Insider Tips for Getting Your Business Fuel Card Application Approved

A business fuel card can help fleet owners, and truckers save time tracking vehicle expenses (by eliminating the need for crumpled receipts) and give them real-time monitoring, analytics, and control. The most effective cards offer other benefits like theft detection and custom spending controls.

Look for a card provider that offers implementation resources to ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruption to essential daily work. This is especially important when rolling out new cards to drivers.

Keep Your Account in Good Standing

Business fuel cards offer fleet owners and truckers an effective solution for building credit from scratch or rebounding after bad credit. However, they are a powerful tool only when used correctly. By following these simple tips, you can ensure your CFN fuel card application gets approved the first time around.

A high-quality business fuel card offers a powerful suite of tools to help companies streamline workflows, automate expense reporting, and limit real cost risks like theft (with far more granular data collection than credit cards, receipts, or spreadsheets). Look for a provider with robust implementation resources to support your drivers as they adopt their new payment method.

Don’t Overpay

Choosing the right business fuel card for your small business is more than just a financial decision. The business fuel cards offer a range of benefits that can improve operational efficiency and limit real cost risks like fleet theft.

For many businesses that depend on vehicles for day-to-day operations, providing drivers with a flexible payment method and managing vehicle expenses is an ongoing administrative chore with meaningful effects on the bottom line. A high-quality business fuel card offers a solution that automates fuel expense reporting, dramatically cuts down on tax-time paperwork, and eliminates the need for manual data collection from crumpled receipts (while gathering much more granular road expense data than is possible with credit cards or basic company credit cards). The best business fuel cards can also help prevent misuse or fraud by allowing you to set custom limits on individual driver usage, time of day purchases, and geographic areas where your vehicles will be operating. Look for a provider with the resources to facilitate a quick, streamlined implementation process to ensure you can unlock these advantages as soon as possible.

Don’t Underpay

A business fuel card with the right features can offer several significant benefits that make it more than another credit card. These include automated, granular data collection and reporting capacity that dramatically simplifies tax time, eliminates wasted time maintaining spreadsheets, and ends the need for crumpled receipts (while providing far more real-time monitoring, analytics, and control).

The best cards will also give drivers easy access to their account information via a mobile app to check purchase details, odometer readings, fuel-brand preferences, and account balances. This provides extra security against fraud and enables drivers to identify unconscious habits that may cost the business money.

Clear communication and proactive driver education ensure your new business fuel card program succeeds. Explaining that you are putting this plan in place to help the company rather than to “control” them will reduce resistance and generate buy-in. Setting clear cutoff dates for old payment methods will help drivers transition smoothly to the new card.

Make Sure You Have a Good Credit Score

Credit card issuers are more lenient regarding business fuel cards. Most major fleet cards only require a personal credit check for the business owner, and most have online applications that can be filled out quickly and easily.

When it comes to building business credit, on-time payments are essential. Late or missed payments will affect your business credit score, knocking as much as 100 points off your overall score. This is why making your payment one or two days before the due date is important.

Business fuel cards are a better option than traditional credit cards for fleet owners or truckers looking to build their business credit because they are designed to help businesses with specific reporting and safety features. For example, many of the best business fuel cards have driver ID numbers and odometer readings that allow you to track who uses the card, when, where, and how much they spend.

Don’t Miss Your Payment Deadline

Most business fuel cards come with a set payment deadline. If you miss this deadline, your credit score may take a hit. This is especially true if you use the card to build business credit. When this happens, it can be difficult to get a new line of credit in the future. To avoid this, try to pay your business fuel card balance one or two days before the due date. This will help ensure that your payments are timely reported to the credit bureaus.

Besides helping small businesses save money on fuel, a business fuel card solution can help small businesses streamline paperwork by automatically reporting their driver and vehicle spending to the company owner or fleet manager. The right business fuel card can offer several other benefits, such as improved security and customizable controls like time-of-day and location restrictions.