Performance, Friction Points, and a Path to Scale Commercial Card Data Together
Astrada is the largest independent aggregator of real-time commercial card data, connecting 7+ Spend Management Platforms (Workday, Zoho, Miter, Vergo, Expend, and others) to Visa's VBDS infrastructure. The partnership has reached production scale: ~5,100 Visa cards bulk-enrolled via VBDS across 6 SMPs, with ~20 new corporate enrollments/month projected at GA. The platform is processing authorizations and clearings in real-time across 2 live issuers and 7 active corporates, with a growing pipeline of 6+ additional SMPs preparing for launch.
Three structural barriers are constraining growth. (1) Issuer unfamiliarity: Every issuer contacted is unfamiliar with VBDS APIs — all default to VCF files. Issuers like Columbia Bank explicitly do not support VBDS, contradicting Visa's claim of universal VCF/VBDS parity. (2) VBDS data gaps: The push auth webhook is missing card expiry date (open since March 2024); VBDS starter data returned masked PANs blocking enrollment (Feb 2026); no programmatic way to check Visa BIN eligibility. (3) Operational gaps: No VBDS status page or outage notifications (the April 2 outage — caused by a Visa production deployment — hit all RPICs with zero advance notice); outbound callback configurations stuck for ~1 month; RPIC handoff from issuers is unstandardized and error-prone. These issues are creating customer escalations — including one end-customer with 27 cardholders threatening churn.
Astrada proposes six concrete partnership actions that would unlock exponential growth for VBDS adoption: (1) Joint issuer education campaign targeting top 10 issuers, (2) VCF/VBDS pricing parity to remove disincentive, (3) VBDS status page with proactive outage communications, (4) Standardized RPIC handoff and BIN eligibility API, (5) Resolve missing card expiry in push auth webhook, (6) Streamlined SMP onboarding with target turnaround SLAs. These are win-win investments: every issuer activated and every corporate enrolled generates revenue for both Visa and Astrada.
Workday, Zoho, Miter, Vergo, Expend, ExpensePoint, Extend
Workday (4,376), Miter (525), Vergo (187) + others
Projected enrollment velocity at GA scale
Analysis across 3,068 cards (Vergo: 160, Miter: 48, Workday: 2,860). Median time-to-first-transaction ranges from 2 to 8 days — but tail cases extend to months.
| Timeframe | Vergo (160 cards) | Miter (48 cards) | Workday (2,860 cards) | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Same day | 4% | 29% | 32% | Strong |
| 1–2 days | 23% | 42% | 20% | Good |
| 3–7 days | 20% | 29% | 34% | Acceptable |
| 8–14 days | 13% | 0% | 10% | Concerning |
| 15–30 days | 21% | 0% | 4% | Poor |
| 30+ days | 19% | 0% | 0% | Critical |
| Median gap | 8 days | 2 days | 2 days | |
| Max gap | 285 days | 4 days | 20 days |
Open question: VBDS appears to be forward-looking only — no historical transaction data is available prior to enrollment. We'd like to confirm with Visa whether historical lookback is possible once a card is enrolled, or whether enrollment activates data flow going forward only.
VBDS is the only Visa path that combines real-time authorization with bulk card enrollment. VOP provides real-time auth for individually enrolled cards, but cannot serve bulk-enrolled programs. For large corporate card programs at scale, VBDS is the only viable real-time auth path.
Astrada is investing in VCF for cost-efficient clearing — but VBDS remains the preferred path for bulk programs that need real-time auth.
Only ~15 fields currently exposed to customers. 40+ additional fields are available in the VBDS pipeline but not yet delivered. Unlocking L2/L3 data is a high-ROI lever for both Visa and Astrada.
Push auth webhook includes PAN but not expiry date. Prevents correct card tokenization. Critical blocker — still unresolved.
Visa approval steps (outbound callback configuration, tile activation) can take weeks without clear SLAs or progress visibility. For example, the "Workday by Astrada" endpoint configuration took ~1 month to complete (Feb 2026). Faster, more predictable turnarounds would materially accelerate onboarding.
Issuers inconsistently provide required identifiers. Region ID often omitted entirely. PNC was first to skip Processor ID despite having the information. No standardized handoff format exists.
The barrier is organizational, not technical. Visa's own issuer guide states any issuer on the Visa Commercial Platform can support API delivery without a new system.
| VCF Files | VBDS APIs | |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer work | 30–60 min | Hours to days |
| Emails | 1–2 exchanges | Multiple rounds + Visa escalation |
| Elapsed time | Days | 1–4 weeks |
| Familiarity | High — known workflow | Low — new portal, new format |
| Visa intervention | None | Often required (tile activation) |
Issuer effort for VBDS is 3–5x higher than VCF, with a significantly higher probability of needing Visa escalation.
Astrada cannot scale VBDS adoption until issuers can complete enrollments without manual intervention from Visa or Astrada. Today, the issuer gap is the single largest bottleneck to growing VBDS transaction volume — which is revenue for both Visa and Astrada.
| Date | Issue | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 2, 2026 | Starter Data API 404 — all RPICs (production deployment issue, resolved same day) | All customers, ~12hrs |
| Feb 2026 | Masked PANs in starter data (****) | Multiple feeds |
| Feb 2026 | Outbound callback stuck "Visa Configuring" ~1 month | Workday blocked |
No Status Page
No formal VBDS status page for partners to monitor uptime or planned maintenance
No Proactive Alerts
Astrada discovers outages through production monitoring, not Visa notifications
No Escalation Path
No documented incident process or named on-call contact for VBDS partners
27 cardholders Churn risk April 2026
"With 27 cardholders, it is not realistic for me to manage this volume of expenses daily while also correcting posting issues."
— Bianca, Marmer Construction office manager
113 cards Resolved manually
API returns: "The state of a bulk enrolled subscription cannot be changed." No self-service way to deactivate individual cards from a bulk feed.
"That is a huge deal for us and we wouldn't recommend the bulk enrollment if we knew that was not possible."
— Einar, Vergo CEO
Zoho needed selective control: block consumer cards but allow individual enrollment of Mastercard corporate cards even if bulk-eligible. Required manual account-level override by Astrada engineering.
18+ open support issues across 6 customers directly related to VBDS bulk enrollment in Astrada's support system
Proactively educate issuer core teams (not just RMs) about VBDS APIs. Blanket communications and training materials to top 10 issuers (Citi, BofA, Wells Fargo, US Bank, PNC, Chase, Barclays, M&T, HSBC, Capital One). Make VBDS tiles available by default to remove "what is this?" friction.
VCF files are free; VBDS clearing APIs cost $0.06/call. This creates a strong disincentive. Normalize pricing or provide a parity path for SMPs committed to VBDS volume. Every dollar of friction here slows VBDS adoption — which is Visa's own strategic priority.
Create a partner-facing status page for VBDS APIs. Provide proactive outage notifications with ETAs. Establish a named escalation contact for production incidents. The April 2 outage impacted all customers with zero advance notice.
Issuers frequently omit Region ID and Processor ID. Make Region ID optional when Astrada can supplement. Provide a BIN-level VBDS eligibility API (Mastercard already has one). Standardize RPIC formatting to eliminate leading-zero and delimiter issues.
The VBDS push authorization webhook includes Card PAN but not expiry date, preventing correct card tokenization. This has been an open blocker since March 2024. Resolving this single field would materially improve Astrada's ability to process VBDS authorizations reliably.
Commit to target turnaround times: 5 business days for VDP project approvals, 3 business days for outbound configuration, 2 business days for tile setup. Provide named fast-lane contacts for priority SMPs. Reduce pilot validation requirements for established partners.
Astrada is actively building VCF file ingestion to handle clearing data at scale — reducing VBDS clearing costs by over 70%. VBDS remains the preferred path for real-time authorization on bulk-enrolled programs, which VOP cannot serve. This pairing optimizes for both cost and capability. Astrada is doing its part — we need Visa to do theirs on issuer education and platform reliability.
Detailed tables, incident timelines, customer-by-customer breakdowns, and technical reference
| SMP | Visa Bulk Cards | Issuers Active | Status | Key Corporate Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workday | 4,376 Visa VBDS bulk-enrolled | PNC, BofA (+ Citi, Wells Fargo pending) | GA launched Mar 12 | ACE Hardware, SRS Distribution, Chipotle, Primera Blue Cross |
| Zoho | Bulk amendment signed | Pipeline building | Active onboarding | Zoho Expense end-users (RPIC guide distributed) |
| Miter | 525 Visa + 877 Amex + 464 MC bulk | Multiple (Visa + Amex + Comdata pending) | Production | JRCruz, Haugland (~1k Comdata pending), Marmer Construction, Baker Construction, Highway Specialty |
| Vergo | 187 Visa + 120 MC bulk | Aero/BofA in progress | Production | Construction vertical customers |
| Expend | Project kicked off Jan 2026 | UK territory being added | Onboarding | UK market expansion |
| ExpensePoint | Pipeline | TBD | Pre-launch | Bulk import by subaccount + user requested |
| Medius | Pipeline | BIN eligibility being researched | Pre-launch | 11 BIN ranges submitted for eligibility check |
| Extend | Pipeline | TBD | Pre-launch | Spend management vertical |
| Findity | Pipeline | Netherlands (ICS) being checked | Pre-launch | European market |
| Perk | Pipeline | 6-week bank delivery ID wait | Pre-launch | — |
| Tab Commerce | Pipeline | TBD | Pre-launch | — |
| # | Customer | Title | State | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 526 | Miter/Marmer | Merchant name mismatch & amount discrepancy (bulk enrollment) | New | Urgent |
| 500 | Miter/Marmer | Statement matching / reconciliation failure | New | High |
| 437 | Miter/JRCruz | Duplicate card IDs in bulk feed despite matching last4+expiry | Waiting on us | Critical |
| 462 | Miter | Card fingerprinting issues blocking bulk migration | Waiting on us | Critical |
| 513 | Vergo | Bulk subscription deactivation blocked by API (113 cards) | Resolved manually | High |
| 508 | Miter/Haugland | Missing network_bulk_feed_id for feed mapping | Shipped Apr 1 | Resolved |
| 477 | Medius | Enrollment modes clarification: bulk vs individual | Waiting on customer | Medium |
| 442 | Zoho | Consumer card block + selective corporate enrollment | Closed | Medium |
| 457 | Miter/Highway | VCF/VCD file format for bulk card import | Waiting on customer | Medium |
| 503 | Miter/Haugland | Deactivated subscriptions on Amex bulk feed | Waiting on customer | Medium |
| 510 | ExpensePoint | Bulk import: tie card to subaccount AND user | Waiting on customer | Medium |
| 504 | Findity | Visa card issuer support for Netherlands (ICS) | Waiting on customer | Low |
| 482 | Miter | Duplicate cards with conflicting expiry dates | Waiting on us | Medium |
| 440 | Miter | Deactivation timeline for bulk feeds | Waiting on customer | Medium |
| 470 | Vergo | Amex bulk enrollment guide status in docs | Waiting on us | Low |
| 344 | Miter | Billing: Corporate bulk enrollment fees on invoice | Waiting on customer | Low |
| 299 | Zoho | VBDS setup steps for bulk enrollment (email content) | Waiting on customer | Medium |
| Issuer | VBDS Support | Experience | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNC | Yes | Successfully enabled 5 Issuer/Unit combinations; first to skip Processor ID | Live (ACE Hardware, others) |
| BofA | Yes | SRS Distribution enrolled; Vergo Aero in progress | Live + expanding |
| Wells Fargo | Partial | Used outdated Issuer Guide referencing VCSE instead of Marketplace | In progress (Primera Blue Cross) |
| Citi | No API support | Determined they don't currently support APIs for data feeds; Chipotle ticket got no response for 2+ months | Blocked |
| US Bank | Refused | Told corporate: "Unable to assist with setting up feeds for commercial accounts" — redirected to VCF | Blocked |
| Columbia Bank | VCF only | Confirmed VCF support but NOT VBDS APIs; forced Astrada to build VCF ingestion fallback | VBDS not available |
| M&T Bank | VCF only | Told Miter they only support VCF file feeds | VBDS not available |
| Sunflower Bank | Required intervention | Visa had to manually activate the Astrada SMP tile before the bank could even see it | Eventually resolved |
| HSBC | Unknown | BIN 455598 enrollment failure reported (Extend customer) | Under investigation |
| ICS (Netherlands) | Unknown | Findity inquiring about Visa card issuer support | Pending research |
| Comdata/Corpay | Yes (MC) | Mastercard SmartData; Miter connecting ~1k Haugland fleet/fuel cards | MC path (not VBDS) |
Of the 11 issuers Astrada has engaged, 4 explicitly do not support VBDS APIs (Citi, US Bank, Columbia Bank, M&T Bank) and 1 required Visa to manually activate the SMP tile (Sunflower Bank). This represents a significant gap between Visa's stated VBDS coverage and the real-world issuer landscape. These are not obscure banks — Citi and US Bank are among the largest issuers in the United States.
| API | Direction | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Starter Data API | Pull | Cardholder data by RPIC; determines which cards are enrolled |
| Authorization Data API (Pull) | Pull | Real-time auth data; Astrada polls |
| Authorization Data API (Push) | Push | Visa pushes auth webhooks to Astrada endpoint |
| Transaction (Clearing) Data API | Pull | Settlement data; batched by RPIC queue |
Common RPIC issues: Leading zeros (must use 2 not 0002), wrong separators (must use _), inconsistent formatting across systems.
Corporate → Issuing Bank → Visa → Astrada
| Metric | Target | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Active Visa VBDS cards | 100,000 by EOY 2026 | ~5,100 (5%) |
| Auths/month | 500,000 | Scaling |
| Clearings/month | 500,000 | Scaling |
| VBDS API uptime target | 99.9% (Visa spec) | Recent outages |
| SMP onboarding rate | ~20 corporates/month | Projected at GA |
At 100,000 cards with 5 txns/card/month: 500,000 clearing API calls + 500,000 auth API calls = 1,000,000 calls/month = $60,000/month in VBDS API fees. This is significant revenue for Visa — but only if the adoption friction is removed. Currently, issuers have a free alternative (VCF) and zero education on VBDS. The pricing gap is actively working against Visa's own VBDS growth strategy.
Astrada is Visa's largest VBDS distribution partner. Removing friction from issuer enrollment and data quality is the highest-leverage investment for both organizations.