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Download studyCompany credit cards can make it much easier to manage employee expenses, but there are better alternatives. Find out more about how to choose here.
It takes money to make money, and a business credit card could help you to run your business. With so many options available, though, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Whatever your business does, it’s vital to choose the best company card for your needs. Get it right and you could benefit from great reward schemes and better cash flow. Get it wrong, however, and you could end up struggling to meet your monthly payments.
Amidst all of the many business credit cards available, there’s also an alternative – Soldo. Our prepaid business cards aren’t credit cards, but they do make it just as easy to cover your costs. You can empower your employees to pay for taxis, client hospitality, and day to day expenses – all without using a petty cash fund or maxing out your credit limit.
In this article, we explain how you can find the best credit card for your company, and explore why Soldo could be a better choice.
Corporate credit cards are a popular way to manage business expenses. They make it possible for employees to pay for a broad range of work-related costs including travel, office supplies, and anything that helps them to get the job done.
One of the major advantages of having a corporate credit account is that you can easily keep your personal and business finances separate. This can make it much easier when the time comes to file your tax return, and you’ll also get the chance to build up a commercial credit rating.
They work in the same way as a personal credit card, and the real difference is that they’re linked to a company account. Unlike a personal card you’ll usually still need to provide receipts to the finance team whenever you make a purchase, and this is where things can get complicated.
Sure, it may be easier to use company credit cards rather than filing stacks of expense reports – but they aren’t the catch-all solution they’re sometimes described as.
For one thing, businesses usually only issue a limited number of credit cards. This can create friction in teams, and it can be hard to track down a cardholder when you need to make a purchase.
The whole process also creates a lot of paperwork. Employees typically need to submit receipts for everything they spend on a card, and your finance team will be left trying to reconcile all of these scraps of paper with a credit card statement that doesn’t even let them track spending in real-time.
On that note, the biggest problem is that businesses can only see what’s being spent on their account once they receive a credit card statement. Sometimes, the account won’t be debited for several weeks or even over a month after a purchase takes place. This makes it much harder to control corporate spending and manage a budget. Worse still, it makes it very difficult to monitor for fraudulent transactions.
Due to the issues outlined above, many firms have now moved away from credit payment solutions and towards prepaid business cards like Soldo. The good news is that these are just as easy to use as a corporate credit card, and come with a number of additional benefits.
Soldo cards are Mastercard® debit cards that can be assigned to each and every employee. In fact, it’s even possible to assign additional cards virtually – making the whole process even more convenient.
Once issued, you can fund cards individually, and set bespoke rules that match your expense policy. All changes are implemented instantly, and employees will be able to use their prepaid card at over 30 million outlets and 1.5 million cash machines worldwide.
When money is spent, you’ll have full oversight and automated reporting. The Soldo platform even works with Xero and QuickBooks, and can plug right into your existing accounting software.
Put simply, our business charge cards offer all the same major features of a corporate credit card without any of the drawbacks. It’s none of the risk and all the reward.
Just as with business bank accounts, different corporate credit cards are suitable for different uses. Every credit card provider offers distinct perks along with their own rates and eligibility criteria. The important thing is to choose a credit card option that matches your commercial spending habits and financial circumstances.
With this in mind, here are some of the features you should look out for before deciding to issue cards to employees:
First and foremost, it literally pays to find a corporate card with a low standard interest rate. It’s important to keep the costs of borrowing down, and although some providers offer an initial credit card interest-free period, the rates could quickly rise.
Similarly, you’ll want to look out for the annual card fee and any fees on purchases. Some providers charge a premium foreign transaction fee, and this could seriously inflate your outstanding balance if staff travel a lot for work.
We can’t speak for the corporate credit card companies, but Soldo cards come with some of the most reasonable rates around. We don’t charge fees for domestic transactions, and our non-sterling transaction fee is capped at just 1%.
Another key consideration is whether a corporate credit card allows you to monitor employee spending. You might be used to just checking statements with your personal bank accounts, but that’s unlikely to be enough when your company’s money is on the line.
It’s well worth looking out for providers that offer mobile apps and innovative online banking services. These offer full visibility of corporate spending and make sure that you can track and record all card purchases.
With Soldo, you’ll benefit from an admin web console that makes your accounting as easy as business internet banking. You can pre-approve an employee’s purchasing power, and set rules that lock in how they use their card for purchases.
Since our business charge cards are prepaid, you won’t even need to worry about making a minimum repayment when the end of the month comes around. Our prepaid cards simplify business spending, and you’ll even save on foreign exchange transactions.
Business spending can be risky if you don’t have the proper protections in place. Firms should look out for the ability to use a card for a range of business spending, but no credit card product should come without the ability to monitor for fraudulent transactions.
Fortunately, Soldo’s platform makes it simple to follow along with employee spending, plus you get extra protection since cards can only be used up to a pre-set spending limit.
Business credit accounts may seem like an attractive expenses management solution, but they aren’t always easy to get hold of. Since they provide a line of credit, businesses with a low credit rating may struggle to get approved.
When considering an application for a commercial card, credit providers look at everything from your business revenue and even the credit scores of directors. Many of these lenders have stricter criteria than the providers of personal credit cards.
Since Soldo prepaid charge cards don’t involve borrowing, you won’t need to undergo a credit check and your financial circumstances won’t be put under the microscope.
There’s no escaping the fact that company credit cards are still a popular choice for paying business expenses. Despite this, it’s clear that there are better options available for companies that want to manage their spending in an easy, convenient, and secure way.
Soldo prepaid cards are the complete business spending solution that allows firms to handle commercial spending. They’re the flexible and safe choice for dealing with costs, and even come with handy expense management software that makes accounting a breeze.
Get started with Soldo to make business expenses simple – for you and your team.
Read the Forrester study to learn how.
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