Understanding card top-up fees: a transparent breakdown

Fees are where card products often get vague. You see a headline price, then find out about extra charges only after you’ve paid. We’d rather show the whole picture up front. This article breaks down every cost involved in getting and using a VEXORA card, with worked examples, so you know exactly what you pay and what reaches the card.

All numbers below come from the VEXORA pricing page at the time of writing. Prices can change; the price shown when you review an order is the one you pay.

The four kinds of cost

1. Card price — a one-time price when you order a card.
2. Top-up fee — charged by VEXORA each time you add funds to a card.
3. Card issuer charges — charges the issuing bank may apply to top-ups or purchases.
4. Network fees for crypto payments — the blockchain fee your wallet or exchange charges when you send crypto.

1. Card price (one-time)

There is no separate issuance fee and no monthly subscription. Some accounts may see different prices, for example with promotions; your dashboard always shows your own price before you confirm.

2. The top-up fee: 3% + $2

Every top-up has a fee of 3% of the top-up amount plus a fixed $2. You pay the top-up amount plus the fee.

Because part of the fee is fixed, the fee as a percentage is higher on small top-ups (13% on $20) and closer to 3% on large ones (3.4% on $500). If you know you’ll spend a certain amount over the next few months, fewer, larger top-ups cost less in total than many small ones — balanced against keeping only what you need on a card.

Top-up limits: $10 to $5,000 for the Online Card and AI & Ads Card, and $5 to $5,000 for the Wallet Card.

3. Card issuer charges

The card issuer may apply its own charges to top-ups and to purchases. Where these are known, VEXORA includes them in the “expected on card” amount that you see before confirming a top-up.

On the pricing page at the time of writing, the $100 example looks like this:

In other words, in this example you pay $105 and about $95.50 becomes spendable on the card. The card issuer reports the final credited amount, which you’ll see on your order. We show this openly because “what reaches the card” is the number that actually matters to you.

Wallet Card bank fees per purchase

The Wallet Card’s issuing bank charges per-purchase fees, deducted from the card balance:

• 1% on cross-border payments,
• $0.30 on payments under $50,
• 0.2% on Apple Pay payments.

Declined payments are never charged, and these fees appear as separate lines marked “Bank fee” in the card’s transactions. Examples: a $200 cross-border online purchase has a $2.00 bank fee; a $15 payment has a $0.30 small-payment fee. These fees are set by the issuing bank, not by VEXORA.

The Online Card and AI & Ads Card don’t carry these per-purchase bank fees, so if you don’t need Apple Pay or Google Pay, one of them is usually cheaper to use.

4. Crypto network fees

You pay for cards and top-ups with crypto such as the USDT stablecoin. Sending crypto costs a network fee, charged by the blockchain and collected by the wallet or exchange you send from. It’s not a VEXORA fee and it varies by network and by provider — some networks are much cheaper to use than others. Check the network shown on your payment page and your exchange’s withdrawal fee for that network before you send.

Make sure the full amount arrives: if your exchange deducts its fee from the amount you send, the payment can arrive short. Partial payments aren’t counted until the full amount arrives.

Operations without a VEXORA fee

• Returning an active card’s balance to your VEXORA balance.
• Transferring between your own cards, where the card supports transfers.
• Paying for a card or top-up from your VEXORA balance (the usual card price and top-up fee still apply, but there’s no extra charge for using the balance).

Note that the VEXORA balance can be used for future cards and top-ups but can’t be withdrawn as crypto.

Putting it together: a worked example

Say you want an AI & Ads Card for a subscription and expect to spend around $90 over the next few months.

1. Card price: $12 (one-time).
2. Top-up of $100: fee $5, you pay $105, about $95.50 expected on the card.
3. Crypto network fee: depends on the network and your exchange.

Total to get started: about $117 plus the network fee, with roughly $95.50 available to spend. Future top-ups cost only the top-up and its fee.

Tips to keep costs down

• Pick the card that matches your use — don’t pay for wallet features you won’t use.
• Top up less often with larger amounts, if you’ll actually spend them.
• Use a low-cost network for crypto payments when it’s offered on your payment page.
• Return unused balances instead of letting them sit on cards you no longer use.

Summary

A VEXORA card costs a one-time price from $10, plus 3% + $2 per top-up. The card issuer may apply its own charges, which are reflected in the “expected on card” amount shown before you confirm, and the Wallet Card has extra per-purchase bank fees. Check the current pricing page before ordering — and always look at the amount expected on the card, because that’s what you can spend.