# Physical cards

Increase produces and mails Visa cards connected to Increase accounts. Use [this API](https://increase.com/documentation/api/physical-cards) to create a card. You can provide two images to customize the card.

Increase Visa cards are white cards with black text and images. Cards support EMV and NFC contactless payments.

You can use this [Figma template](/physical_card_and_carrier_template_20260320.fig) to design your card art and carrier images.

## Card layout

The front of the card displays the card art image, Visa logo, EMV chip, and optionally one or two lines of custom text. The back of the card displays the cardholder name, card number, expiration date, CVV, and magstripe.

### Front text

You can optionally print up to two lines of text on the front of the card using the `front_text` field when creating a [Physical Card Profile](https://increase.com/documentation/api/physical-card-profiles). The first line of text is printed on the front of the card. Providing a second line moves the first line slightly higher and prints the second line in the spot where the first line would have otherwise been printed.

## Card art image

The main card art is printed on the front of the card. The card is white plastic and the printing ink and magstripe are black.

- PNG
- 2100 x 1344 px
- 600 DPI
- No transparency
- No images within 2.54mm of card edge
- No images within 3mm of Visa logo
- No images within 3mm of chip edge

![Card Art Template](/images/card_art_template.png)

## Carrier image

The card carrier is a tri-fold letter included with the card when it's mailed to your user. The paper is white and the printing ink is black.

- PNG
- 2550 x 3300 px
- 300 DPI
- No transparency
- Clear zone of 0.5mm of white bleed, evenly around the image

![Carrier Template](/images/carrier_template.png)

## Fulfillment speed

By default, cards ship out the day after the order is received by the card printer. The cut-off for physical card orders is 1am Pacific Time. If you create a physical card Monday evening, the card printer will receive the order Tuesday morning Pacific Time and ship it out on Wednesday.

To ship sooner, pass [`shipment.schedule: same_day`](https://increase.com/documentation/api/physical-cards#physical-card-object.shipment.schedule.same_day) when creating the card. With `same_day`, the example above would ship out on Tuesday instead.

## Shipping speed

Increase supports the following shipping methods:

- USPS
- FedEx 2-day
- FedEx Priority Overnight
- DHL Worldwide Express (international only)

USPS does not provide a tracking number, but we surface tracking updates from USPS's Informed Visibility system through [`shipment.tracking.updates`](https://increase.com/documentation/api/physical-cards#physical-card-object.shipment.tracking.updates) on the Physical Card. For the other carriers we provide a tracking number, and we deliver tracking updates directly through the API as well so you don't have to fetch them from the carrier.