Visa Flexible Credentials (VFC) is a cutting-edge solution that allows issuers to provide consumers with greater control over how they pay. It enables a single card to access multiple funding sources, such as debit, credit, prepaid, and installment plans. The funding sources offered depend on region. Together these funding sources (including when they are acccesed with cards) are referred to as credentials.

Implementing Visa Flexible Credentials supports real-time decisioning, and opens the door to hyper-personalized financial experiences. Pismo provides a VFC API to implement this feature.

VFC Managed deployment

Pismo offers the VFC Managed deployment model to clients. With VFC Managed, Visa handles the VFC's infrastructure and management. This contrasts with VFC Self-Serve, where the issuer manages the infrastructure and functionality. VFC Managed allows issuers to easily integrate VFC capabilities into their existing systems and offers features like automated credential issuance and management, as well as integration with Visa's payment infrastructure.

Why use Pismo's VFC APIs

• Pismo handles and manages Visa's required cryptography to integrate with Visa's VFC APIs.
• Pismo securely handles PCI (Payment Card Industry) sensitive data on the issuer's behalf.

VFC card setup

Setting up a card and credentials in Visa Flexible Credentials means linking a single physical or digital card to multiple funding sources and enabling dynamic control over how payments are routed at the time of transaction.

Instead of having one card for each funding type (like a debit card, a credit card, or prepaid card), you enroll a card into the Visa Flexible Credentials program so that it can access all of those funding sources. Then, depending on the cardholder's preferences, transaction rules can be created to enable which card source to use at checkout.

VFC set up involves:

• Enrolling two credentials (primary and secondary) in VFC. Each credential needs to be enrolled individually.
• Configuring a primary to secondary relationship between the two credentials.
• Setting up VFC rules
  You can limit VFC to specific transaction types, merchants, and purchase categories. You can also set rules for when to use your primary card and when to use your secondary card. For example, you could have a rule that says use your debit card (primary) for anything under $20 and use your credit card (secondary) for purchases over $20.

Users can designate one of their secondary credentials as a fallback funding source that is used when the preferred chosen credential is unavailable or cannot be used for a given transaction. The fallback credential is typically a traditional card (like a standard debit or credit card) that's enrolled in the system and authorized to serve as a backup.

VFC transaction flow

When a transaction is attempted using a Visa Flexible Credential card, the system first tries to apply the primary funding source based on the user’s preferences or issuer-defined rules. If that source fails—maybe due to insufficient funds, eligibility restrictions, or system issues—the transaction is automatically routed to the secondary source to ensure it goes through smoothly.