Mesh Payments Review 2023: What Is Mesh Payments & Is It Worth It?

Pros

• Available to all business types
• No fees
• 1% cashback on card purchases
• Welcome offers worth $500
• Virtual cards instantly available

Cons

• Available only to US-based businesses
• Not available to companies spending less than $50K/month on a card
• Debit cards only, with no credit option

What Is Mesh Payments?

Mesh Payments is an all-in-one spend management platform featuring automations designed to save time and money. Mesh issues physical and virtual corporate debit cards for employees, with customizable spend controls and a consistent cashback rate.

Is Mesh the financial technology you’ve been looking for? What rewards can you earn when you use your Mesh card? And what type of company is Mesh best suited for? This Mesh Payments review will answer these questions — and more.

Mesh Payments Rewards & Perks

Mesh Payments gives its cardholders a straight 1% back on all purchases made using the Mesh Visa debit card. While it’s very unusual to see a debit card with any cashback rewards at all, Mesh’s rewards rate is low compared to other corporate cards. However, it’s worth noting that Mesh says its users typically realize a 3% annual payment savings when they switch to Mesh as well as saving the equivalent of seven days each month on monthly accounting tasks, thanks to Mesh’s automations and integrations.

Here is a list of the rewards Mesh delivers:

• 1% cash back on all purchases made with the Mesh debit card
• Up to $100K in partner rewards, including 20% off airport lounge access through Priority Pass, 30% off a 6-month subscription to QuickBooks, and a $5,000 credit with Amazon Web Services
• Up to $500 in welcome offers. You’ll get $200 when you spend $3,000 on your Mesh card and an additional $300 when you link a marketing or cloud budget to Mesh within the first two months
• Real-time spending insights. When you pay with your Mesh card, you’ll be alerted to savings opportunities that can reduce expenses.

Mesh rewards will be posted automatically to your account.

Mesh Payments Pricing & Fees

Mesh cards are prepaid or debit cards, allowing you access to funds loaded or deposited to your balance. Funds are FDIC-insured by Metropolitan Commercial Bank, and will not accrue any interest.

When I located the Mesh card’s fee schedule, I saw almost nothing but zeros. Mesh charges no fees for obtaining and activating cards, no monthly usage fees, no fees for adding money via ACH or wire transfer, and no fees added to purchases. However, Mesh does charge foreign transaction fees but does not disclose the fee upfront.

Mesh is not the only spend-management platform that charges $0 fees for use of its corporate card. But it’s a rarity. Mesh’s true $0 fees puts it in a very small group of corporate card providers.

Mesh Payments Eligibility Requirements

Mesh Payments lists one simple eligibility requirement: Only US-based businesses and merchants are eligible to apply. Other than that, I was not able to find any restrictions. Although Mesh may ask for your Social Security number as part of the application, it’s used only for identification purposes.

However, when I requested a Mesh demo by entering my contact information on the website, I received a call from a friendly and knowledgeable Mesh rep early the next business day. She asked a number of general questions about my company’s structure and spending habits and let me know that because Mesh wants to remain completely free to users, it’s limited to companies that plan to spend a minimum of $50,000-$100,000/month on the Mesh card. 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 and helpful move.

Mesh Payments Features

Mesh promises its users “total visibility and control into every dollar spent.” And this spend management platform offers the features required to deliver on that promise. Mesh holds its own against its competitors, too, as far as features go. Take a look at this overview:

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

Admins can set spend 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 Mesh Payments is not a bank, although funds deposited with Mesh are FDIC-insured by Metropolitan Commercial Bank. You can access the funds in your Mesh balance by using your card or virtual card, by ACH debit using an account number assigned to you, or by writing a pre-funded check obtained from Mesh itself.

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. You can load up to $20,000 each day to a Mesh card. ACH and wire transfers are limited to $10 million per day.

Mesh Payments Customer Service

Mesh Payments offers a satisfying range of support options, including 24/7 phone support and a guaranteed response to ticket submissions within 24 hours. And a search of reviews from Mesh users did not uncover any widespread dissatisfaction with Mesh customer support. In fact, Mesh users active on Capterra’s review site give Mesh 4.9/5 stars in the customer service category.

Here’s how you can access Mesh Payments support:

Mesh Payments Reviews

I searched for Mesh card user reviews and found mostly positive comments online. Of course, it’s impossible to please everyone, all the time, but in the negative reviews I saw, I spotted no patterns of complaints that raised serious red flags for me.

Let’s take a look at what Mesh reviews can tell us, including both the good and the bad.

Negative Mesh Payments Reviews & Complaints

• Not available to international companies
• Integrations can take time to implement
• Slight learning curve in learning to use the platform
• Security measures can seem cumbersome

Positive Mesh Payments Reviews

• Digital platform delivers real-time savings
• Easy to create cards for one-time payments and subscriptions
• Excellent personalized customer service
• Useful expense management tools
• Accounting integrations work well

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.

Additionally, Mesh products comply with global data protection and privacy laws, including the GDPR. Mesh has received a SOC 2 Type II report indicating that it has the appropriate controls to mitigate security and confidentiality risks. These include external auditing, PCI compliance as a Level 1 Service Provider, and WAF and DDoS protections.

Final Verdict: Is Mesh Payments Worth It?

Mesh Payments is a young company that seems responsive to its customers’ needs and complaints. Based on Mesh’s replies to user reviews, the company is still working to beef up its offerings and become more useful. That’s always a good sign.

Overall, we think Mesh is a solid expense management platform that deserves a closer look if you’re in the market for one. Mesh is one of the few corporate debit cards we’ve run across (Bento is another, and it’s available to smaller companies than the ones Mesh Payments targets). Mesh offers a lower cashback rate than some of the best corporate cards we’ve seen, but the fact that you can get any cashback rewards on a debit card is impressive. And Mesh’s 1% reward rate is decent, especially because Mesh encourages you to use the card to pay for regular recurring expenses like software subscriptions.

If you’re a US-based business with spending that comes in higher than Mesh’s target of $50,000/month, you’ll find a lot to like here. 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 spend your management headaches significantly.

Mesh Payments & Mesh Credit Card FAQs

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