For bus operators, expenses and per diems can get very complicated. Companies try to manage these challenges with personal prepaid cards instead of business prepaid cards, which results in risks and inefficiencies. For example:
Payroll cards: If an employer uses a payroll card for salaries, they’ll often load per diems and reimbursements on it as well. This is problematic because they are co-mingling taxable and non-taxable funds. It also strains employees by making them pay expenses up front and then wait several weeks for reimbursements.
Gift cards: These carry a set dollar amount. The downside is employees could end up carrying multiple cards while traveling due to odd balances leftover from other’s travel. Employers have no oversight on what employees are buying with the cards.
General purpose reloadable cards: This option is different from gift cards because money can be reloaded on them. However, they are like gift cards in that employers cannot control where the cards are used, and cannot unload leftover funds.
Employee personal credit cards: Often employees will use their personal credit cards for business expenses. This expects employees to have a personal credit card, and like payroll cards, cover expenses prior to having the funds reimbursed from their employer.
Value-loaded prepaid expense cards offer numerous advantages, allowing employees to easily access funds allocated by their company, while the business controls the loading and unloading of funds and has oversight into spending. In this way, the Prepaid Expense Card from Commerce Bank makes it easier for businesses and employees to manage travel expenses.
“Implementation was simple and the program has been working flawlessly,” said Michael Giddens, general manager of Pacific Coachways. Pacific Coachways is one of many companies which has been successfully utilizing the Prepaid Expense Card for per diem pay.
Commerce Bank said that companies using Prepaid Expense Card enjoy multiple benefits: Adding or removing funds in real time; tracking purchases by dates, amounts and locations; reclaiming unspent funds; monitoring spending; limiting cash access; setting spending limits; replacing lost or stolen cards quickly; eliminating the expense of reimbursement checks; simplifying reconciliation; and restricting specific merchant categories. The Commerce Bank prepaid expense card also comes with Visa® Zero Liability* protection for unauthorized activity.
The Prepaid Expense Card has several advantages over other card programs, including no deposit or bank account required with Commerce Bank; no loading and unloading fees; and immediately-available funds**.
For more information, contact prepaidexpense@commercebank.com or call 866.946.3017.
*Customer must notify Commerce Bank within 60 days of receiving the first statement with unauthorized activity. For specific restrictions, limitations and other details, please consult Commerce Bank.
**Requires Instant Funding option and one time set up fee.