards.

💸 Hold over 40 currencies in your account, generate multiple virtual cards and spend at the mid-market rate at home or while abroad.

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Wise Digital Cards

What is a Westpac digital or virtual card?

A Westpac digital card is the digital version of your physical Westpac bank card and it is always available on your App.¹

Advantages of the Westpac Digital card

There are several advantages to using the Westpac digital card, including¹:

• Access is 24/7 via the Westpac App
• You can use it for online shopping, to pay bills or make in app purchases
• You can set up recurring card payments
• You can add it to a digital wallet to shop in-store
• You can use it while you wait for a new physical card
• If your card gets lost or stolen, you won’t lose access to your account

If you are someone who is prone to forgetting, misplacing or losing bank cards, then digital cards are the solution you’ve been waiting for.

Types of Digital cards

To better understand what's on offer in the market in terms of digital cards, we’ll go through the two main types that your bank may offer you.

• The first is a digital version of your physical bank card
• The second is a digital or virtual card that can be created, used and disposed anytime. It is always ready for use and is completely private, with no accompanied physical bank card attached.

Westpac offers its customers the first type of digital card only. Wise offers all forms of digital cards to its customers.

Does Westpac have a “use and delete” virtual/digital card?

Westpac does not offer the classic “use and delete” functionality in its digital card option. However, the Westpac digital card does have dynamic CVV/CVC numbers.

This means that the CVV/CVC numbers - the three numbers located on the back of bank cards - are temporary, changing every 24 hours to ensure added security. It is also a different number than those on your actual card, meaning it can be used for one-off payments.²

Read more: Westpac International Transfers. All you need to know

Westpac vs Wise card fees

Below we will do a comparison of the fees between the standard Westpac Choice account with an attached Westpac debit Mastercard card with a Wise Debit Mastercard account.

Fees	Westpac³	Wise
Physical Card order fee	None	10 AUD
Digital card order fee	None	Free
Monthly maintenance fee	$5 AUD (Waived if $2000 AUD is deposited monthly)	None
Can be regenerated with new details/Deleted	Only CVC/CVV is regenerated²	Yes
International payments fee % for spending 100 AUD in GBP	3% fee for transactions made to an outside institution in a foreign currency 2.2% fee for foreign currency transaction made to institution within Australia	0.44% fee on foreign transactions meaning if you spend 100 AUD in GBP, you will only pay 0.44 AUD cent on this conversion.
Exchange rate used	Mastercard Worldwide rates	Mid-market rate

Can you add your Westpac digital card to wallets and pay with your phone?

Yes, you can add any eligible Westpac card to Apple pay, Google pay, Samsung Pay, Garmin Pay or Fitbit pay and pay with your phone or any applicable wearable device in-store or for in app purchases.⁴

What are the payment limits of using your Westpac Digital card?

As your digital card is linked with your physical card, there is a transaction limit of $1000 AUD per day. This limit can be changed via the Westpac online banking portal. For contactless purchases, no pin will be requested up to $100.³

What to watch out for when using a virtual card?

There are a few things to be aware of when using your Westpac virtual card in terms of safety and access to the digital card.

If you have blocked your physical westpac card, all versions of your digital card including in app and any associated digital wallet will also be blocked.⁵

If your mobile is stolen, your digital card will remain safe as long as your Westpac app has not been compromised.⁶

Can you withdraw cash from an ATM with your Westpac Digital card?

You actually are able to access cardless cash using your Westpac digital card from any Westpac, St.George, BankSA or the Bank of Melbourne ATMs as long as the cardless cash feature has been activated.⁷

Contact details for Westpac bank.

If you need to contact Westpac for any reason, you can³:

• Call 132 032 within Australia or +61 2 9155 7700 from overseas.
• Using the Westpac app chat
• Visit a local branch

Wise digital and virtual cards

If you are looking for an alternative to Westpac with more options of digital cards on offer, then you should check out Wise. When signing up for a Wise multi-currency account, you’ll be able to order your own Wise debit card and instantly begin spending with the digital version even before the physical card arrives.

If this isn’t enough for you, you will also be able to generate three of your own Wise virtual cards- completely different to your physical card and only available on your phone. Finally if you need to make a one off payment, Wise has got you covered, offering “use and delete” disposable virtual cards that can be generated as much as you need them.

As you can see, with Wise you will be able to shop safely virtually anywhere. On top of this, you will have access to fast and cheap currency conversions using the mid-market exchange rate, which is the same rate that you see on Google.

You can check out just how much you can save when making international payments by checking out our card pricing calculator.

Register your Wise account
in minutes 🚀

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Sources:

1. Westpac What is a digital card?
2. Westpac FAQs Dynamic CVC/CVV
3. Westpac T&Cs Payment limits and exchange rate usedp.15, Contactless limits p.14, Fees and Charges p.22,Foreign Transaction fee p.23, Contact us p.2
4. Westpac FAQsDigital wallet capabilities
5. Westpac FAQs Blocked physical card
6. Westpac FAQs Mobile access if stolen
7. Westpac FAQs Cardless cash

Sources checked on: 07 March 2022