Visa Launches Digital Card Replacement Service for Travelers

Visa has launched a new service that delivers a digital card replacement via text or email to cardholders anywhere in the world.

When cardholders receive their new card, which Visa sends on behalf of card issuers, they can authenticate it and add it to their digital wallet, Visa said in a Wednesday (June 26) press release emailed to PYMNTS.

This value-added service, dubbed Digital Emergency Card Replacement, is designed to offer a convenient, fast and secure solution for cardholders who lose their card while traveling, according to the release.

“We’ve all felt that moment of panic while on vacation — the loss of a card and the feeling of being stranded,” Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, global head of issuing solutions at Visa, said in the release. “Our new digital emergency card solution addresses these very issues.”

This new offering provides an additional layer of support to Visa’s Global Customer Assistance Services (GCAS), which provides a robust distribution network, established partnerships, and rapid card production and delivery across five continents, per the release. This service manages more than 3 million multilingual interactions each year.

Together with providing a solution for cardholders, the new Digital Emergency Card Replacement service enables issuers to deliver enhanced customer service, according to the release.

“It’s a win-win, demonstrating the power of digital payments to improve experiences for everyone,” Pierce-Gilmore said in the release.

Digital wallets have become a key part of travel for 74% of Americans, according to the Visa Global Travel Intention Study released in November 2023. That’s especially true among affluent travelers and millennials, the study found.

Cash, on the other hand, is a source of stress. The study found that travelers prefer using it but also worry about it being stolen and about paying for currency conversion. Plus, they often find that they have unused local currency left over and feel obligated to make a purchase to use it up.

“Americans expect a seamless, digitally connected travel journey whether they are here in the U.S. or abroad,” Kirk Stuart, Visa’s head of North American Merchant, Acquiring & Enablement, said in a press release announcing the study’s findings.