Switch To Virtual Prepaid Cards to streamline your team expenses

Move over credit. Virtual prepaid cards are here.

Company expense management has had a face lift, and clever businesses are now swapping their business credit cards in favour of virtual prepaid cards, allowing for increased convenience, efficiency, and security.

Although the corporate credit card has long been a popular choice, many business owners are opting instead for a prepaid card system. These cards could save your business plenty in the long run, so let’s take a look at how virtual prepaid cards work to improve your accounts team expense management process.

What are virtual prepaid cards?

A virtual card is simply an online version of a plastic bank card. Virtual cards may share the same card numbers as your physical one, but they can hold unique details, making your funds even more secure. Virtual cards minimise the amount of personal information shared when you process a transaction, and you can easily top them up remotely. Whether you’re paying online or in-store, virtual cards are a very secure way to pay.

Prepaid cards are payment cards that you load with a certain amount of cash so that there’s no connection to your business bank account. You decide how much is on each card, and that limit cannot be breached. With Soldo’s prepaid cards, you have complete control over expense management, and you can transfer more funds to any card in no time at all.

Virtual prepaid cards maximise the security of your spending. Instead of giving employees access to the company account or letting them run up debts, you top up each prepaid card with an allocated budget. And because it’s a virtual card, there’s nothing physical to steal, and the card can’t be traced back to a bank account.

Why are virtual prepaid cards better for business?

When it comes to payment card options for small businesses, virtual prepaid cards are becoming increasingly popular, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s an option that confronts the issues faced by other payment types and offers business owners an effective way to manage spending.

1. Safety and security

Virtual cards can be used for all the online purchases you’d normally make with a conventional credit card, but it can’t be traced back to the original account by hackers. Your exposure is also limited in case of fraud, as the only funds at risk are whatever you’ve preloaded onto the card.

Even if your card does become compromised in any way, you can freeze this card remotely and immediately without having to get in touch with your bank.

2. Added flexibility

Virtual cards are managed entirely online, so you can generate and activate new cards instantly. Finance managers will love using a suite of online prepaid cards that fit the way the business spends. For example, one card just for travel expenses or one just for Amazon purchases (this adds another layer of security as well).

Digital cards can also work as prepaid currency cards that handle international payments, from booking hotels abroad to paying global suppliers. So you can even use them as low-fee FX business cards.

Your account can be up and running in less than a working day, with no credit checks or lengthy processes, and then you’re free to generate virtual cards at will. This is a much more versatile system than the rigid processes associated with business credit cards.

3. Increased control over spending

Virtual payment cards give you an increased level of control and visibility over your team’s expenses. The pre-established budgets mean there’s no risk of overspending, so it’s safe to provide a card to any employee. Plus, you get complete control over how the account is used. You can limit it to specific sites, restrict spending to set dates, or even set spend categories so each card can only be used for certain types of expense. And if you need to increase the budget, you can add more funds in seconds.

Through a dedicated mobile app to track spending on the go, as well as a desktop console for expense management, Soldo’s platform gives you a granular level of control. These include, setting budgets and seeing where money is spent for each individual, department, project, team, or spending type.

You can set daily, weekly, or monthly budgets, limit how or where money is spent, and see every transaction as it happens in an easily exportable format.

4. Simple reconciliation

Another added benefit of virtual cards is that much of your data processing can be digitised, too. Unlike payment methods such as petty cash and business credit cards, virtual cards don’t require an archive of physical receipts. Any system that relies on the retention of paper receipts is prone to neglect, and finance teams can be faced with a real nightmare if data is incomplete.

With a virtual card, all the transaction information is stored within the prepaid card’s associated app. And with the right card provider, this spend data can easily be exported to accounting software. That means no more time lost to sorting through piles of paper.

How can Soldo’s virtual prepaid cards benefit your business?

Soldo’s system of prepaid cards is designed with businesses in mind. This includes a host of features that make every stage of the expense reporting process easier.

Quicker integrations

Soldo integrates directly with Xero, QuickBooks, and NetSuite, and you can export all the spending data from your virtual prepaid cards into any other accounting system. Seeing who spent what is easy, with transactions allocated to each account instead of all mixed up on a single statement.

And there’s no need for tedious sessions of manual reconciliation; all your spend data is automatically lifted into the Soldo console, for easy viewing from anywhere.

The versatility you need

With Soldo, you set the rules on how virtual prepaid cards are used. Give everyone their own card with their own spending rules, or create a card that automatically locks after a single transaction for a one-off payment, increasing security by limiting access to the card’s funds.

If employees ever need a top-up while they’re on the road, you can transfer funds remotely from the Soldo mobile app or desktop console. Your team never needs to be out of pocket again.

Mastercard® affiliation

Soldo’s cards are provided by Mastercard®, which gives you enormous flexibility when it comes to spending. Our cards are accepted by over 20 million merchants in over 150 countries, with no limits other than the ones you decide. Even better, there are no prepaid card fees for domestic transactions.

Currency cards

If you have team members abroad then Soldo’s prepaid currency cards can make life much easier for them. If employees use a debit or credit card abroad, they might have to pay extra charges for transactions or withdrawals. This isn’t the case with Soldo, as our foreign exchange fee is fixed at 1%, which is lower than many other providers, and cards can be assigned remotely.

Flexible fuel cards

For businesses that rely on a fleet of drivers, Soldo’s prepaid fuel cards offer maximum accessibility. Unlike many traditional fuel cards, they aren’t connected to a specific fuel supplier, so you can use them at any station in the UK and drivers don’t need to waste time searching for specific fuel sites. And what’s more, our fuel cards won’t make a big dent in the budget, as they start at only £2!

A complete solution

Our prepaid cards for businesses are part of something much bigger – in fact, a whole new approach to business spending. It includes traditional plastic prepaid cards alongside virtual cards, connected to a smart spend management platform with powerful apps and reporting software.

From the point of purchase to the reconciliation, Soldo is designed to make every step of the expense management process a breeze. Soldo isn’t a bank, but it’s the perfect partner to optimise your business bank account.

Get started with Soldo’s virtual prepaid cards

Getting set up with Soldo is easy, and our range of packages will have something to suit every business. We don’t ask for a credit check, and you can be up and running the very next day. Like all Soldo cards, you can order a virtual card immediately after you sign up for an account.

Once you’re signed up, log into the web console and:

Add a new user or company wallet (if necessary).
Select ‘Cards’ from the left-hand menu, then choose ‘Create card’.
Select a User Card or a Company Card, then follow the process.

You and your team can track and manage company spending from anywhere, at any time. And if you need a hand getting set up, our friendly team of experts will be there to help. Upgrade to smarter business spending by switching to Soldo today.

What our clients think about us

“In the past, expense reimbursement took one and a half days, and now it takes slightly more than half a business day.”

Marco Valerio Izzo, Buzzoole

Finance Manager

Read Case Study

“Since we started using Soldo, it’s been such a relief not to have to regularly email or phone the banks to ask for our credit card limits to be raised. I love Soldo’s flexibility – it’s so easy to maintain and everything is in real time.”

Dennis Koehler, Get Your Guide

Head of Payments and Fraud

Read Case Study

“Soldo has enabled us to close our old corporate credit card scheme, remove petty cash from our business and reduce the number of expense claims we process. This has reduced the administrative burden, replacing separate…”

Lee Jaques, Bruntwood

Finance Project Manager

Read Case Study

“We need to have non-nominative cards, in multiple currencies, attached to powerful reporting that integrates with Sage. Soldo ticks all those boxes.”

Paraag Amin, DotDigital

Former CFO

All Soldo plans include

Everything you need to get started

Soldo Mastercard® cards

Get as many cards as you need for employees and departments. Our contactless cards are accepted by millions of merchants worldwide.

Web console and mobile app

See spending in real time on the web console. View balances, capture receipts and manage cards on the employee app.

Accounting integration

Export transaction data to every major accounting software, in two clicks. Connect expenses to Xero and QuickBooks.

Free & unlimited transactions

Soldo Mastercard® cards have no fees for domestic transactions and our foreign exchange fee is fixed at just 1%.

No charge for deposits

It’s free to add funds, and money is available to spend instantly. Allocate funds to cards when your team needs it.

Dedicated support

Need a hand? Our friendly customer success team is at your service, providing support whenever you need it.

FAQs

How do I use a virtual card?

Virtual cards work just like regular credit or debit cards – there’s just no card. You’ll still have a card number, an expiry date and a CCV number, but they’ll be on a screen instead of on a physical card.

Where can I use Soldo’s virtual Mastercard® card?

You can use Soldo’s virtual Mastercard® wherever you would be able to use a regular card – online purchases, software subscriptions and online advertising are all possible with a virtual Mastercard®.

Can I get statements on virtual payment cards?

With Soldo, you can access your spending data however you like. Soldo integrates directly with Xero, QuickBooks and NetSuite, and you can export all the spending data from your virtual prepaid cards into any other accounting system.

What are debit cards?

Exactly the same as a personal debit card, but for business use only. A debit card is connected to your business current account and any transaction carried out by yourself or an employee is funded directly from that account. So your account balance must be able to cover the purchase otherwise it won’t go through, unlike credit cards.

What are credit cards?

Credit cards work by allowing you to pay for things which you may not be able to, or would prefer not to, with funds from your business current account. You then have to pay this amount back over an agreed period, but interest can accumulate on that figure, which can be a slippery slope for small businesses looking to minimise costs. Both debit and credit cards can be physical or virtual, and prepaid cards are often referred to as prepaid credit cards, even though there’s no credit involved.