Mesh Payments Review: How Does The Mesh Card Stack Up?

Pros

• Available to all business types
• No monthly fees
• Cashback on eligible payments
• Virtual and physical cards for employees

Cons

• Minimum $50K monthly spend required for cashback eligibility
• Prepaid cards only — no credit option
• Foreign transaction fees

What Is Mesh Payments?

Mesh Payments is a global travel and expense management platform with physical and virtual corporate cards, spend controls, travel tools, expense automation, and accounting automation.

In addition to customizable spend controls and cashback on eligible payments, Mesh includes automations designed to save time and money. You’ll also find global travel management tools, including AI-enabled spend management, multicurrency options, and expense reporting.

Mesh offers a strong lineup of spend management features, but businesses that want higher rewards or a true credit line may want to compare other corporate card options.

What Are Corporate Credit Cards?

Mesh offers corporate cards and travel and expense management tools to help businesses manage card spend, employee expenses, and travel in one platform.

Not sure what a corporate card really is — or whether you need one for your small business? Merchant Maverick’s CEO covers the basics in this video.

Mesh Card Rewards & Perks

Mesh faces stiff competition in both the corporate card and expense-management fields. Both areas are increasingly competitive, with corporate card competitors such as Brex, Ramp, and BILL Spend & Expense that may offer higher rewards in certain categories or different card structures.

Mesh Payments can’t match those top cash back rates, but it gives its cardholders cash back on eligible purchases made using the MeshPay Visa Commercial Reloadable Prepaid Card.

Mesh says its platform helps companies save time and money through spend controls, travel management, expense automation, and real-time reconciliation. Any specific savings claims should be tied to current Mesh case studies or ROI data before publishing.

Here is an overview of the rewards Mesh delivers:

• Cash Back: You’ll earn cash back rewards on eligible purchases made with your company’s Mesh debit cards. Redeeming Mesh rewards is simple: They post automatically to your account.
• Partner Rewards: Mesh offers partner and integration support across accounting software, travel management companies, HRIS tools, technology apps, and more.
• Real-Time Insights: When you pay with your Mesh card, you’ll be alerted to savings opportunities that can reduce expenses.

Mesh Card Pricing & Fees

Mesh cards are prepaid or debit cards, allowing you to access funds loaded or deposited to your balance. The MeshPay Visa Commercial Reloadable Prepaid Card is issued by SoFi Bank, N.A., Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa International Incorporated.

Mesh’s cardholder agreement lists bank fees as $0, except for international use and foreign transactions. Businesses should confirm any Mesh platform fees, payment provider fees, and wire/ACH fees directly with Mesh.

Mesh’s cardholder agreement says international use and foreign transactions may involve currency conversion costs. Businesses should confirm current foreign transaction and multi-currency costs directly with Mesh.

While a standard Mesh subscription entails no monthly fees, the company also offers a Premium plan at $13/user/month and an Enterprise plan with custom pricing for those seeking an even higher level of spend management features and benefits. Sadly, Mesh doesn’t detail what these extra features are.

Eligibility Requirements

Mesh cards are available to businesses subject to approval and availability. Mesh’s current site also supports global card programs in multiple regions, so eligibility may vary by country, issuer, and card program.

Mesh’s pricing page states that a minimum $50K monthly spend is required for cashback eligibility. Businesses should confirm current eligibility, pricing, and spend requirements directly with Mesh.

That’s because Mesh makes its money off interchange fees, charging merchants a small percentage of every sale made using a Mesh card.

Although the Mesh rep let me know that my company would not be eligible for a Mesh account, she offered suggestions for rival cards that would be a good fit — an unexpected, classy, and helpful move.

Mesh Card Features

Here’s a breakdown of Mesh’s features:

For starters, a Mesh payment account comes with unlimited physical and virtual Visa debit cards for you and your employees. You can also assign a single Mesh card to each vendor you work with.

Admins can set custom limits on each card and see continuous payment insights that eliminate redundancies and highlight savings opportunities. You can approve, track, and manage corporate payments in real-time, via email, text, or Slack alerts. Mesh helps simplify expense reporting and eliminates the need for reimbursements.

Note that while Mesh Payments gives users a prepaid debit card, Mesh is not a bank. The MeshPay Visa Commercial Reloadable Prepaid Card is issued by SoFi Bank, N.A., Member FDIC, pursuant to license by Visa International Incorporated. Businesses should review the current cardholder agreement for details on where funds are held and what protections apply.

Mesh’s U.S. cardholder agreement says customers may access funds in the Card Account only through the Card; other payment methods or AP workflows should be confirmed directly with Mesh.

Funds in your account do not expire, although the cards you are issued will have an expiration date just like any other credit or debit card.

The maximum total deposit for Mesh accounts is $10 million, with a daily purchase maximum of $10 million. ACH and wire transfers are limited to $10 million per day. Mesh accounts are capped at $10 million total at any given time.

Customer Service

Mesh Payments offers a satisfying range of support options, including 24/7 human support and online support resources.

Our search of reviews from Mesh users did not uncover any widespread dissatisfaction with Mesh customer support.

Mesh Payments Reviews

Mesh user reviews are mostly positive. While there are some negative reviews, there are no patterns of complaints that raise any serious red flags.

Mesh receives a score of 4.8 out of 5 on Capterra and Software Advice, 4.3 out of 5 on the App Store, and a lower 1.8 out of 5 on the Play Store. Here’s a breakdown of user feedback.

Is Mesh Payments Safe?

Mesh uses 256-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to protect users’ data. Information is stored in secured data centers that use state-of-the-art electronic surveillance, tokenization, and multi-factor access control systems.

Mesh says it has received SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II reports, is PCI DSS compliant as a Level 1 Service Provider, undergoes annual external auditing, and uses safeguards designed to protect customer information. Its legal/privacy materials also address CCPA rights.

How Does The Mesh Card Compare To The Alternatives?

As we’ve said, the Mesh card is a debit card, not a corporate/business credit card. However, since the corporate card issuers in this space offer a similar suite of spend and expense management services, it’s helpful to illustrate the differences here.

The corporate credit cards offered by Brex and BILL Spend & Expense (formerly Divvy) offer strong money management while offering potentially large rewards in select purchase categories. That, combined with the fact that you get an actual credit line, means that these cards will likely appeal to a wider range of businesses than does the Mesh card.

Likewise, as we note in our Ramp review, this corporate credit card offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases while offering a great set of spend management tools and savings insights. If your business meets Ramp’s cash-on-hand requirement, you may get more out of Ramp than you will with Mesh.

Final Verdict: Is Mesh Payments Worth It?

Overall, Mesh is a solid expense management platform that deserves a closer look if you’re in the market for spend-management tools combined with a corporate debit card that lets you monitor and manage employee spending.

While it’s true that Mesh offers a lower cashback rate than some other corporate cards, the fact that you see any cashback rewards on a debit card is impressive.

The expense and spend management tools are impressive, the platform is easy to use, and some innovative solutions like the PLUG & PAY card could ease your management headaches significantly.

The caveat to this is that many competing companies in this space give you the flexibility of an actual credit line and a higher rate of spending rewards while providing comparable expense management features.

Of course, we never recommend a corporate card without also suggesting you take steps to set strong policies for card usage. Check out our suggestions for creating a corporate card policy before you hand out your new corporate cards.