Cost management for your business can be complicated and expensive if you are forced to issue cards from traditional banks.
For example, the exchange rate may not be in your
favor, and each card may come with account fees that can add up quickly.
This is where an alternative payment solution that
Wallester Business can come in handy. They are a virtual and physical VISA card
issuer that aims to save you time and money.
Wallester Business allows you to quickly issue cards
to your employees and track all their payments and expenses. With convenient
cash handling features and a fully white-labeled service, you can design your
own card program.
Unfortunately, while the platform makes many things
cheaper and more convenient, accounts are only available in EURO. Additionally,
Wallester Business doesn't come with any built-in integrations, which makes
integrating your existing finance tools like Xero or Intuit Quickbooks a bit more
complex. It is also worth noting that only companies within the European
Economic Area can use this software.
That said, I think Wallester Business is best for SMBs
looking to move away from shared credit cards to more streamlined expense
management.
With the basics covered in this Wallester Business
review, I'll take a closer look at what this platform offers, its pros and
cons, and pricing so you can see how I came to this verdict.
There's a lot to cover, so let's get into it!
What
is Wallester Business?
Wallester Business was founded in 2018 and is a
fintech solution for startups and established companies. It is an official VISA
partner and as such focuses on issuing VISA products, including debit cards,
credit cards, prepaid cards and more, for businesses.
Wallester acts as a kind of buffer accounting for your
company, so you can centralize your employees' expenses/expenses. After
Wallester's quick and free setup, you'll need to top up your account via bank
transfer to cover all of your expected business expenses.
Once there are funds in the account, you can issue
virtual and physical VISA cards to your employees, allowing them to spend from
the spending account according to their needs and spending limits. (For those
who don't know, a virtual card is an electronic card number that can be used as
a physical card to pay suppliers).
This can be done with the Wallester mobile cash
management app for iOS and Android.
Best of all, Wallester can allow complete
white-labeling of the platform. So not only can you brand your cards, but you
can also white label the mobile app, so employees can always stay engaged with
your brand.
The app provides the infrastructure you need to manage
your finances with features such as automatic expense categorization, card issuance
and freezing, pin reminders, pin changes, automatic expense reports, smart
receipt attachments, invoice storage and more.
Another way to use Wallester's payment card is to pay
gig economy workers. You simply give them access to a virtual card preloaded
with their salary. Then they can transfer the money to their own account or
start spending with the virtual card.
Wallester's
other key features and services
Company
card
Wallester Business issues white label business cards
which can be fully branded. You can order as many physical cards as you want or
generate virtual cards within seconds according to the limit of your free or
paid plan. Your employees can then use these cards to make company payments and
pay for expenses such as travel, company entertainment, software costs, etc.
Once the card has been used, the user and account
holder (employer) immediately receive a payment notification and the expense is
tracked. They can also take a picture of receipts or invoices using Wallester's
app to add to their records.
Wallester Business cards cooperate with VISA, so they
will be accepted anywhere in the world where the VISA payment system is used.
In addition, the virtual cards work with e-wallets such as Apple Pay, Google
Pay and Samsung Pay, and the physical cards can also handle contactless
payments.
Cost
management
You can flexibly adjust the user settings on each card
to manage expenses and spending. You can view card funds from a unified system
and adjust your business budget at any time. You can also grant access rights
to a virtual card to individual bubbles or entire groups. For example, you can
give an entire team access to a virtual expense card for their expenses.
You can set daily or monthly spending limits. For
example, set a transaction limit or restrict transactions to specific
categories, such as restaurants. Or you can decide whether a card user is
allowed to make cash withdrawals. You can also demand that payment advance
steamings approves each payment before it is made.
Finally, you can also ensure that employees receive
automatic reminders to upload invoices to the app, so no information is missing
from expense reports, which leads us nicely to my next point…
Reports
The Wallester Business mobile app provides insights
into your company's expenses. You can access spending reports based on
parameters such as general budget statistics or data on specific cards. You can
also filter company expenses by expense type and payment status.
You can also create bank statements for selected time
periods and export this data as Excel, PDF or CSV files.
The Wallester Business API allows you to smoothly
integrate the platform with third-party financial accounting platforms. This
makes consolidating the expenses you've tracked, other bills and expenses, your
income, and your budget more manageable. Unfortunately, this requires someone
on your team to develop your own integrations via API, as no native
integrations with third-party accounting tools are available.
Currency
exchange
While capital in a Wallester Business account is
currently only held in euros, you can make purchases in any currency you need.
In addition, according to Wallester's website, the conversion rate is often 4x
cheaper than for traditional banks.
Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, there is no
way to hold multiple currencies in your account, which means Wallester Business
is a little less convenient for international businesses.
Pros
and Cons
Wallester Business professional
- You can get up to 4x better exchange rates with Wallester cards.
- Wallester business cards are accepted worldwide (provided they support the international VISA payment system).
- It's cheaper to issue cards to employees through Wallester Business than through regular banks (The average credit card can have upwards of $30 in annual fees. Wallester does not charge additional subscription fees for each individual card, as long as the number remains within the range of your free or paid plan).
- You can order an unlimited number of physical cards without ongoing fees for each card.
- Wallester Business' white labeling feature allows your business to create a more personalized experience.
- Quick and free setup, with a basic free plan available that unlocks access to 300 virtual cards
Wallester Business Cons
- Wallester Business only conducts business with companies registered in the European Economic Area or Great Britain.
- The account currency is EUR only.
- Integration with accounting solutions is possible with an API, but there are no conveniently established one-click integrations.
- The price increase from the free plan to the first paid plan is quite steep.
- There is no dedicated community-driven help center on the site that explores its features in depth.
Prices
Wallester offers four pricing plans, including a free
program and an Enterprise suite. At this point it is worth noting that physical
card delivery costs EUR 5 per card across Europe and on each package (you can
order as many as you like). Once you have your card, there are no additional
annual fees!
Now that I've laid the groundwork for Wallester's
pricing, I'll explore each plan:
The
free plane
The free plan comes with up to 300 virtual cards.
However, you can buy additional cards for 0.35 EUR per card per month. You also
get access to the cash management app and create as many sub-accounts as
needed. Sub-accounts are accounts for your team, individual employees,
freelancers, etc. However, you cannot make payments between accounts.
In addition to that, the free plan has all the basic
financial management features that other programs have, such as the ability to
create divisible spending limits, transaction export (export transactions as
PDF or spreadsheet), automated expense reports, accounting integrations through
API, automatic expense categorization (categorizes payments into easily
identifiable purposes such as restaurants, entertainment , bills, etc.) and
much more.
All plans (including the free plan) also have access
to live chat and real-time email support.
The
premium plan
The premium plan costs EUR 199 per month. In addition
to everything you get in the free program, it unlocks advanced functionality
such as free payments between accounts and the ability to send push and email
reminders to your employees about missing documents (for example, so that no
one forgets to photograph a receipt or upload an invoice) .
This plan also includes up to 3,000 virtual cards,
with additional cards costing XNUMX EUR 0.20 per card per month.
The
platinum plan
The Platinum plan comes with up to 15,000 virtual
cards, and you can buy additional cards for 0.10 EUR per card per month. In the
future, the physical cards ordered on this plan will be eco-friendly platinum
cards with premium VISA offers and benefits.
In terms of features, in addition to all of the above,
the Platinum plan unlocks detailed analytics and a dedicated account manager
for support.
The
business plan
Becoming a company offers an individual approach to
the construction of your own plan. It comes with a Customer Success Manager who
will discuss your business needs and growth from the start, onboarding
assistance, custom contracts and better pricing. Plus, you'll have 24/7
priority support and open access to the developer APIs.
How
to open a Wallester Business account
Wallester Business' installation is fast and free.
However, you must provide two supporting documents to start issuing your first
cards. One is a certificate that contains information about your board members,
and the other is a certificate about information about the entrepreneur.
You must also provide basic information about your
organization, such as its registration number, VAT number and any information
about shareholders with more than 25% ownership of the capital.
Account registration can be completed in minutes and
involves a four-step form. You will also be asked to sign a program
participation agreement.
Wallester
Business Review: My Final Verdict
That brings us to the end of my Wallester Business
review!
In conclusion, I believe that Wallester Business can
be a convenient solution for companies trying to streamline their expense
management. It is practical for companies that require their team and employees
lda makes payments or those offering benefits such as paid travel or fuel
costs.
However, Wallester Business is only available to
European customers, does not facilitate multi-currency accounts, and does not
integrate with other technology solutions. Additionally, while Wallester
Business presents an affordable, fast and convenient way to issue virtual and
physical cards, the platform falls somewhat short on its financial management
features. As a result, businesses with more advanced accounting and
international payment needs may prefer the platinum paid plan for Wallester
Business or more global options such as Revolut, which allows you to transfer
and hold over 30 currencies.
That's all from me folks; Let me know what you think
of Wallester Business in the comments below!