💳 Which KeeCash card should I choose?

KeeCash offers several types of virtual USD cards. Before creating your card, this guide helps you pick the right one for your use case.

💰 Card price: the creation price is shown directly in the app at the moment you create your card. Promotions may apply and prices can evolve. Check the app for the exact current price.

🏆 Full comparison

💡 Key tip: always top up your card above the planned amount.

Many services (Netflix, Spotify, Apple, Google Play, SaaS subscriptions…) retry a payment several times within minutes if the card doesn't have enough balance. On a Black Card, each declined attempt costs between $0.40 and $0.60 — useless fees add up fast. On the Gold Card it's even riskier: after 15 declined payments, the card is automatically deleted.

👉 Top up well more than the strict payment amount (to absorb any unexpected cross-border fee, currency variation, or merchant retry). KeeCash suggests a recommended amount at every creation / top-up — follow it, that's what it's designed for.

🔒 Partner bank reserve (Black Cards only)

On a Black Mastercard or Black Visa, the partner bank that issues the card keeps $1.20 locked on the card at all times to keep it active. This is a requirement from the issuer — not a KeeCash fee.

Practical consequence

• You can never spend the last $1.20 on the card
• If your card balance is $5, you can pay at most $3.80 at a merchant
• If you top up the exact payment amount, the issuer will decline (no funds after reserve) → decline fee $0.40–$0.60

Example

• Card balance: $10.50
• You pay Netflix Europe: €7.99 ≈ $9.17
• + non-US network fees 2.5% + $0.50 = $9.90 to debit
• But real available = $10.50 − $1.20 = $9.30
• $9.30 < $9.90 → declined → decline fee $0.40 added

✅ The KeeCash recommended amount already includes this reserve. Follow it and you'll avoid this trap.

💰 You don't lose this $1.20: it's automatically refunded to your KeeCash balance as soon as you delete the card. It's only a technical reserve while the card is active.

🌍 Non-US fees on Black Cards in detail

If you pay with a Black Card at a merchant based outside the US (e.g. Netflix Europe, Spotify, Amazon France, etc.), Visa and Mastercard automatically add network fees:

• 2.5% of the amount
• + $0.50 fixed per transaction

⚠️ These fees are not charged by KeeCash: the card network (Visa/Mastercard) bills them directly on the card.

Concrete example

You pay a Netflix subscription of €9.99 from France:

• Amount converted to USD: ~$10.75
• Cross-border fee: $10.75 × 2.5% + $0.50 = $0.77
• Total debited from your card: ~$11.52

The same payment with a US VPN or a Gold Card: $10.75 debited, no fee added.

💡 How to avoid these fees?

1. Use a VPN located in the United States for your online payments. When the merchant sees you connected from the US (= the card's country of issuance), the transaction is treated as domestic → 0% network fee.
2. Choose the Gold Mastercard for your recurring international payments (zero cross-border fee, regardless of where you pay — see Netflix case below for nuances).

🤝 Our partner: NordVPN

KeeCash is an official NordVPN partner to support you on this. NordVPN is the most recognized VPN on the market: fast, reliable, with US-based servers to make your payments domestic and drop the 2.5% + $0.50 cross-border fees on your Black Cards.

By going through our partner link, you get an exclusive offer negotiated by KeeCash that lets you access NordVPN at a reduced price. That's the whole point of the partnership: making this tool more accessible for our users.

👉 Get the NordVPN offer with KeeCash

💡 Usage tip: connect to a US NordVPN server before finalizing the payment with your merchant (Netflix, Spotify, App Store, etc.). The merchant sees the US IP → the card is treated as domestic → no added network fee.

🛑 Important rules on declined payments

⚫ Black Cards: between $0.40 and $0.60 per declined attempt

Every time a payment is declined on a Black Card, between $0.40 and $0.60 is charged on your card (the exact amount varies depending on the decline type from the Visa/Mastercard network).

⚠️ Many merchants — especially automatic subscriptions like Netflix, Spotify, Apple, Google Play — retry a payment several times over minutes or hours when the card has insufficient balance. 2, 3, sometimes 5 attempts can stack up without you doing anything: fees add up fast ($1 to $3 silently lost).

👉 Concrete action: top up your Black Card with a comfortable margin above the planned amount, especially if you have active subscriptions.

🚨 Important: blocking the card does NOT stop decline fees

If a merchant keeps retrying declined payments, blocking the card from the KeeCash app is not enough: the Visa/Mastercard network keeps authorizing attempts and charging the $0.40 to $0.60 fees.

The only way to stop the bleeding:

1. Withdraw the remaining funds to your KeeCash wallet
2. Delete the card from the app (immediate effect)
3. If needed, create a new card afterwards

So if you have an issue, act fast — don't wait for fees to add up.

🟡 Gold Card: automatic deletion after 15 declines

On the Gold Mastercard, no fee is charged on declines. However, the issuer applies a strict rule: after 15 cumulative declined payments, the card is automatically deleted. You will need to create a new one.

How to avoid?

• Always top up a bit more than the exact payment amount (on Black Cards, to cover cross-border fees)
• When creating or topping up a Black card, KeeCash suggests a recommended amount that covers these fees
• Disable automatic subscriptions if you know your card is going to run low (true for both card types)

🎯 Which card for which use?

✅ Choose the Gold Mastercard if...

• You pay on crypto platforms (Binance, Coinbase, exchanges, etc.)
• You use online betting sites
• You want to receive payments on your card (freelancing, refunds, etc.)
• You want to avoid network fees on international payments
• You plan to use the card for the long term (4 years validity)

✅ Choose the Black Mastercard or Black Visa if...

• You pay your subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify, ChatGPT, Apple, Google Play, etc.) from the US or via a US VPN
• You want to add the card to Apple Pay or Google Pay
• You buy on US-certified platforms (Ads, SaaS, professional apps)

⚠️ Black Mastercard vs Black Visa

Both cards are strictly equivalent in fees and features. The choice depends on the network accepted by your merchant:

• Visa is slightly more universal
• Mastercard is sometimes preferred on certain European sites

🎬 Specific case: Netflix

Netflix works on all our cards, with a few nuances depending on the card:

💡 General VPN rule: for a payment to go through smoothly, position yourself via VPN in the country where the card is issued:

• Black Card 🇺🇸 → USA VPN (avoids cross-border fees of 2.5% + $0.50)
• Gold Card 🇵🇦 → Panama VPN (avoids merchant rejection of a foreign card)

📝 Quick-pick by situation

💬 Got a question?

Our support team is available directly inside the KeeCash app via chat 💬. Feel free to reach out before creating your card if you have any doubt about which type fits your need.

Updated on: 23/06/2026