Virtual Prepaid Card – A Great Breakthrough for Businesses in the Payment Process

Virtual cards are gaining increasing popularity in businesses. The virtual card market is expected to hit $500 billion in the coming years. Let’s see what a virtual prepaid card is and what its advantages are.

What is a Virtual Prepaid Card?

A virtual prepaid card is a digital payment device that serves just like a physical prepaid card, barring that it’s used for phone orders and online shopping. A process known as tokenization randomly generates credentials and the cards feature built-in financial controls, enabling you to fund the card either for a single use or multiple payments.

Virtual prepaid cards enhance the payment experience in businesses by making it simpler, safer and smarter. Irrespective of whether you’re making or receiving the payment, virtual cards are enhancing the B2B payments and accounts payable processes in various ways.

Increase in Transparency and Spend Visibility

Several small businesses face problems with expenditure management, particularly when it’s bout employee expenses. Small organizations often depend on a single corporate credit card, which is shared among employees. This can create a lot of problems for the business with reconciliation, creating complications in employer-employee relationship and restricting the financial flexibility of the business. Here a virtual prepaid card can come to a rescue. Instead of using one plastic card connected to a corporate account, a business can generate an endless number of virtual cards to cater a wide range of requirements, time periods and monetary sums.

Due to minute-by-minute accounting and live reporting of the virtual prepaid card, the business owner always has a clear idea of their funds available, how much has been spent and where. All expenditure is approved and tracked in real time, so, no time-consuming tracking spreadsheets, paper trails, budgets and invoices are required. Monthly reconciliations have become things of the past with the virtual prepaid cards.

Streamlined Payment Process

A payment card makes your payment process streamlined, safe and simple, and eliminates the risk of abuse. While shopping online, if employees find an interesting item they’d like to purchase, they are to send a request to their manager for approval. The manager then forms a virtual payment card for the amount requested and sends it to the employee, who enters the details into the payment page at checkout – so simple! During the whole process, the employer has a total visibility and control over the payment process. The employee on the other hand is free to make the purchases.

Virtual cards enable businesses to manage card numbers and balances on any mobile device or computer, from anywhere in the world. Virtual prepaid cards are acceptable at any merchant where MasterCard and Visa is accepted, which offers customers almost endless buying options and flexibility.

Funds are transferred immediately, and unlike checks or other old-fashioned payment methods, the money can be spent instantaneously without having to wait. Automated accounts payable platforms make the payment process easy to only a few clicks.

Safety Involved

As per a survey, 51% of businesses admit that they are highly to moderately susceptible to information theft. Protecting online card information from thieves is therefore a big issue.

• Corporate credit cards provide a huge scope for theft, fraud, abuse and financial damage, particularly cards with high limits. Virtual payment cards, on the other hand, are appealing since they have outstanding safety features.
• For each new purchase, a new card number can be generated which reduces the risk of theft/fraud to zero. Plus, doing so is just a matter of a few moments!
• Since the card is virtual and not physical, it cannot be lost or stolen, and the information is only stored online via access to a lunch window.
• Cards are not connected to a bank or credit account which eliminates the risk of theft of private information.
• After use, virtual cards can be deleted or edited.
• Organizations can create as many cards as they want to, for various employees and merchants.

Payment process is simplified by virtual payment cards. They are more efficient and transparent, and eliminate frauds and security concerns. These are the reasons why they are becoming more and more popular!