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Use cases: Payroll, EOR & PEO

A pay card in your brand for every worker

Launch your own card program with one API, so workers spend their pay in real time and the balance stays on your platform.

Book an intro call See how the API works

Keep the balance, and the worker, on your platform

Contractors and employees want to spend what they earn as soon as a pay run clears. When your platform has no card, that money leaves: a bank transfer that can take days to land abroad, or a withdrawal to a third-party payout wallet that charges the worker its own fees and keeps the relationship. A worker card has become a standard feature of EOR, contractor-payment and payroll platforms.

Moon is the issuing layer behind your own card program. Through one API, your platform gives each worker a Visa card in your brand: virtual from the day they join, physical where your program enables it. Each pay run loads their net pay onto the card from your prepaid balance, or, when real-time authorization is enabled for your program, approve each purchase against the worker's balance in your own ledger.

Nothing else in your pay run has to change. Bank transfers and your current payout providers keep running, the card is one more option a worker can choose, and each card carries your worker ID and pay-run details, so every transaction maps back to the right person and run.

How the money moves

  1. Card issuedworker_8812 · on day one
  2. Pay run loads the cardOct 31 · $1,312.40
  3. Worker spendsGroceries · $64.20
See the API call
curl --request POST \
     --url https://api.themooncard.com/v1/api-gateway/card/8f1c611d-098d-4f61-b106-f7b6d344b1ae \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'content-type: application/json' \
     --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
     --data '{
        "external_id": "worker_8812",
        "amount": 1312.40,
        "metadata": { "pay_run": "2026-10-31" }
      }'

What your card program can do

  1. 01

    Payout cards for contractors abroad

    Issue each contractor a virtual card the day they join, load every approved invoice onto it, and send a physical card on request. Apple Pay and Google Pay are coming soon.

  2. 02

    Wages for workers without a bank account

    Pay unbanked hourly staff, and new hires whose bank details aren't set up yet, onto a card instead of a paper check. Offer it next to direct deposit and let each worker choose.

  3. 03

    Off-cycle and final pay

    Pay bonuses, corrections and final pay between scheduled runs by adding funds to the worker's existing card, without waiting for the next cycle.

  4. 04

    Stipends and equipment allowances

    Let EOR clients fund a home-office or equipment allowance on a separate card, limited to the merchant categories they pick and capped at a monthly amount.

  5. 05

    Separate balances per client employer

    Give each client employer its own child organization and balance, and issue that client's worker cards against it, so each client's funds pay only its own workers.

  6. 06

    Perks at major brands

    Reward referrals, work anniversaries or holiday bonuses with discounts of up to 10% at major brands, paid from the same prepaid balance as your pay runs.

Why payroll and EOR platforms build on Moon

  • Your brand, your program

    Workers get a card in your brand and manage it inside your app, not in someone else's wallet. You set cardholder fees, and they can be zero.

  • The balance stays with you

    With real-time authorization enabled for your program, each purchase is checked against the worker's balance in your own ledger before it's approved. Workers spend without withdrawing, so the money and the relationship stay on your platform.

  • Beside your payout providers

    Creating and loading cards are API calls, so card pay runs from the same approval step as your bank transfers. Card and load requests accept an idempotency key, so a retry never pays a worker twice.

  • Answers for ops and support

    Webhooks report every authorization, transaction and decline with its reason, so support can tell a worker why a payment failed. Daily reconciliation files tie each run back to your books.

How it works

  1. Connect

    Integrate the Moon API, or start with our team on a pilot.

  2. Issue

    Create cards and send payouts from your own product.

  3. Control

    Set limits per card and see every transaction.

Questions

Do we have to replace our bank transfers or payout provider?
No. Moon runs beside them. Bank transfers and your current payout methods keep working, and the card is one more option in the same pay run, created and loaded by API from your approval step.
Can we require US workers to take the card?
No. In the US, federal rules (Regulation E) don't let an employer make a payroll card the only way to get paid, so offer the card next to direct deposit and let each worker choose it. Some states add their own consent and fee disclosure rules; check them with your compliance team before launch. Cardholder fees are set by your program and can be zero.
Do workers need to verify their identity?
If your program requires it, yes. Moon gives you a hosted identity verification (KYC) link to send each worker, a webhook tells you when their status changes, and a card can only be issued once they are approved.
Where can we launch, and which licenses do we need?
Card programs can launch for workers in the US, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Tell us how your payouts split by country, and we'll plan which groups of workers to launch first. Cards are issued by Moon's partner financial institutions under their licenses, so you don't need a card-issuing license of your own; you keep the employment and payroll licenses your services already need in each country.
How is each pay run funded?
From your prepaid balance with Moon, which you fund by bank transfer. Each card you create or load draws its amount from that balance, and if the balance falls short the request is refused and nothing is debited. A webhook tells you when new funds arrive.
Can we start with a pilot?
Yes. Offer the card to one group of workers first, such as one country or one client, then roll it out. Before any real pay run, the Sandbox runs the same endpoints as production with its own keys: issue and load worker cards, then simulate purchases, refunds and reversals.

Add your own card to the next pay run.

Tell us how you pay workers today, and we'll set up a sandbox for your team.

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