Prepaid cards in line to complement corporate credit

by: Jeff Faulk

Corporate expenses have long been the realm of credit cards, but prepaid could soon be breaking through (or at least making a dent) in that barrier.

Currently, Javelin reports 42 percent of corporate card spending is done via corporate credit cards. For smaller companies, that total comes to 25 percent. The percentage falls to 18 percent for businesses showing earnings between $100,000 and $1 million per year.

Managing expenses more efficiently, controlling and/or restricting employee spending and simplifying expense reporting are just three benefits to using prepaid for corporate expense accounts. Administering funds via one main account and gaining greater control over expense tracking without putting an employer’s personal credit on the line or paying high interest rates also make prepaid an attractive option. This can be particularly true for small- to mid-size businesses where credit availability and access may be limited.

Of course this doesn’t have to be an “all or nothing” proposition. Using a combination of both credit and prepaid would be appropriate and beneficial for a number of businesses. Bringing prepaid into the fold “makes cards available for employees that may not have a robust credit history and where daily stipends are more controllable from a centralized corporate body,” Javelin Senior Payments Analyst Nick Holland said in a recent paymentssource.com article.

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