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There are several reasons why you would prefer using a prepaid Mastercard over a conventional debit card. The disposable nature of prepaid cards makes them more secure. They are not linked to a line of credit granted by your bank and do not have direct access to funds in your bank account.
Organisations also benefit. They can issue a prepaid Mastercard card to individual employees or even entire teams and departments. This while keeping full control over their spending limits. The inherently secure nature of prepaid cards thus makes them a suitable option for companies.
❯ What is the difference between a regular Mastercard and a prepaid Mastercard?
❯ What are the additional benefits of a prepaid Mastercard card?
❯ How do I get a prepaid Mastercard card?
What is Mastercard?
Mastercard is one of the world's largest payment processing networks after Visa. The company was founded in 1966 as the Interbank Card Association. In 1979, it was renamed Mastercard.
Its main business is processing payments between the banks of customers using Mastercard-branded payment cards and the banks of merchants. It has been a listed company since 2006. Before Mastercard went public, it was a cooperative entity owned by more than 25,000 financial institutions that Mastercard cards issues.
What does Mastercard offer?
Mastercard offers debit, credit and prepaid cards through its issuing partners. Many people believe in the misconception that Mastercard is the issuer of its cards. However, this is not true.
Cards are issued by financial institutions that operate under a strict regulatory framework. For example, a Mastercard-branded credit card is issued by ABN AMRO. This bank is then the entity that issues the card, Mastercard is the payment network it uses to process payments with that card.
This also applies to prepaid Mastercard cards. SimpledCard's business prepaid Mastercard card is issued by PayrNet UAB, a wholly owned subsidiary of Railsbank. And so the British Airways Executive Club Cash Passport prepaid card is issued by PrePay Technologies Limited.
Ways to pay with Mastercard
A prepaid Mastercard card works in the same way as a regular card. This means you can use a prepaid card to pay at any shop that accepts Mastercard. Load up the prepaid debit card and use it for your everyday purchases at your favourite shops. You can also use these cards for online payments. However, some subscription services that rely on recurring payments may not always accept the prepaid Mastercard.
Most prepaid Mastercard cards now offer contactless payments. Hold the card at a contactless terminal at checkout to complete the payment. It offers extra security as you hold the card in your hand the whole time. This also protects against double payments. Even if you accidentally tap twice.
What is the difference between a regular Mastercard and a prepaid Mastercard card?
A normal Mastercard card, whether credit or debit, is linked to an account. With a debit card, you can only spend or withdraw money available in your checking or savings account. With a credit card, you can only spend money up to the maximum credit limit given to you by your bank.
If you lose your card or data leaks from a website where you used it, someone could theoretically withdraw money from your account or use up your credit limit.
A prepaid Mastercard card is something completely different. First, it is much easier to obtain, even for those who do not qualify for a normal card due to their credit history. No traditional credit check or linked bank account is required to obtain and use a prepaid card.
The only credit available on a prepaid card is the credit you load on it. So if you lose a prepaid Mastercard card with 100 euros on it, you cannot lose more money than that. This makes prepaid cards a much safer option to use when travelling abroad or making online payments.
What are the additional benefits of a prepaid Mastercard card?
Prepaid Mastercard users need not worry about interest charges as it is not possible to borrow money on these cards. You can use a prepaid Mastercard card to withdraw cash from ATMs around the world where Mastercard is accepted.
Mastercard also offers Zero Liability Protection on prepaid cards. The issuer will not hold you liable for “unauthorised transactions” if the loss or theft was reported immediately and you took reasonable precautions to protect your card from loss or theft. However, a prepaid card must be registered to benefit from this so-called Zero Liability Protection.
How do I get a prepaid Mastercard card?
Mastercard has several partners using its payment network to offer prepaid cards. These include banks, financial institutions, airlines, major retailers, and many more. Issuers get to decide which features they want to offer on their prepaid cards. For example, some do not offer contactless payments. While others do not allow you to withdraw cash.
At SimpledCard, we offer prepaid Mastercard cards for business spending. The platform allows organisations to create their own Bank-independent prepaid Mastercard cards issue and hand them directly to employees. The contactless prepaid cards issued by SimpledCard can be used anywhere in the world on location and online.
As a manager, you get real-time insight into all payments, giving you better control over company spending. You can decide to centrally enable or disable cash withdrawals from ATMs. And if a card is lost, employees can easily block it and reactivate it at any time.
These cards are part of our expense management solution. When employees make a payment using their prepaid card, they can immediately account for the expense via the app. To do so, they simply take a picture of the receipt and it is linked to the transaction.
As finance managers, you have the flexibility to view expense claims and justifications through one central dashboard. You can even programme rules to automatically replenish budgets on employees' cards.
SimpledCard not only makes it easy to issue prepaid Mastercard cards to employees, but also streamlines expense tracking and accounting. To provide an end-to-end solution for business expenses. So you can fully integrate expense management into your accounting process.
Want to know more about prepaid Mastercards or how to implement them into your organisation's workflow? Then get in touch with our team of experts.
