U.S. Bank Offers Card for SMBs With Big Travel Expenses

U.S. Bank is launching a card for small business “road warriors” with big expenses.

The bank will debut the Business Altitude Connect World Elite Mastercard by the end of February, the company said in an announcement provided to PYMNTS Thursday (Jan. 19). The card is designed for small businesses with “frequent travel expenses” the announcement said.

The card “is designed for road warriors, growing small businesses that deserve a payment solution that rewards them for their frequent travels and takes away some of the stress of work on the road,” said Chris Roncari, head of product & experience for retail payments at U.S. Bank.

Among the card’s features are points on prepaid car rentals and hotel rooms when booked through the bank’s reward center, and points on the first $150,000 on annual travel spending.

As PYMNTS has written, business travelers can often have a tough time of it, at least when it comes to managing expenses.

In an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, Banyan CEO Jehan Luth said a life lived on the road is one full of friction, especially when collecting and presenting receipts for reimbursement.

“Paper receipts abound, expense reports can take time to turn around, and in the midst of it all are the CFOs, who are taking a closer look than ever at day-to-day expenses,” PYMNTS wrote.

Smaller companies have an especially difficult road, as 10% of an employee’s time might be spent filling out (or reviewing) expense reports. Photos of paper receipts uploaded into corporate back-office systems can be illegible or otherwise unusable.

“Merchants in the hospitality business can help travelers and their employers eliminate the hassles inherent in expense management,” Luth said. “That benefit can be realized by harnessing receipt data itself to organize and make sense of all the business trip lunches, dinners and hotel stays.”

The launch of this small business-focused card follows the bank’s debut last year of an online tool to give SMBs a 90-day picture of future cash flows, as PYMNTS reported in October.

“Cash flow is a top concern for today’s business owners,” Irv Henderson, U.S. Bank’s chief digital officer for small business, said in a news release.

“Giving our clients the ability to forecast their cash flow outlook, including, in the future, the capability to consider various scenarios, will provide them with vital information to make smart decisions for today and the future,” Henderson added.

The tool gives businesses a forecast of account balances up to 90 days ahead, along with a 90-day historical view, while also letting them tap into internal and external data sources for more comprehensive cash flow insights.

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