The fintech landscape is evolving rapidly, and card issuers launching new credit programs face two fundamental challenges that limit growth and customer satisfaction. These problems seem unrelated on the surface but share a common solution.

The issuer problem: Optimizing interchange revenue while delivering exceptional customer experiences requires precision in matching cardholder value to program interchange tiers, but legacy infrastructure makes dynamic tier management operationally complex and financially risky.

The cardholder problem: Premium card benefits should evolve with spending behavior, but traditional systems force customers to wait for new plastic, update payment information across dozens of services, and endure days or weeks of service interruption just to access benefits they’ve already earned through their spending.

For companies building new consumer or business credit card programs, Lithic’s integration with Visa Account Level Management (ALM) over the Visa Card Program Enrollment (VCPE) API solves both problems simultaneously. This integration enables card issuers to deliver seamless premium upgrades and graceful downgrades in real-time without cardholder disruption while unlocking better program economics.

The challenge of BIN-level program management

Traditional card programs operate at the BIN (Bank Identification Number) level, meaning that all cards within a specific account range share identical processing rules, interchange rates, and product tiers. This set-up creates structural limitations that impact both customer experience and business flexibility.

When a high-spending customer qualifies for premium benefits—say, upgrading from Visa Signature to Visa Infinite—the traditional approach requires:

• Issuing a completely new card on a different BIN configured for the premium tier
• Waiting for plastic production and shipping (for physical cards)
• Requiring a customer to update all autopay and recurring payments with the new card details
• Operational overhead in managing multiple BINs for different tiers
• Revenue delays during the transition period

This “all cards in a BIN are the same” constraint forces issuers to make suboptimal choices: either launch cardholders at lower tiers and accept upgrade friction, or start everyone at premium levels without spend verification, potentially misaligning interchange revenue with actual customer value. Visa in fact requires issuers to leverage ALM in order to issue cards in their Signature Preferred tier—without ALM, cardholders whose spend qualifies them for premium Signature Preferred benefits and interchange will only earn their programs Signature interchange.

The result is a system that doesn’t serve anyone optimally—cardholders face unnecessary friction accessing benefits they’ve earned, while issuers struggle to balance customer experience with economic precision.

The shift to account level processing

Visa Account Level Management fundamentally changes this dynamic by enabling transaction processing and benefit management at the individual Primary Account Number (PAN) level rather than the BIN level. Doing so allows issuers more granular control in the types of benefits, services, and features they can offer cardholders, as well as the interchange captured by distinct cardholders for programs to fund these lifestyle rewards.

This shift enables what the industry calls “PAN for life”—the ability for cardholders to progress through different tiers while keeping the same card number. Instead of issuing new cards for tier changes, the same PAN can move from Visa Traditional to Visa Signature to Visa Signature Preferred based on spending performance, without any disruption to the cardholder experience. 

How Lithic's VCPE API integration delivers seamless tier transitions

Lithic's integration with Visa's Card Program Enrollment API enables real-time program enrollment, a significant improvement over traditional batch file processing that can delay benefit activation for days.

Here's a simplified view of how Lithic helps programs support ALM:

1. Program enrollment: Programs determine and Lithic enrolls Consumer or Business cards at a specific tier at time of account opening to associated benefits and interchange level
2. Account linking: Lithic automatically links an account’s virtual cards and authorized users after enrollment, combining all eligible cards for spend qualification purposes
3. Spend qualification. Visa periodically determines if accounts’ cumulative spend satisfies minimum thresholds for different interchange tiers and provide qualification updates
4. Intelligent reenrollment: Lithic moves cards onto appropriate Visa card programs, realizing equitable cost alignment between cardholder benefits and interchange qualification
5. Benefit activation: Programs immediately activate cardholders’ new premium benefits and interchange rates

Lithic’s account linking feature in particular helps issuers and cardholders realize the true value of ALM, by enabling issuers to link cards belonging to the same individual, household, or business so Visa can holistically evaluate their spending across multiple cards. For business programs, this means aggregating spend across all employee cards for company-level tier qualification. For consumer programs, household spend including authorized users can count toward primary cardholder benefits. Visa’s spend assessment will therefore consider the aggregate spend across all linked cards in their eligibility rubric.

The technological advantage of real-time enrollment and instant issuance

Traditional ALM implementations rely on batch file submissions that create delays and operational overhead. Lithic's integration with Visa's VCPE API provides near real-time enrollment capabilities that align with the speed expectations of modern fintech applications.

This API-first approach becomes especially powerful when combined with Lithic's instant digital card issuance capabilities. Consider the difference:

Traditional batch file approach:

• Card issued and activated, but cardholders receive only base-level benefits
• 3-5 day delay to account for batched ALM enrollment processing
• Premium benefits finally activate days after issuance
• Result: Poor first impression and lost interchange revenue

Lithic's API integration approach:

• Card issued and activated with immediate ALM enrollment
• Premium benefits available from the first transaction
• Optimized interchange rates applied immediately
• Result: Exceptional customer experience and immediate revenue optimization

This technological differentiator becomes crucial as more fintechs compete on instant digital experiences. Consumer and commercial cardholders alike expect premium benefits immediately, not after waiting for unexplained behind the scenes workflows. Our API-first approach enables seamless integration with existing workflows and provides the flexibility to respond instantly to cardholder tier changes rather than waiting for delayed confirmations.

Visa's ALM program portfolio

Unlike traditional ALM implementation approaches, Lithic implements ALM functionality on all consumer and business Visa products in order to deliver broader portfolio access and greater product mobility to our clients. This comprehensive approach is in line with our overall product ethos of flexibility and optionality.

By implementing ALM across every Visa tier—not just where mandatory—we enable clients to offer the full range of cardholder products within both consumer and business verticals. Moreover, we can power card movement between any product within a vertical without reissuance, providing complete operational optionality compared to providers who implement ALM only where required and are thus restricted in their product transition offerings.

Lithic’s ALM implementation includes support for dynamic tier management across consumer programs (Traditional through Infinite), business programs (5-tier structure), and specialized offerings like Signature Preferred and Infinite Spend Qualification programs. The result is precise cost alignment between benefits provided and interchange revenue generated, while maintaining the seamless cardholder experience that modern customers expect.

Realize instant benefits for your card program strategy with Lithic & Visa ALM

ALM opens up new possibilities for how you can structure and market your card programs:

Dynamic tier progression: Design programs where cardholders naturally evolve through tiers based on actual behavior, creating positive reinforcement loops that encourage increased engagement

Precise cost alignment: Match the benefits you provide to the interchange revenue each cardholder generates, improving program economics while enhancing customer satisfaction

Retention through rewards: Keep high-value cardholders engaged with automatic premium upgrades that recognize their loyalty and spending patterns

Simplified operations: Leverage ALM to deliver differentiated experiences on unified card infrastructure instead of managing multiple BINs for different tier products 

Getting started 

For existing Lithic partners, ALM integration works seamlessly with your current setup. The VCPE API handles the complexity behind the scenes, allowing you to focus on designing optimal customer experiences rather than managing technical implementation details.

For ambitious teams evaluating card issuing platforms, ALM support represents a key differentiator in your ability to deliver modern, flexible credit programs that can adapt to cardholder behavior over time while optimizing business economics.

The future of card issuing is about creating dynamic, responsive experiences that reward loyalty through seamless tier progression. Lithic's Visa ALM integration via the VCPE API provides the technological foundation to make this vision a reality—delivering exceptional cardholder experiences while enabling precise interchange optimization.

Ready to explore how ALM can transform your card program? Get in touch with our team to learn more about implementing Visa ALM for your program.