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A mandate’s limits live in two places: parameters on its scopes, and the mandate’s own expiry. Both are signed. Neither can be raised after you sign.

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Spending ceilings

A spending ceiling is the max parameter on a spend scope. It is the most the mandate can ever authorise. max is an amount in the display unit of the currency or asset the scope names. It is written the way you would read it on a receipt, never in cents, pence or other minor units. Rules for a ceiling:
  • Fractions are allowed up to the currency’s own precision: two places for USD and EUR, none for JPY, three for KWD.
  • Too precise is refused. max=25.001&currency=USD is refused, never rounded or cut down. Rounding either way would sign a different number from the one you read.
  • Positive only. A draft with a ceiling of zero or less is refused before you are asked to sign it.
  • Exactly one. A spending mandate states exactly one ceiling. A draft with none, or with two, is refused. A read mandate spends nothing and states no ceiling.
  • Written one way. When Sumvin writes a ceiling itself, it uses exactly the currency’s precision: 25 US dollars is written max=25.00, and 2,500 yen is written max=2500.
The approval page shows the ceiling in plain words at the currency’s own precision, such as “Authorise spending of up to 25.00 USD.”
Anything that reports a ceiling back to you or to a verifier reports it in the same display unit, such as 12.50, never 1250. A ceiling that can’t be read back is reported as unreadable, never as unlimited.

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Time limits

An expiry must be in the future when the mandate is made. A search window is also capped by Sumvin’s own upper limit, and the shorter of the two applies.

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How long a mandate lasts

When your agent asks you for a mandate directly, two clocks start:
  • The time to answer. You have 24 hours to sign or decline. If the request lapses unanswered, nothing is granted.
  • The mandate’s own expiry. Once you sign, the mandate lasts 90 days by default. Your agent may ask for any length from 1 to 90 days. The approval page shows the date it lapses before you sign.
A mandate can’t be extended. In the last 7 days before a read mandate lapses, your agent is told so and can offer to ask you for a new one. Renewing means signing a new mandate; until you do, the old one keeps working to its expiry.

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A mandate only narrows

A mandate can never grant more than what you signed. Every rule below takes authority away; none adds it.
  • Your agent can’t widen a mandate. More authority always means a new mandate that you sign.
  • Each parameter narrows its scope. A ceiling, a currency, a card, a date range, a provider: each one limits what the scope allows.
  • Resources and conditions narrow the whole mandate.
  • Revocation and expiry end it. Neither can be undone.

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Narrowing one mandate into a smaller one

A mandate can be narrowed into a smaller one, for example so that one purchase draws a part of a larger spending mandate. The smaller mandate:
  • names the larger one in its resources;
  • has a ceiling at or below the larger one’s;
  • keeps the same currency, and the same pinned card if there is one;
  • can’t expire later than the larger one;
  • stops standing the moment the larger one is revoked or expires.
A smaller mandate that breaks any of these rules is refused. When you revoke a mandate, every smaller mandate drawn from it that is still in use is revoked with it.

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What a verifier checks

How a counterparty reads these limits.

Set limits

Choose the limits for your agent.