Editor’s note: This is a recurring post with regularly updated card details.
Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card is a business prepaid card that offers a straightforward fee structure and a high maximum spend limit of $25,000 per day. It does not charge any additional fees for domestic and international transactions. Since it is not a credit card, it doesn’t come with annual percentage rate (APR). Keep in mind that you need to load the card first before you can use it, making it a viable option for those who have sufficient cash on hand for use as working capital.
When grading business prepaid cards like the Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card, we first consider the features offered, such as the expense management platform. Then, we also took the fees and rewards into consideration.
Grading Criteria | Card Score | Highest Possible Score |
|---|---|---|
Features (Expense Management System) | 60 | 60 |
Fees | 0 | 20 |
Rewards | 0 | 20 |
Total Score | 60 | 100 |
Who the Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card Is Best For
- Businesses that have sufficient cash on hand: Since Bento is a debit card, you need to load the card first before you can use it—this makes it ideal for businesses that have enough cash on hand.
- Business owners who need robust spend controls: Bento for Business offers a streamlined system that allows you to set robust controls on budget, expense categories, and more.
If this card doesn’t fit your business needs, see our recommended alternatives below.
Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card Rewards
Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card does not offer any rewards for new and existing users.
Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card Features
Cards
Bento for Business offers two types of cards:
- Corporate cards: These are physical cards that can be used for both domestic and international transactions, so long as the transactions fall within the spend control categories determined by the admin. There are two kinds of Bento corporate cards:
- Spend limit cards: Best for everyday use and for expenses that require users to submit receipts. You can use the Spend Limit Cards as:
- Primary corporate cards: Ideal for regular day-to-day business expenses—these pull funds directly from your Bento account balance
- Purchase cards: Optimal for allowing authorized personnel to make purchases
- Travel and entertainment (T&E) cards: Best for businesses that need to manage and track all travel expenses
- Ghost cards: Ideal for managing one-off payments to third parties without sharing primary card details or banking information
- Subscription cards: Designed to track and prevent unwanted automatic renewals
- Fixed value cards: Best for one-time payments or transactions that don’t require users to submit receipts. Here are two ways you can use Bento’s fixed value cards:
- Per diem cards: Designed to reduce the time spent on reimbursements and tracking receipts
- Vendor management: Ideal for regular vendors or one-time vendors, protecting your banking information
- Spend limit cards: Best for everyday use and for expenses that require users to submit receipts. You can use the Spend Limit Cards as:
- Virtual cards: These can be created instantaneously when needed. As a quick and easy alternative to physical cards, they are best for one-off purchases, for use for a mobile wallet, and as a temporary card. They are customizable to have the same features as that of a physical card.
Funds
With Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card, there’s no limit on how much you can load per day. You can load up to $10,000 a day via Bento transfer and do wire and automated clearing house (ACH) transfers if you need more. Additionally, all funds held within Bento are Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)-insured to $250,000 through the Bancorp Bank (Member FDIC).
Keep in mind that there is a maximum spend limit of $25,000 per day, per card, and a $500 per day ATM and cash back limit on the primary account holder’s card. Employee and utility Bento cards do not have ATM and cash back access.
Expense Management System
- Bento Pay™: Pay vendor invoices digitally using only the payee’s email address.
- Analytics and reporting: Get a 360-degree view of your spending—gain insight into your top spending employees, get real-time transaction updates, add filters to identify different types of spend, and map spend trends over the course of your Bento account.
- Accounting integration: Connect any accounting software to Bento to reconcile your transactions directly from the dashboard. Save 90% of your bookkeeper’s time that’s normally spent on reconciling and matching receipts to transactions. You can categorize your transactions in three ways:
- Auto categorization: Create a rule on your Bento dashboard that will allow similar transaction characteristics to auto-add elements on your dashboard, such as GL codes, class, or location
- Bulk categorization: Manually code multiple transactions with a tag, GL code, or location at the same time
- Individual categorization: Easily identify each transaction by clicking to get the transaction details and code each individually by GL code, tag, class, or location
- Policy enforcement settings: Automatically turn on and off your employee cards as a way to auto-enforce employees to submit receipts on time, tag transactions correctly, and add notes if necessary.
- Tag creation: Create custom tagging fields that can be used to keep track of different spend categories.
- Customized alerts: Create customized alerts via text, email, or mobile app so that they are notified of certain activities made on the Bento account.
- User uploads: Create, delete, or edit user profiles for employees—and employees can submit receipts via the mobile app. Admins can also customize the user profiles and determine what kind of access each will have.
- Receipt capture: Upload pictures of receipts via the Bento for Business mobile app. This will keep the reconciliation and matching process clean, streamlined, and paperless.
Mobile App
Both the admin and employees can see their transactions in real-time without the need to be in front of a computer. Employees can upload their receipts, monitor the settings the admin has set for them, and track their preset spending limit. Meanwhile, admins can see multiple cards based on permissions and make some changes to include certain elements within the dashboard.
Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card Fees
Pricing
The card is free to use for the first 60 days from when your application is approved. After the 60-day free trial, a monthly subscription shall be charged—the amount of which varies depending on your chosen package:
- Starter (up to 10 cards): $29 per month
- Team (up to 25 cards) $69 per month
- Professional (up to 100 cards): $149 per month
- Enterprise (over 100 cards): Upon request by contacting Bento at (866) 200-8455 or support@bentoforbusiness.com.
Fees
- Refund check fee: $15 (applies when you have a remaining balance in the balance at the time of card cancellation)
- International ATM withdrawal fee: $3 per transaction
- Card expedite fee: $20 per card
Bento for Business does not charge fees for the following:
- Setup
- Domestic withdrawal or debit transactions
- Domestic purchase transactions
- Decline or overdraft
- Card issuance
- Load
- Cancellation
How To Transfer Funds to the Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card
- Bento transfer: Go to the “Funds” tab and click the “Bento Transfer” icon. Input the amount you’d like to transfer and hit “+Add fund.” Note that there is a maximum deposit limit of $10,000 per day and that processing will take one to three business days for funds to become available in your Bento account.
- Automatic deposit via Bento transfer: From the “Funds” tab, click “Scheduled Reload.” Enter the desired deposit amount and the deposit frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly). Click “Save” once everything is correct. You can also set an automatic low-balance reload. From the “Funds” tab, choose “Low-balance Reload,” set the threshold, and enter your desired deposit amount
- Bank transfer: From the “Funds” tab, click “Bank transfer.” Note the banking information provided, contact your bank to initiate an ACH transfer, and provide the necessary banking information. Once the bank processes your transfer, funds will be made available in your Bento account within one to two business days.
- Wire transfer: From the “Funds” tab, click “Wire transfer.” Note the banking information provided, contact your bank to initiate a wire transfer, and provide the required banking information. Once the bank processes your transfer, funds will be made available in your Bento account within the same business day.
Pros & Cons of the Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| High maximum spend limit of $25,000 per day, per card | Fees apply depending on the number of cards you need |
| Access levels and spending controls for business owners | No rewards for new and existing users |
| Different types of cards are available | |
When To Consider Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card Alternatives
You Want to Earn Rewards
Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card does not offer ongoing rewards. If you prefer to use a business prepaid card that lets you earn rewards on your purchases, you may benefit more from Emburse Spend Card.
- Offers unlimited 1% cash back on all purchases
- Has a high default deposit limit of $100,000, which can be increased upon request (subject to approval)
- Provides a robust platform that lets you control employee spending and budget
- Does not charge annual or monthly fees
Emburse Spend Card is one of our best prepaid cards and leading business cards with no personal guarantee due to its streamlined system and unlimited rewards.
You Want to Build Business Credit
Since Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card is not a credit card, it does not report your transactions to credit bureaus. This means that using the card will not help you build or improve your credit. If you prefer a business card that can help you build business credit, the Valley Visa® Secured Business Credit Card may be a better option.
Valley Visa® Secured Business Credit Card
BEST FOR:
Those who need a secured business credit card with fixed-rate cash back rewards
- 1% unlimited cash back on all purchases
Pros
- Customers with limited credit history or credit issues can still qualify
- Offers 0% APR for nine months
- No annual fee
- Offers 1% unlimited cash back on all purchases
Cons
- Credit limits are up to $25,000 only
- Requires a security deposit equivalent to 110% of requested credit limit
- Up to 25 free employee cards only
- Online account access
- Immediate fraud protection alerts for suspected fraudulent transactions
- Visa purchase alerts
- The card reports account information and transactions to major credit bureaus each month, helping users build credit with responsible use
- 1% unlimited cash back on all purchases
Pros
- Customers with limited credit history or credit issues can still qualify
- Offers 0% APR for nine months
- No annual fee
- Offers 1% unlimited cash back on all purchases
Cons
- Credit limits are up to $25,000 only
- Requires a security deposit equivalent to 110% of requested credit limit
- Up to 25 free employee cards only
- Online account access
- Immediate fraud protection alerts for suspected fraudulent transactions
- Visa purchase alerts
- The card reports account information and transactions to major credit bureaus each month, helping users build credit with responsible use
- Offers interest-free financing period
- Lets you earn unlimited 1% cash back on purchases
- Comes with a low starting APR compared to most other business credit cards
- Provides a credit limit of up to $25,000, depending on your security deposit
- Offers up to 25 employee cards at no additional cost
Keep in mind that Valley Visa® Secured Business Credit Card requires a security deposit equivalent to 110% of your desired credit limit. It is one of our top-recommended business secured credit cards because of its generous rewards and perks.
You Want the Option to Pay Monthly
With Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card, you need to load your account so you can use the card for your business expenses. If you want to have the option to pay your bills monthly instead of having your transactions directly debited from your account balance, you may find the Brex Card more convenient.
- Comes with pay-daily and pay-monthly options
- Lets you earn up to 8x points on purchases
- Doesn’t charge interest rates, annual fees, and late payment fees
- Comes with a streamlined expense tracking system
Brex Card is one of our top-ranking business cards for startups, making it an ideal choice for new businesses. It is also one of our top choices for the best corporate cards because of its lucrative rewards and flexibility.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You need to be a legally registered United States business with a verifiable physical location in the US to qualify for Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card. Bento does not have a credit score requirement, and it also doesn’t ask for a personal guarantee.
Your spending limit resets at midnight local time based on the reset frequency that you set. You can view when your spending limit will reset by logging in to your Bento. Then go to the Cards tab and hover your mouse over the clock icon. A pop-up will show your reset date and time.
Yes, you can use both physical and virtual cards internationally and anywhere Visa is accepted.
Bottom Line
Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card is a good choice if you have enough working capital for your everyday business expenses and do not want to incur debt. It comes with physical and virtual cards that can be used for a variety of expenses. You can try Bento for free for the first 60 days with no setup and debit fees, and then you have to subscribe to a monthly plan. If you prefer a traditional business credit card, check out our recommendations for best small business credit cards.
