How Our New Credit Line Helps Drive Better Educational Outcomes

Most people don’t use credit lines and educational outcomes in the same sentence. That’s because they don’t know about PEX Credit Expense: a new kind of credit line with built-in tools to enforce budgets, simplify procurement, ensure compliance, and streamline reporting.

Backend Software to Separate and Supervise Budgets

Along with your credit line, PEX Credit Expense gives you free cloud-based PEX software that lets you allocate funds (credit and non-credit) to specific budgets. You can set a budget for, say, classroom supplies. Then further break that budget down to textbooks, art supplies, lab equipment, and more. 

These are more than just budgeting tools. PEX software works with your banking and internal financial systems to ensure that all spending comes only from its allocated budget. In fact, PEX software is so secure and reliable, it’s been safely used to manage thousands of grant and disbursement programs.

If you budget money for math textbooks, it can only be spent on math textbooks. So students will have the tools they need to learn math. Or science. Or technology. Or art. And should budgets or needs change, no problem. Authorized administrators can adjust budgets and spending rules in seconds.

The Shortest Distance Between Approval and Procurement

PEX Credit Expense distributes spending power through uniquely manageable PEX Visa® Commercial charge cards. These cards are useless until an administrator turns it on and provides credit. So you can give these cards to any teacher, TA, RA, club presidents, office assistant, custodians… Anyone! With no concern for misuse.

You, not PEX, decides who gets a card. There are no credit checks. No need to provide social security numbers. You get up to 250 cards free to distribute as you see fit. So when you need to make an authorized purchase, you can authorize anyone to make it.

It helps eliminate needless delays in getting students the educational materials they need.

Make Sure Users (and Vendors) Use Credit Appropriately and Compliantly

When you activate a PEX Visa Commercial charge card, you can take steps to ensure that the cards are only used in an authorized manner. In addition to credit limits, PEX cloud-based software lets you program spending rules into each card. Everything from transaction volumes and amounts to times of day and merchant category codes.

Students and teachers on trips can’t spend more than their per-diems on any day. A TA sent to buy art supplies can only use the card at stores with the appropriate MCC codes. And nobody can spend more than you allow for the purchase.

If you have cards on file with any vendors, you can use PEX Credit Expense to mitigate surprise charges and unexpected price hikes.  The service lets you create unlimited virtual vendor cards—single-purpose accounts numbers with no physical cards. You create a separate card account for each vendor and tailor each transaction rule to your agreement. No vendor can charge more than you approved, or get paid before your payment date.

Streamline Approvals and Reporting

Letting people spend on behalf of your institution often comes with a price of time. Every purchase has to be reported, and then allocated and reconciled by your finance department. 

PEX Credit Expense automates this process. Users photograph receipts with the PEX mobile app and submit them with the tap of a button. The program automatically allocates the purchase to the correct accounting code. And since PEX integrates with major accounting software programs, exporting the data to your accounting program usually takes just a click or two.

No expense reports. No chasing down receipts. No delays in approval. Counterintuitively, the more cards you give out, the less time you need to supervise and control spending. And then more time teachers and administrators have for students and educating.

Gain Greater Insights Into Your Spending and Budgets

PEX Credit Expense doesn’t just give you a credit line to spend. It captures data about your spending. Using a range of standard and custom reports, you can see how much of a budget is going to different types of supplies or services.

Are you in need of a lot of textbooks or art supplies from different vendors? Maybe you can negotiate a better deal by consolidating spending with one. Are you launching a new research project similar to one you just finished? PEX can tell you how much you spent on equipment, supplies, and services—so you can prepare a better budget this time around.

Like any good educational institution, you can learn from experience.

Manage Grant and Cash Disbursement Programs Through the Same Account

Educational and not-for-profit institutions have been using PEX for Debit card and Disbursement Card programs for more than fifteen years. PEX Credit Expense lets you manage these programs without toggling between vendors, software programs, or even accounts. (Note: Debit and Disburse Card programs do not qualify for 1% cashback bonus.)

No matter what type of card a user has—debit, disburse, or charge—PEX software generates a paper trail to show that the money was only used in approved merchant categories. Disburse cards can be used for all kinds of programs and student grants—even financial aid.

No Hassles, No Interest, No Fees, and 1% Cash Back

PEX Credit Expense requires no credit checks or personal guarantees. A 90-day lookback on your business checking account determines the size of your credit line and your credit cycle (7 or 30 days.) At the end of each credit cycle, you pay for all settled transactions through automatic ACH.

There is no interest on purchases. No fees to use the credit line. And no hassles to receive your 1% cashback. The reward appears on your bill as a statement credit; at the end of each credit cycle you simply pay less than you spent.

See PEX Credit Expense In Action

If you already use PEX Debit or Disburse card programs, we already have most of the information we need to approve you for PEX Credit Expense. Let your customer success manager know you want to apply for PEX Credit Expense or click here.

If you’re not a PEX customer, schedule a free demo here. See how PEX Credit Expense can streamline spending and tracking, so you can spend more time delivering better educational outcomes.