6 Best Business Prepaid Cards for 2022
Tricia has nearly two decades of experience in commercial and federal government lending. Her expertise is highlighted throughout small business loan content on Fit Small Business.
Benilyn has over a decade of experience as a banking officer. Her expertise is featured throughout Fit Small Business in personal finance, credit card, and real estate investing content.
This article is part of a larger series on Best Small Business Credit Cards.
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post with regularly updated card details.
The best business prepaid cards for small businesses have reasonable fees and offer convenient ways to reload your balance. To find the one fit for your business, consider your spending habits and how many cards you’ll need for your employees—then choose one that provides access to an online and mobile dashboard and allows you to control your employee cards. Prepaid cards aren’t credit cards and require no credit check, so you can be approved for one easily.
Here are the six best prepaid business cards:
- Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card: Best overall business prepaid card
- PEX Business Prepaid: Best for custom payment platform
- Dash Prepaid Mastercard®: Best for low daily spend limits with no setup and monthly fees
- Netspend Prepaid Debit Card: Best for earning cash back through payback rewards
- Brink’s Business Expense Card: Best for free starter package
- Mesh Card: Best for high balance limit and earning a welcome bonus
To see how these cards stack up against others we reviewed on our site, click Add to Compare on a card below and choose up to two additional cards for comparison.
Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card: Best Overall Business Prepaid Card
Why we like it: The Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card is our best overall business prepaid card because of its straightforward fee structure and high maximum spend limit of $25,000 per day. It may be used at any merchant that accepts Visa debit cards and for international transactions—with no foreign transaction fees. What’s more, you can try Bento for free for the first 60 days with no setup and debit fees.
How To Load Funds
You can add or transfer funds to your Bento account through the following:
- Bento transfer: Once your card is linked to your business bank account, you can transfer funds from the bank account to your Bento account online. To complete a Bento transfer:
- Click the “Bento Transfer” on the Funds tab, then enter your desired transfer amount
- Click the “Add Funds” button to initiate a transfer from your linked bank account into your Bento account
The maximum deposit limit is $10,000 daily, and it’ll take around one to three business days for your funds to become available on your Bento account.
- Automatic deposits via Bento transfer: You can also schedule reloads on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Plus, you can set up a low-balance reload to initiate a funds transfer once your Bento card’s balance meets the threshold:
- To schedule an automatic deposit, log on to your Bento online account, click “Schedule Reload” from the Funds tab, and enter the desired deposit amount
- To set up an automatic low-balance reload, click “Low-balance Reload” from the Funds tab, set a balance threshold, and enter your desired deposit amount
You can pause or turn off the Scheduled Reload or Low-Balance Reload by switching the on/off toggle.
- Bank transfer: You can initiate a funds transfer via your bank’s automated clearing house (ACH) transfer service. Your bank may offer this option through their website, phone, or in-branch services:
- Select “Bank Transfer” from the Funds tab, then note the banking information provided
- Contact your bank to process an ACH transfer using the provided banking information
- Your bank will process the transfer, and your funds will be available within one to two business days
Keep in mind that some banks offer next-day or same-day ACH functionality. Verify with your bank if it offers this option.
- Wire transfer: You can also transfer funds through your bank’s wire transfer service:
- Select “Wire Transfer” from the Funds tab and note the banking information provided
- Contact your bank to initiate a wire transfer using the banking information
- Your bank will process the wire transfer, and funds will typically be available the same or next business day
It’s worth noting that while Bento doesn’t charge any fees for transferring funds into your Bento account, your bank may charge an outgoing wire transfer fee. Check with your bank to know the fees associated with this service.
Additional Features
Spend Controls
With Bento for Business Visa® Debit Card, you can activate or deactivate the card or your employees’ cards anytime online. You can also set up flexible spending amounts, limit spending to work days only, and restrict merchant categories. Plus, it lets you activate international use only when needed and allows online and telephone purchasing.
Analytics & Reporting
You can take advantage of real-time visibility into your transactions. Additionally, you’ll see an overview of your cash flow, allowing you to manage your budget effectively.
Accounting Integration
Bento is integrated with a variety of accounting software, including QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Oracle, and Xero. Plus, you can check the transactions page using two different views: the simple reporting view shows the basic information while the accounting-focused view allows for enhanced functionality.
PEX Prepaid Business Card: Best for Custom Payment Platform
Why we like it: If you need to customize your business’s spending per department, employee, and merchant category, the PEX Prepaid Business Card is a great option. It offers a 60-day free trial, and you can choose from a variety of monthly packages depending on your needs. You can also set the time and days when the card can be used. PEX’s platform instantly approves or declines transactions based on your settings.
How To Load Funds
To fund your PEX account, you can transfer directly from the bank account through online funds transfer, ACH credit, and outgoing ACH transfer. You may also add funds to your PEX account through a wire transfer from your business checking account or initiate a debit of the funds from your bank account via the PEX ACH Service. Most banks typically take around one to two business days to completely process the fund transfer; however, this may also vary from bank to bank.
Additional Features
Account Management & Reporting
You can track your company spending anywhere because PEX reports transactions in real-time. Cardholders can submit receipts and accounting codes through a mobile app, while administrators can manage card restrictions online or via mobile app.
Physical & Virtual Cards
With PEX Prepaid Business Card, you have the option to use physical or virtual cards. You can distribute physical cards to employees and use virtual cards for online purchases and subscriptions.
Accounting Integration
You can integrate your PEX account with QuickBooks and other major accounting software to provide an automated payment platform based on your needs.
Dash Prepaid Mastercard®: Best for Low Daily Spend Limits With No Setup & Monthly Fees
Why we like it: If you anticipate the daily spend of each card to be under $1,000, the Dash Prepaid Mastercard® may be the best choice for your business because it has a maximum spend limit of $1,000 per day. With no setup and monthly fees, it’s essentially free to use, as the provider takes a percentage of each sale from the merchant. Plus, there’s no limit to the number of cards you can order. Moreover, it integrates with QuickBooks and other major accounting software.
How To Load Funds
Dash features the “Company Vault,” which is where your company’s funds are securely stored. To deposit funds into it, you need to add your checking or savings account as a funding source to Dash. Then, you can transfer funds quickly and securely online when your balance gets low.
Additional Features
Funding Requests From Employees
Team members can request funds by simply entering an amount and providing a description or reason for the request. The account administrators will receive the request and review it for approval. This feature allows you to approve or reject expenses before they happen. If you approve the request, the funds will be available on the team member’s card. You can also set limits per employee to allow automatic approval if the load requests are just within their limit.
Paperless Receipts
Every transaction is captured in the Dash app with the merchant’s name, category, and date of purchase. Users can add additional expense details, such as expense categories, receipt photos, and purchase details.
Daily Summaries
With daily summaries, you’ll stay on top of transactions, card balances, and deposits via email or text. You can also opt for push notifications with every transaction for real-time reporting. In addition, you can be notified when the company vault’s account balance is low.
Netspend Prepaid Debit Card: Best for Earning Cash Back Through Payback Rewards
Why we like it: With the Netspend Prepaid Debit Card, you can earn cash back rewards on some of your purchases through its Payback Rewards feature. Netspend will provide reward offers that are personalized based on your spending habits—you can visit its rewards page to see your customized offers. Plus, it allows you to choose between the monthly and pay-as-you-go plan, which is best if you don’t want to commit to using the card for the long term.
How To Load Funds
There are several ways to load funds onto the Netspend Prepaid Debit Card:
- Direct deposit (ACH deposit)
- Cash reload at a Netspend reload network location (subject to reload fees up to $3.95)
- Bank account transfer
- Mobile check deposit
- Western Union money transfer
- Transfer money from another debit or credit card
Additional Features
Mobile Check Load
Through the Netspend mobile app, you can fund your Netspend prepaid account with your checks using your phone. To do this, make sure to download the latest version of the mobile app, select “Mobile Check Load” from the menu to the left, and then follow the instructions provided.
Anytime Alerts™
You can get notified of your transactions with Netspend’s Anytime Alerts feature, which will notify you through text and email. Plus, you can manage your preferences to only receive the alerts that are important to you and customize how often you want to get notified. Alerts can be sent daily, weekly, or with each individual transaction—including transaction details, deposits, declined transactions, spending limits, and available funds.
Online Account Management
The Netspend Prepaid Debit Card allows you to manage your account online—you can see your transaction details, set up direct deposit, and activate your payback rewards. It also offers online budgeting tools that allow you to set spending limits and set up Anytime Alerts™ to get notifications when you almost reach your limits.
Brink’s Business Expense Card: Best for Free Starter Package
Why we like it: If you don’t need more than two prepaid cards for your business, the Brink’s Business Expense Card is a great option, as its starter package offers free cards for the business owner and a team member. You get a 60-day free trial and no setup fees and can choose between two cards: fixed value and spend limit. Fixed value are prefunded cards that are ideal for per-diems or one-time spend requests, while spend limit cards are suitable for regular day-to-day expenses.
How To Load Funds
You can add money to your Brink’s Money Prepaid Mastercard through any of the following:
- Direct deposit: You can add your paycheck or government payments check to your Brink’s Money Prepaid Mastercard through direct deposit. You’ll need your bank’s routing number to set up a direct deposit.
- Reload network locations: Add money to your prepaid card through any of the 1,300+ reload network locations in the U.S. Fees may apply, and this can vary from one network to another.
- Bank transfers: You can use your bank checking or savings account or another bank debit card to add money to your Brink’s Money Prepaid Card Account.
- PayPal transfers: You can also transfer money from your PayPal account to your Brink’s Money Prepaid Card Account at no additional cost. Your funds will typically be available in two to three business days.
- Transfer money between Brink’s Money Prepaid Mastercard Card Accounts and other Netspend Card accounts: Brink’s is part of the Netspend family, making it easy for you to transfer funds to and from any other Netspend account at no additional cost. To do this, just visit your Online Account Center and follow the procedure indicated.
- Tax refunds: You can request the IRS to electronically deposit your tax refunds directly to your Brink’s account.
- Mobile check load: Deposit your checks directly to your prepaid card at any time. Simply take a photo of your check and process the deposit through Brink’s Money Prepaid mobile app.
Additional Features
Real-time Dashboard
You’ll have access to a centralized dashboard, so you can track top-spending employee cards and detect suspicious transactions. It also allows you to monitor expenses by spend categories, employee cards, and date ranges.
Automatic Transfers
With automatic transfers, you don’t need to worry about having a low card balance. You can schedule reloads to your Brink’s account at a specific frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly) or when your available balance reaches a certain threshold.
Real-time Notifications
You can opt to receive real-time alerts for any potential fraud activity and turn any card off if used outside of your expense policy. Plus, you can receive notifications for declined transactions, whenever a transaction exceeds a specific amount, or when your card balance reaches a certain limit.
Mesh Card: Best for High Balance Limit & Earning a Welcome Bonus
Why we like it: The Mesh card offers a high balance limit of $10 million, which is the highest among all cards in this guide. Moreover, it’s the only business prepaid card on this list that offers a welcome bonus. You can earn $200 when you spend at least $3,000 on a Mesh card and get an additional $300 when you link recurring marketing or cloud expenses to Mesh within your first two months. What’s more, the Mesh platform is completely free.
How To Load Funds
You may add funds to your Mesh card at any time via reload locations. You may also load your card through a direct deposit by providing Mesh’s routing number and the account number to your bank. Note that you cannot load your card by check or money order.
Additional Features
Cash Back With Every Payment
For every transaction you make using your Mesh card, you can earn 1% cash back. You can enjoy saving on your expenses without having to pay any fees.
Smart Virtual Cards
Mesh allows you to create unlimited virtual cards free of charge. You can set up your virtual cards online, assign cards to employees, and set controls on your virtual cards based on the amount, vendor, number of transactions, and other custom filters with ease.
Plug & Pay™ Cards
Mesh Plug & Pay™ cards are physical cards that have all the benefits of virtual cards. These cards are numberless, making them more secure and safe to use. Additionally, you can track all your payments in real-time using one platform.
How We Evaluated Business Prepaid Cards
To determine the best business prepaid cards, we considered cost, load limits, spending limits, and convenience. We also looked at additional features and the process of loading funds to the card.
Alternatives To Prepaid Business Credit Cards
- Small business credit cards: Small business credit cards allow you to float expenses while growing your business. Grow your credit score and save money with low introductory and ongoing interest rates and relevant rewards.
- Purchasing cards (p-cards): Purchasing cards are for business-to-business purchases. Like a charge card, the balance must be paid in full monthly.
- Secured business credit cards: Secured business credit cards are a good option for those who cannot qualify for a nonsecured card due to poor or low credit or no credit history as you only need to make a security deposit to qualify. In time, with consistent on-time payments, you can grow your credit score and qualify for a nonsecured card.
Business Cards Work
Prepaid business cards work like regular business credit cards—you can use them to make purchases and pay for other business expenses. However, unlike credit cards, you need to load funds to your prepaid card to be able to use it. When you make purchases using one, the amount of your purchase will automatically be deducted from your card’s balance. Also, these are easier to qualify for than business credit cards since there’s no credit check.
Once you’re approved, there are often several ways to load funds onto the card. The most common way is to transfer funds from your bank account directly to the card. Using the issuer’s online or mobile dashboard, you can set spending limits, select which merchants can be paid with the card, and freeze cards in case of fraud.
Keep in mind that most prepaid cards don’t offer rewards, and there are often fees associated with account setup, monthly maintenance, and withdrawing funds from ATMs.
Bottom Line
The best business prepaid cards give your organization the freedom to skip the paperwork of expense reports, purchase orders, check reimbursements, and petty cash. As long as you have cash on hand to continuously reload the cards, prepaid cards are a convenient method of paying for business expenses for both you and your employees. If you’re interested in other business card options, visit our Credit Card Marketplace.
