More and more businesses are moving toward digital payment methods, yet many AR teams are still hesitant to accept virtual commercial cards. Why? In many cases, it comes down to familiarity with legacy systems, like paper checks and ACH, that have been baked into back-office processes for decades. What once worked "well enough" has simply stuck around, even as more modern and efficient options become available. But, the global virtual cards market is increasingly growing, projected to grow at a CAGR of 21.2% from 2025 to 2030.
But clinging to outdated systems can come at a cost, both financially and operationally. It’s time to rethink what virtual cards can actually offer your AR function. Let’s break down six common myths.
Myth 1: “Virtual cards are too expensive.”
It’s true that virtual card payments involve acceptance fees, but that doesn’t make them expensive by default. When you account for the cost savings from faster payment cycles, reduced DSO, fewer processing errors and fewer collections calls, virtual cards often more than pay for themselves.
What’s often overlooked is the cost of not accepting card payments, like the manual effort behind paper checks, follow-up on late payments and ongoing system inefficiencies. You also have to factor in internal labor costs for manual reconciliation. Between payment posting, reconciliation and exception management, staffing costs can skyrocket when your AR team is stuck doing manual work.
Pro tip: Partnering with the right payment processor can open doors to interchange optimization strategies, helping reduce acceptance costs while improving speed, data visibility and automation.
Zachary Held, Chief Product Officer at Boost Payment Solutions, puts it simply in an interview with CTMFile:
“While the working capital benefits for buyers are clear, suppliers often face challenges when accepting commercial cards. These include high transaction fee costs and the manual processing of virtual card payments. However, with the right tools in place to enable straight-through processing and optimize transaction costs, commercial cards can shift from being a hassle to a preferred form of payment.”
Myth 2: “Virtual cards are hard and complicated to reconcile.”
Not quite. Virtual cards actually provide detailed remittance data that makes reconciliation easier, but here’s the catch: if you’re still manually retrieving and keying in card numbers or remittance info, it can feel like a chore.
In their basic form, virtual cards still require a human to receive an email, enter the card details into a terminal and manually match and apply the payment in your system. That’s where the perception of “hard to reconcile” comes from, not the virtual card itself, but the perceived manual process around it.
Pro tip: Straight Through Processing (STP) eliminates the manual work entirely. Card data is automatically received, applied and reconciled in your ERP system - no emails, no keying, no guesswork. That’s a total shift from “extra work” to a fully passive receivables experience.
Myth 3: “It’s just another payment process to manage.”
The idea that accepting a new payment method adds more complexity can in fact be a concern, but it doesn’t have to be true. In reality, the right partner will integrate virtual card acceptance into your existing AR workflow with minimal disruption.
Many solutions don’t require changes to your invoicing or customer setup, and automation means fewer manual steps across the board.
Pro tip: Look for solutions that offer quick and easy integrations into your existing systems, no new equipment or training required. The easier it is to plug into your current systems, the more seamless the experience.
Myth 4: “Checks and ACH are what we’ve always accepted and things work fine.”
It’s a classic case of “this is how we’ve always done it.” But checks are slow, error-prone and increasingly susceptible to fraud. ACH may be faster than checks, but it often lacks the remittance detail and flexibility buyers now expect, and AR teams need to streamline reconciliation.
Buyers are prioritizing virtual cards because of their speed, rebate potential and control. Meeting them where they are can help your business get paid faster and more reliably. In fact, data shows that 95% of business decision makers say easy, streamlined, and secure payments create happy customers, according to the American Express B2B Payments Report.
Pro tip: Modernizing your acceptance methods doesn’t mean overhauling your entire operation. It means adapting to how your customers want to pay, while improving your own internal processes at the same time.
Myth 5: “Virtual cards pose a security risk.”
Actually, it’s the opposite. Virtual cards are the least susceptible to fraud of the common B2B payment methods. They’re single-use, limited to a specific dollar amount and often restricted by merchant category or expiration date. Even if intercepted, they’re nearly impossible to misuse. When compared to other payment methods, checks remain the highest-risk payment method with 63% of organizations hit by fraud attempts, while virtual cards sit at just 5% — the lowest among mainstream digital payment types according to the 2025 AFP Payments Fraud & Control Survey.
Pro tip: With Straight Through Processing, suppliers never see or handle the card number - it’s encrypted, tokenized and processed automatically. That not only reduces fraud risk, it also significantly minimizes your PCI compliance burden.
Myth 6: “My customers aren’t asking for it.”
Maybe not explicitly, but many are expecting it. AP departments are under pressure to optimize payments, and virtual cards play a big role in those strategies. Suppliers who accept them are more likely to be prioritized and may even see increased spend routed their way.
Turning down virtual cards can introduce friction into relationships with large enterprise customers and potentially cost you business in the long run. Plus, offering multiple payment options can increase revenue by nearly 30%
Pro tip: Accepting virtual cards doesn’t just make your customers happy. It positions you as a forward-thinking, flexible partner, something every buyer values.
Final Thoughts
Virtual card acceptance is no longer a "nice-to-have." It’s a strategic lever for AR teams looking to reduce costs, get paid faster and work smarter, not harder.
The myths are outdated. The technology is here. And with the right partner, virtual cards can become the easiest payments you receive.
Want to see how Boost makes virtual card acceptance work for AR teams?
Let’s chat. We’ll show you how automation can make your payment process truly future-ready.