Your business credit card is costing you $1,847 per card, per year. There's a better way.
Business credit cards charge 20% interest, up to $1,750 in annual fees, and require credit checks and personal guarantees. Budgetly issues Visa debit cards with zero interest, low fees, and built-in spending controls. Same acceptance, a fraction of the cost.
Sophie WilliamsAustralia's favourite.
99% of businesses stick with Budgetly.
Business credit cards are an expensive way to give employees spend access.
Interest rates around 20% p.a., annual fees up to $1,750 per card, credit checks and personal guarantees, delayed visibility, reimbursement chasing, and reconciliation at month-end. Most Australian SMEs don't need credit, they need individual cards with built-in controls. Budgetly replaces business credit cards with Visa debit cards that give finance the control without the cost.
The old way
- Interest charges around 20% p.a. when balances aren't cleared monthly
- Annual fees from $150 to $1,750 per card
- Credit checks and personal guarantees to qualify
- Higher merchant fees (1-1.5% vs 0.5% for debit)
- No control over where employees can spend
- Statement arrives weeks after the transaction, no real-time visibility
With Budgetly
- Visa debit cards, works anywhere Visa is accepted in 200+ countries
- Zero interest. Low, predictable fees. No credit checks.
- Budget and policy enforced at the terminal, before money moves
- Real-time visibility on every card, every transaction
- Freeze any card in one tap from dashboard or mobile app
- RBA surcharge ban favours debit, lower costs all round
- APRA-regulated
- Data stays in Australia
- 2FA + SSL encryption
- AWS Sydney ISO 27001 infrastructure
- Live status
Why debit beats credit for Australian business
Credit costs you thousands. Debit costs you nothing.
Business credit cards profit from interest and fees. Budgetly Visa debit cards come with up to 10 cards included in your plan, no interest because there’s no credit, low fees because additional cards are just $10/month each, no credit checks because you fund from your own balance.
- Zero interest. Ever. Money is deducted from your Budgetly balance in real time
- No annual card fees, up to 10 cards included in your plan, then $10/month per additional card
- No credit checks or personal guarantees required
- Lower merchant surcharges (debit fees ~0.5% vs credit ~1.5%)
- RBA proposed surcharge ban favours debit, lower costs, faster
- Budget caps prevent overspend, not credit limits that enable it
Rules that enforce themselves. Not rules in a handbook.
Every Budgetly card carries its own rulebook. Budget limits, merchant categories, currencies, time windows. Transactions that break the rules decline at the terminal, not at month-end. Your finance team stops playing gatekeeper and starts setting guardrails.
- Per-card, per-team, or per-project budgets
- Merchant category blocks (alcohol, gambling, crypto, any MCC)
- Country and currency restrictions
- Time-of-day and day-of-week rules
- Per-transaction amount caps
- Approval thresholds with auto-route over $X
Virtual cards in 30 seconds. Physical in 3 days.
No bank approval process. No weeks of waiting. Virtual cards issue instantly to Apple Pay and Google Pay. Physical cards arrive via Australia Post in about 3 days. Bulk-issue when you’re rolling out to a whole team.
- Virtual cards ready in 30 seconds
- Physical cards delivered in ~3 days, not the 2 weeks your bank takes
- Bulk issuance from CSV
- Apple Pay and Google Pay from day one
- Unlimited users, pay only per active card
- Freeze, replace, or cancel any card in one tap
Sophie Williams
Tom Gallagher
Mei ChenWhat changes when debit replaces credit
No interest, no credit checks, no personal guarantees. Real control, not a revolving balance.
Debit vs credit, it changes how your team works with money
Credit cards encourage overspending because the money isn't really yours yet. Debit cards with built-in controls give employees autonomy within guardrails. Different psychology, different outcomes.
- No more reconciling credit card statements at month-end
- Real-time visibility across every card and budget
- Set rules once, enforced automatically every time
- Stop playing gatekeeper. Become the enabler.
- No credit applications, no personal guarantees
- Their own Visa card, not a shared card
- Budget visible in real time on mobile
- Never out of pocket. Never waiting for reimbursement.
- Works everywhere Visa is accepted
- Instant issuance on day one
Trusted by teams across Australia
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Frequently asked questions
Are Budgetly cards credit cards?
What's the difference between a Budgetly card and a business credit card?
Will I still get rewards points with a debit card?
Do I need a credit check to get Budgetly cards?
Can Budgetly cards replace our existing business credit cards entirely?
What about cash flow timing? Credit cards give us 30-55 days of float.
How much does Budgetly cost?
How quickly can we get started?
Replace your business credit cards in 14 days.
Zero interest, low fees, built-in controls. Issue your first card in 30 seconds.