Construction business owners understand that their employees have to make purchases from time to time to keep the business running. Using a check approval process wouldn’t give you the flexibility you need and lending out traditional credit cards is not ideal either. Both methods have limitations and can cause problems, however.
Choosing the right prepaid debit card may offer more benefits than either writing checks or allowing employees to use business credit cards.
The cards are prepaid, so approval does not depend on your credit. The cards can be used anywhere that accepts credit cards, and the information from them is sent electronically directly to the bank account to which they are linked so that the data can be readily accessed by you.
How are prepaid debit cards useful to construction companies?
Prepaid debit cards can offer multiple benefits to construction companies. When you run a construction business, it can be difficult to track and control your business and employee expenses.
Prepaid debit cards can help you to control your business expenses because you are able to limit the types of spending that your employees can undertake according to their jobs.
For example, you might provide a dump truck driver with a card that he or she can use to purchase gas. A framer might receive a card to use to purchase framing supplies. If the framer tries to buy gas with his card, it will be declined.
Similarly, if the dump truck driver tries to buy framing materials with his card instead of gas, it will also be declined. This feature can help you to keep business expenses under control by preventing unauthorized purchase.
Why are construction prepaid debit cards a better solution than construction credit cards?
Construction credit cards generally have several limitations that make them less attractive for businesses. While the National Small Business Association reports that 10% of the businesses that they surveyed were in the construction industry, it can be difficult for many small construction company owners to gain approval for business credit cards.
Many business credit cards charge high rates of interest and high annual fees. In order to qualify for them, you must have good credit, and your business must have been operating for a substantial period of time.
Debit cards are a better solution because:
- You can limit the spending amounts and the categories of spending that can be completed.
- Since they are not credit cards, your credit won’t matter for approval.
- You also won’t be charged interest on the balance on your cards since it is your own money.
- You can get cards for each of your employees that need them and limit the amounts that they can spend on a daily or weekly basis, and you can control the spending limits on each card yourself.
When should you start looking into construction prepaid debit card solutions?
When you run a construction business, there are often high capital outlays. This can make it difficult to keep your expenses under control. Controlling your expenses with debit cards for construction businesses earlier in the process is a good idea. This can help you to prevent waste so that you can get the expenses under control.
The construction prepaid cards that are offered by Bento for Business are a good solution for construction companies that want an easy way to manage their expenses and prevent misuse. Check out how other construction companies are using Bento here.
