9 expense cards for contract employees and how to choose
- Example expense cards for contract employees
- What is an expense card for contract employees
- How expense cards for contract employees work
- Types of expense cards for contract employees
- What to consider when choosing an expense card provider
- Manage your business expenses with the Ramp card
Many businesses give expense cards to their employees to stay on top of every purchase and set spending limits. While these cards have been a staple for full-time employees, more business owners are hiring contract employees.
Contract employees are currently in higher demand than full-time workers. Almost 40% of companies are actively hiring for contract positions despite recent layoffs. If you need contract employees to make purchases on your company’s behalf, you will have to give them expense cards.
You can choose from many company expense cards for your business, but some are better than others. This guide will explore how to choose the best expense card for contract employees.
Example expense cards for contract employees
Below is a curated list of nine expense cards that offer robust spend controls, real‐time reporting, and seamless integrations—features that can be especially useful for contract employees managing business expenses.
1. Ramp Business Credit Card
Ramp Corporate Credit Card
- Credit limits up to 30x higher than traditional credit cards
- Sales-based underwriting makes for an easier qualification process
- Advanced expense management automation and accounting integrations
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- Must be a corporation, LLC, or LP to qualify
- Must have most of your operations and corporate spend in the US (though international purchases are supported with no foreign transaction fees)
- Doesn’t support balance transfers
The Ramp Business Credit Card offers contract employees a dynamic, fee-free solution that simplifies managing fluctuating project expenses. Its automated expense tracking and real-time analytics enable contractors to easily monitor budgets and maintain compliance without the administrative hassle.
With seamless integration into popular accounting systems, it ensures a streamlined process that allows professionals to focus more on their core work and less on expense management.
2. BILL Divvy Smart Corporate Card
BILL Divvy Smart Corporate Card
- Customizable spending limits
- Real-time reporting
- Expense categorization
- Inadequate expense management tool integration
- Customer support slow to respond
- Confusing fee structure and hidden charges
BILL Divvy Smart Corporate Card offers a practical expense management solution for contract employees. Business owners can easily set customizable spending limits and monitor transactions in real time. Its seamless integration with accounting software streamlines managing contractor expenses on the fly.
3. Airbase Corporate Card
Airbase Corporate Card
- Robust controls
- Integrated vendor payments
- Detailed reporting features
- High fees for international transactions
- Limited integration with external systems
- Occasionally slow interface and processing
Airbase Corporate Card offers business owners a reliable expense management solution for contract employees. Its platform provides both physical and virtual card options, ensuring flexibility for remote or on-site spending. With automated expense approvals and real-time transaction tracking, managing contractor expenses becomes straightforward and transparent.
Overall, Airbase delivers an effective tool for streamlining expense control and maintaining budget integrity.
4. Bento for Business Card
Bento for Business Card
- Customizable card limits
- Instant issuance
- User-friendly expense dashboards
- Limited integrations with accounting software
- Prepaid model may restrict cash flow flexibility
- Basic expense reporting features only
Bento for Business Card’s prepaid model allows business owners to assign fixed budgets to contract employees, ensuring spending stays within set limits.
With real-time expense tracking and simplified reconciliation, managing contractor costs becomes both efficient and transparent. Bento's product offers the control and flexibility needed to effectively oversee a contract workforce's spending.
5. Spendesk Card
Spendesk Card
- Intuitive interface
- Policy enforcement tools
- Integrates with accounting systems
- High fees on international transactions
- Limited global acceptance in some regions
- Expense management process sometimes overcomplicated
Spendesk Card offers real-time tracking and automated reporting, and integrates seamlessly with accounting systems, making expense reconciliation straightforward.
It also offers easy capture of receipts for more automated expense reporting.
6. American Express Business Gold Card
American Express Business Gold Card
- 4x points in two top spending categories
- Sizeable welcome bonus
- Up to $240 annually in statement credits for eligible purchases
- High annual fee
- Spending cap for 4x points at $150,000 annually
- Lacks premium travel perks
The American Express Business Gold Card is a staple among business cards. It provides detailed expense tracking and advanced reporting to help you maintain oversight on contractor spending. Flexible rewards and billing options further enable you to align expenses with your business budget.
7. Chase Ink Business Preferred Card
Chase Ink Business Preferred Card
- Clear expense breakdowns
- Earn 3x points on travel, shipping, internet and phone services, and qualifying ad spending
- Points are worth 25% more when redeemed through Chase Travel
- Integrates with popular accounting tools
- High annual fee for small businesses
- High spending requirement for bonus
- Rewards best with travel points transfers
- Not a good choice for businesses with limited travel needs
Chase Ink Business Preferred Card’s competitive rewards program adds value as a practical solution for managing contractor expenses by offsetting everyday costs, and its flexible billing options accommodate varying contractor needs. This card is well-suited for businesses with varied spending needs.
8. Capital One Spark 2% Cash Plus
Capital One Spark 2% Cash Plus
- Flat-rate rewards
- No-fuss expense reporting
- Flexible points redemptions
- High annual fee for businesses
- The 2.99% late fee on the outstanding statement balance can add up quickly if payments are not made on time
- No bonus categories for extra rewards
Capital One Spark 2% Cash Plus offers a straightforward cashback rewards program that simplifies tracking everyday spending. Real-time monitoring and integration with accounting systems ensure that business owners can keep clear oversight on contractor expenses.
9. U.S. Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards World Elite Mastercard
U.S. Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards World Elite Mastercard
- Earn up to 5x points on business travel with some categories giving out 4x and 2x points
- Detailed transaction tracking
- Tools for managing spending across teams
- Limited bonus categories on spending
- Reward cap limits high spending benefits
- High fees for cash advances and balance transfers
- Penalty fees for late payments, returned payments, and overlimit are $40
U.S. Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards World Elite Mastercard provides triple cashback rewards on key business expenses while delivering comprehensive expense tracking and real-time reporting.
Still looking for the right employee expense card?
Other options for employee expense cards include Wallester, Moss, PEX, Wise, Finly, and Pleo.
What is an expense card for contract employees
An expense card allows employees to make purchases using your company’s funds. These cards can help contract employees buy materials, office supplies, and other essentials without as many hurdles.
Giving out expense cards to your staff can increase efficiency, and you can monitor business expenses from each card. That way, you can deactivate any company expense card that isn’t being used responsibly.
Is contract labor a payroll expense?
Contract labor is not typically considered a payroll expense. Instead, costs related to contract labor are recorded as operating or service expenses since these workers are independent contractors rather than employees.
How expense cards for contract employees work
Expense cards are similar to prepaid debit cards. You can establish a spending limit for each card and replenish them if necessary.
Business owners can set different limits for each employee based on their occupations and how much money they need to spend. An employee who books frequent business trips will likely have a higher spending limit than an employee who is buying supplies for a small office.
These cards streamline tracking business expenses. You will receive auto-generated reports that contain the transactions for each expense card. Companies also receive breakdowns by spending category and receive a report that lists all of the transactions for each card in one place.
Types of expense cards for contract employees
Business owners can choose from several types of expense cards. These are some of the available choices.
Corporate cards
Corporate credit cards offer credit lines for your contract employees. You can accrue balances on corporate cards without paying any interest. Businesses can track spending and receive perks like cashback on every purchase.
However, these aren’t like credit cards since balances do not carry over into the following month. You must pay back a corporate card’s balance by the end of the billing cycle.
Fuel cards
Fuel cards are optimal for trucking businesses that frequently buy fuel. These cards offer discounts each time a driver fills up their truck. Profit margins are narrow in the trucking industry, and any fuel discounts can make a big difference.
Some fuel cards offer additional flexibility for other purchases related to commercial vehicles, such as repairs. It’s also common for fuel cards to automatically generate reports that comply with International Fuel Tax Association (IFTA) standards.
Travel cards
Travel cards are expense cards that are ideal for businesses with high travel expenses. You can get much better rewards if you exclusively use this card for travel-related costs. However, it’s not practical for other business expenses due to lower rewards in non-travel categories.
Prepaid cards
Business owners can prepay an expense card before giving it to a contractor. These prepaid cards can minimize misuse since a cardholder cannot exceed the prepaid amount.
These cards typically don’t have many perks. Furthermore, your business credit score won’t go up with prepaid cards. You can still limit someone’s spending power with other types of expense cards. However, a key benefit of prepaid cards is that they don’t require credit checks and are available for companies that don’t have the best credit.
Virtual cards
Virtual business cards are more convenient than physical cards. A contractor can access one of these cards from any device, and they are especially useful if you hire remote workers. Many issuers that offer expense cards have virtual options enabled. For instance, you can get virtual fuel cards or corporate cards.
What to consider when choosing an expense card provider
Business owners can choose from many expense cards. These are some of the details to keep in mind when deciding on the right card for your business.
Rewards and other perks
Some expense cards offer unlimited cashback for every purchase. These cards have simpler reward structures since you don’t have to worry about some categories being more valuable than others.
However, other cards offer higher rewards for certain categories. You’ll get the most rewards from travel costs with a travel expense card. Fleets will benefit more from fuel cards that let them save money each time they refuel their trucks.
Spending controls
Many expense cards let you set limits on how much money contract employees can spend. They also restrict spending for certain vendors and categories. Businesses should outline expense policies to ensure contract employees know how they can use their company cards.
It’s also common for providers to let you track business expenses in real time through an online dashboard. This level of oversight can help business owners detect suspicious activity and make immediate changes if necessary. It’s possible to open and deactivate expense cards with a few clicks.
Reports
Most expense card providers auto-generate reports that let you monitor business expenses across each card. Reviewing transactions can help you reduce business expenses and improve your bottom line.
These reports can also save you considerable time when you have to file business taxes. Some providers also let you integrate with popular taxing software like Quickbooks to increase efficiency.
Costs and fees
Some expense cards have high interest rates and annual fees. Others have fewer costs and strengthen your profit margins due to discounts and rewards. You should also check if your provider has additional costs, such as late payment fees.
Manage your business expenses with the Ramp card
The Ramp corporate card has everything you need to stay on top of business spending and grow your company. You can issue an unlimited amount of virtual cards to your employees. Ramp doesn’t have preset spending limits, which leads to more capital than traditional business credit cards. You can view auto-generated reports to see where your money is going and make updates on spending controls at any time. You’ll also enjoy 1.5% cashback on purchases.
You can give Ramp a try to discover if it is a good fit for your business.
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