Pleo review

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Pleo is a growing fintech business aiming to streamline money management for businesses. Pleo defines itself from other challenger banks by approaching a new market. Instead of trying to sell itself to every day consumers, Pleo hopes to appeal to businesses, creating a system which helps manage employees’ business expenses from a single app.

Open a free account today

• Try Pleo for free
• See all company expenses in one place, in real-time
• Get company cards for your employees
• Top up your Pleo with no extra fees

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What is Pleo?

Pleo is aiming to introduce a solution to company expense management, making it easier for businesses to control their spending and see where their money is going. Pleo sells itself as a “solution”, a way of bringing together employee transactions onto one platform and as a result making business financing simpler.

How does Pleo work?

Pleo works from an app on your smartphone, the only physical aspect of it being the company cards which you can hand out to your employees. The app keeps track of your cards, your business’ budget and where it is being spent. This data is recorded and displayed on the app, acting as a bookkeeper and helping you make better decisions for your company.

The Pleo app only offers what it needs to, there are no extra features, nothing to distract you from its core functions. These include:

• Cards. View your virtual cards, the ones on smartphones, and your physical cards. Check their status and details, who owns them and what company they are under.
• Expenses. View transactions from every card on one page, check that every payment is necessary and company money isn’t being wasted. Cardholders can also document their receipts from here, making it easier to sort your expenses.
• Profile. The company and personal profile registered with Pleo. Check details, manage your account and view personnel on the account.

You will also be able to set spending limits for your cards, connect Pleo to your accounting software and contact Pleo’s customer service if you need help.

Using Pleo abroad

Pleo cards can be used on business trips in the same way they can be used in the UK. However, there is a 2% foreign transaction fee when you use your card abroad.

Pleo fees and limits

Pleo has a range of account options to choose from:

• Pleo Starter is it’s free account option for beginners
• Pleo Essential comes for a subscription fee of £39 per month
• Pleo Plus comes for a subscription fee of £79 per month and offers a few extra features. Such as, the ability to set personalised limits for your employees’ cards, advanced spending reports and notifications whenever expenses that go over a certain amount occur.

Along with the subscription are a number of fees for certain functions on your Pleo account, these include:

• Up to a £13.50 fee on any cards you add after opening your account. The first card you receive costs nothing.
• Replacement cards will cost you £2.50.
• Topping-up your Pleo account is free if you decide to top up via bank transfer. However, if you decide to load by debit or credit card you’ll be charged for 1.99% or 2.49% of the transfer respectively.
• Domestic ATM withdrawals cost £5 each, while international withdrawals are each charged at 2%. Transactions and balance enquiries cost nothing.
• As mentioned above, international transactions come with a 2.49% (Starter) or 1.99% (Essential and Plus) charge
• Customer refunds will cost you £25.

Product Name	Pleo
FSCS protected
Account fee	Free
UK ATM charge	£4
Account software integration
Accounting integrations	Fortnox, Sage, Xero
Additional cards	Up to 5 users / cards
Additional card fee	£10
Requires credit check
Credit check
Overdraft
Freeze card from app or online banking
Instant notifications
Interest rate	0%
Current account switch guarantee

Doing business overseas with Pleo

Product Name	Pleo
Overseas transaction charge	2.49%
Overseas ATM charge	£4
International transfer charge	N/A

Is Pleo safe?

Pleo understands how important your company (and its finances) is to you and as a result keeps security high on their priority list. All their data is protected with industry standard encryption, with a number of other measures in place to defend from any malicious attacks. Your account is kept behind a password of your choosing.

Pros and cons of Pleo

Case study: Lucie's startup chose Pleo because of its flexibility

Lucie Riddell

London

We chose Pleo as a business account as we have a lot of different people using the same card. We have a 20-person team all on Pleo and it offers a lot of flexibility for getting different cards for different teams but then we all draw from the same account. It keeps us organised and we can all see what's happening. And the receipt output process is easy - you can just snap your receipts right after you pay.

The best part about Pleo is the flexibility. As people enter and leave the team, it's been easy to transfer cards from one person to another. For a startup, this flexibility is really key.

If there's one thing you'd tell a friend who's thinking of getting this, what would it be?

The only issue we've ever had is when people haven't warned their colleagues they're taking money out - like a £3,000 charge. That's the downside of the shared account flexibility. But we set up a Pleo channel on our Slack to cover that.

Customer service information for Pleo

Bottom line

Pleo can be a valid solution if you own a small business that also has a lot of expenses made by different employees. If that’s the case, it will make your life easier by allowing you to track them easily.

On the other hand, Pleo isn’t a full business account and the fees aren’t especially competitive, so you should compare a range of similar products and make sure Pleo is the best for your needs before going for it.

Get started by visiting Pleo's website and sign up for an account. If you have read this review and decided that Pleo’s account is not for you, you can also compare other prepaid business cards on the market.

FAQs

• How does Pleo make money?

  Pleo has a handful of methods for making money. These include:

  • Subscription fee. The monthly subscription fee helps Pleo maintain its systems and a high level of service.
  • Interchange fee. The fee Pleo earns whenever it processes a transaction, deposit or withdrawal.
  • Fees and commissions. These are listed above, and all of them help to keep Pleo afloat.

• Is it easy to top up your Pleo card?

  Pleo is simple to top up. Deposit money through bank transfer or use your credit or debit card. It is recommended you transfer the money, as credit and debit card deposits will cost you extra.