Are you currently running a company and you have a need to manage your expenses? Or maybe you have a number of employees that have access to your company’s expense account and you want to a better way to manage it?
This is where the likes of Soldo come in.
The platform aims to make it super easy to manage your company expenses in one central hub. Alongside an ability to deposit and withdraw funds and obtain pre-paid debit cards, Soldo allows you to control and manage employee expenses with ease.
If this is a service that you think might benefit your company, then it’s well worth spending the time reading our comprehensive review. We’ll cover everything from what Soldo is, how it works, what features and benefits you get, and how much it costs.
Let’s begin by exploring who Soldo is and what they claim to offer.
What is Soldo?
Launched in 2015, Soldo is a financial services company that aims to ease the pain-points of company expenses. Throughout one singular platform, the company allows you to manage and control your expenses, as well as the expenses of your company employees.
Soldo operates similarly to their competitor Pleo, which we have also covered here.
It does so by offering pre-paid debit cards that can then be distributed to your employees. The platform also allows you to deposit and transfer funds via your Soldo account at the click of a button.
It is important to note that although the Soldo platform allows you to perform similar functions as an everyday current account, Soldo is not a bank. On the contrary, they simply provide third party services to manage company spending in a faster and more efficient way.
At the time of writing, Soldo is only available to companies based in the UK, and the European Economic Area (EEA). However, the company aims to increase the number of nations it supports in the very near future.
Although Soldo is headquartered in London, they also have offices in Ireland and Italy. The company – Soldo Financial Services Ltd, is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an electronic money institution. In terms of who Soldo is suitable for, the platform is useful for companies of all sizes. It splits its main product offerings by small businesses (1-99 employees) and enterprises (100+ employees).
So now that you have a better understanding of who Soldo is and what they offer, in the next section of our review we are going to explore how the platform works in more detail.
How Does Soldo Work?
Once your company has gone through the set-up process, you are then able to start distributing pre-paid debit cards to your employees. This could be a single employee, a particular department, or your entire workforce.
Through your Soldo platform, you can log each of your distributed pre-paid debit cards onto the system. As a result, every time one of your employees uses the card, the Soldo platform will update in real-time.
The underlying capabilities of the Soldo platform go a lot further than just distributing debit cards. For example, let’s say that you wanted to distribute cards to everyone in your sales department, and you want to give each salesperson an expense limit of £500.
You can easily set this up via your Soldo platform. If say a specific salesperson needs their expense limit increases, once again, you can easily authorize this at the click of a button.
On top of setting budgets and limits, Soldo is really useful for keeping track of who is spending what. For example, if one of your employees makes a purchase at a petrol station, this is clearly displayed on your Soldo platform. You’ll be able to see who made the transaction, how much it was for, and where the money was spent.
In terms of employees providing your company with a proof of purchase, Soldo also have this covered. Instead of them needing to keep hold of physical receipts and hand-delivering them to your accounting department, they can instead download the Soldo app and take a picture with their smartphone. As a result, the receipt image is attached to your main platform hub. This makes it a seamless process when it comes to your annual audit!
So now that you know how the main product works, in the next section we are going to explore what other platform features Soldo provide.
What Other Features do I get From Soldo?
Pre-Paid Debit Cards
Soldo allows you to order as many pre-paid debit cards as you see fit, all of which are issued by MasterCard. The cards can be used via chip and pin, or contactless.
On top of physical debit cards, you can also create an unlimited number of virtual Soldo cards. These operate in a very similar way to a physical card, however all of the relevant card details are issued online. This would be useful if you want to create a one-off card to be used for a sporadic payment, meaning you don’t need to allocate the expense to one of your current employees.
Depositing and Transferring Funds
While Soldo make it clear that they are not a bank, you can still perform similar account functions. This includes the ability to deposit funds into your Soldo account, as well as make transfers.
In order to deposit funds, you simply need to perform a bank transfer. Once the funds arrive, you can then start allocating cash to your expense cards. Card holders also have the option of withdrawing cash from an ATM.
Soldo App
Soldo also offers a native mobile application. The app is free to download across both iOS and Android devices. The app is useful for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it allows you to track and monitor spending in real-time. You can set custom app notifications, meaning you can be notified the moment a particular expense is processed.
Not only this, but it also allows you to make amendments to your expense accounts on the move. For example, if you’re on the road and you need to increase the card limit for a particular employee, you can do this at the click of a button.
As noted above, the app is also very useful for your employees. Not only can they digitally attach a receipt of their purchase, but they can also keep tabs on the spending limits they have available to them.
Reports and Analysis
Soldo enables you to easily generate custom reports. You can download statements to show you how much has been spent during a particular time frame, and then break the information down to give you useful insights.
On top of this, you can also generate transaction reports, which you can then categorize by implementing filters. This will allow you to easily analyze where the bulk of your expenses are going, and which employees in particular are making the most purchases.
Export Data
One of the best features that Soldo offer is the ability to export data. This is particularly useful if you have a need to export data into current systems. This includes most major account platforms such as QuickBooks and Sage. Other compatible systems includes Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP and Netsuite.
So now that you have a better idea of the many features on offer, in the next part of our Soldo review we are going to cover pricing.
Soldo Fees: How Much Does Soldo Cost?
Soldo offers two main account options. Regardless of which package you opt for, you will always pay a £5 issuance fee per physical pre-paid card, and £1 per virtual card.
Nevertheless, as each account option offers different features and benefits, we’ve broken them down in more detail below.
Soldo Pro – Easy Expense Management – £5 Per Card Per Month +VAT
The Soldo Pro package gives you more flexibility in managing your expenses. Instead of paying a fixed amount per month, Soldo actually charges you on a per card basis. For example, if you have 10 employees using a pre-paid card in any given month, you’ll pay a total of £50 (10x £5). This at the very least allows you to reduce your monthly spend if you need to reduce the number of cards in circulation.
With the pro plan you have access to much more advanced CSV data. This is crucial if you are looking to export your expense data to a third party accounting system like Sage or QuickBooks.
You are also able to obtain pre-paid debit cards in EUR and USD, as well as GBP.
The Soldo Pro option also enables your employees to digitally attach expense receipts, and you can set-up automatic card top-ups. Regarding the former, this is probably the most important feature when using Soldo.
Finally, you also have much more flexibility when it comes to tracking expense data, as Soldo Pro automatically categorize transactions.
Soldo Premium – Advanced Spending Controls – £9 Per Month, Per Card +VAT
The most advanced package offered by Soldo is the Soldo Premium option. This will cost you £9 per month, per active card. The only difference between the Soldo Pro and Soldo Premium options is that you get a higher level of reporting capabilities, and you can also execute custom configurations of company roles.
This option is best suited to those that have a higher number of company employees, or those that have a high throughput of monthly expenses.
If you have a need to order more than 30 plastic pre-paid debit cards, then Soldo will potentially offer you a better price via their enterprise plan.
Other Fees to Consider
On top of the aforementioned pricing plans, there are a couple of other fees that you need to be made aware of. Firstly, there is a £1 ATM withdrawal fee if you’re based in the UK, and £2 if overseas.
You will also pay a fixed currency exchange fee of 1% if using the card in a different currency to the one associated with your card.
Moreover, while UK-to-UK bank transfers are free, you’ll need to pay £6 to use SEPA (European transfers) and £16 with SWIFT (Non-EU international transfers)
Other than that, the only other fees that you need to worry about is the standard monthly pricing plan.
Soldo Review: The Verdict?
In summary, Soldo is a really useful platform if your company has an ongoing need to process expense reports. For just a few pounds a month, you can perform all of the required expense report duties at the click of a button.
No longer do you need to worry about manually matching paper receipts with the right expense account, as the Soldo platform does this on your behalf. We also really like the option of being able to digitally attach an expense receipt via the Soldo app.
This is something that would be of great benefit if you have a number of employees that travel, and don’t quite have the time to come in to hand in their receipts. It will also save your accounting department heaps of time.
In terms of pricing, Soldo is well worth the money when you consider the time benefits of automating your entire expense system, and never having to worry about your employees over-spending.
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