Business Prepaid Card: What It Is & How It Works

A business prepaid card is a type of card that needs to be loaded with money before you can use it to make purchases. It helps you set a limit on your business expenses and not worry about the interest rates and penalty fees associated with a small business credit card.

Our best business prepaid card is the Bento for Business Visa^® Debit Card as it has a straightforward fee structure and a maximum spend limit of $25,000 per day. It can be used at merchants that accept Visa debit cards and for international transactions, with no foreign transaction fees.

Who a Business Prepaid Card Is Best For

You don’t have strong business credit: It is an excellent option if you don’t yet have strong business credit to qualify for a traditional credit card.
You have a startup: It’s a viable option if you’re just getting your business off the ground and want to use only your cash on hand.
You want to monitor business spending easily: It lets you see real-time transactions made through expense management software specific to each card. While the software is usually offered for free, you’ll need to upgrade it to get advanced features and in-depth information on your business spending habits.

How a Business Prepaid Card Works

Business prepaid cards are usually managed through an expense management platform. This is where a business owner can see real-time transactions made using the listed employee cards included in their account.

To use a business prepaid card, follow these steps:

Step 1: Load your business prepaid card
You’ll first need to load the account through one of the following ways:
- Online transfer: Using the card’s expense management platform, you can link your existing checking or savings account as a funding source for your business prepaid card.
- Bank transfer: You can add funds through your bank’s automated clearing house (ACH) transfer service. This feature may be available through its website, by phone, or an in-person visit at a branch.
- Reload location: Netspend Prepaid Debit Card, Brink’s Business Expense Card, and Mesh Card are some examples of business prepaid cards that let you add funds through the nearest authorized reload location. Note that there may be fees to consider with this option.
- Automatic deposit: Schedule reloads on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis with a set amount that will be transferred from your checking or savings account.
Step 2: Make purchases
Once the funds have been loaded, you and your employees can now use them for your business transactions. Every transaction made will be deducted from the amount on the card.
Step 3: Approve or reject employees’ transactions
You can approve or reject transactions made by your employees via the expense management platform. You can also set up automatic approvals on recurring transactions, such as subscriptions.
Step 4: Reload your business prepaid card
As funds are depleted, you can add more funds to your business prepaid card.

Pros & Cons of a Business Prepaid Card


PROS	CONS
Is more secure than cash	Won’t help you build business credit
Helps control your and your employees’ spending	Makes it more difficult to recover funds if it is lost or stolen
Doesn’t require credit scores for application	Lacks rewards, points, or benefits to maximize business expenses

Unlike traditional credit cards, business prepaid cards won’t help build your business credit or let you maximize business expenses through cash back, points, and other rewards. If this is a priority, visit our guide to the best small business credit cards.

How To Select a Business Prepaid Card

When determining the right business prepaid card for your business, you need to consider costs, load limits, spending limits, and convenience. Use the questions below as a guide:

Costs

Is there a fee for creating an employee card?
Are there monthly/quarterly/annual fees?
Does it charge foreign transaction fees?

Load Limits

Is there a daily/monthly/annual load limit?
Is there a balance limit?
Is there a load limit? If so, then will it affect your business expenses?

Spending Limits

Is there a limit on withdrawals?
Is there a limit on purchases?

Convenience

Is there more than one way to load it?
Are the features that help you manage your business expenses?

Business Prepaid Card vs Alternatives

A business prepaid card and its alternatives, such as debit, credit, purchasing, and secure cards, all allow you to make transactions. However, there are differences in how they work and how they’re funded.