How do prepaid debit cards work?

A prepaid debit card increases the scope of action for you as a private user or for your employees. You get all the benefits of a normal credit card, but without the risks associated with a regular overdraft facility. You retain control over your prepaid credit card and can limit it entirely according to your wishes. Read all about prepaid and how you can benefit in the following article.

What is a prepaid debit card?

The term “prepaid” is another term for “paid in advance”. Thus, a prepaid debit card can be used like a normal credit card for companies, but does not include an overdraft facility. 

A prepaid debit card looks no different from conventional cards. As an employee or private individual, you receive a personalised Mastercard with your own number, expiry date and CVV code. To ensure security in companies, it is also possible to differentiate between administrators and card users.

While card users can use their card in a regular manner, administrators can define the general conditions. These include spending limits, expiry dates and merchant restrictions. This further increases security and control for companies without impacting the workflow of employees.

How does a prepaid debit card work?

Nowadays, there are three different cards: Debit, credit and prepaid.

Debit cards are linked to your current account and allow you to carry out transactions with the money available in your account. Payments are debited from your account immediately. This means that you can only spend the money you have available

Credit cards function in a different way. Here, the bank pays out the amount directly and grants you a loan, which you usually have to repay at monthly intervals, depending on the provider. The interest rate in Switzerland can be up to 12%.

Prepaid cards have only become widely used in Europe since the ratification of the SEPA law in 2009. In most cases, this is a Mastercard or VISA card that is not linked to your own bank account. Instead, the money must be loaded onto the card in advance. The payment provider sets up a non-bank account for this purpose.

Why is a prepaid debit card beneficial to employees?

Whether debit, prepaid or credit cards for employees, companies have a variety of tools to limit theft and misuse thanks to smart control features such as account limits or card expiry dates.

A prepaid credit card for employees gives your company more flexibility, for example to enable employees to pay at petrol stations, make online purchases or withdraw cash on business trips.

Therefore, a prepaid credit card is beneficial for employees with a fleet of vehicles, for the purchasing department, for business travellers and for companies of all sizes. Having your own bank card can increase the productivity of each employee.

Before deciding on a provider, it is particularly worth comparing the different offers. For example, if you pay a lot in foreign currencies, it is worth choosing a provider with favourable exchange rates.

A prepaid credit card for employees is useful for different business sectors and companies of all kinds:

• More flexibility for purchases of all kinds
• Low risk due to administrators
• For corporate groups and SMEs

The multi-currency debit card from amnis

If you choose the wrong card provider, you may end up paying high currency exchange or special fees. With its multi-currency capability, the amnis business debit card is aimed specifically at companies that frequently conduct their business in foreign currencies.

Your amnis currency exchange rate is transparent from the very start and depends on your chosen tariff package. If your payment is made in a non-supported currency, the standard Mastercard fees will apply.

In addition, amnis also supports your accounting: amnis tags allow you to assign transactions to a specific project or department, which speeds up your work. Using the mobile app, receipts can simply be photographed and attached to the card transaction.

With the real-time transactions overview, you also retain maximum control over all employee cards and can flexibly adjust and manage the settings at any time: Limits for a single card or an entire team, geo-blocking, cash withdrawals and restrictions on merchant types, temporary deactivation or blocking of the card – with the amnis multi currency business debit card, you have full control over your debit cards and can thus minimise the risk of misuse.

Your free demo account with amnis

amnis is a financial services provider that makes your transactions as cost-effective as possible. In addition to our physical and virtual mastercards, you can bypass the expensive SWIFT network and instead benefit from local payment networks such as SEPA or ACH, no matter where your company is located.

Test amnis free of charge and without obligation.