Outgrowing Capital One? Your guide to better, scalable spend control

Capital One’s business cards have been a familiar option for years. While they offer robust rewards, many customers have switched from Capital One to PEX looking for more visibility, controls and streamlined end of month reconciliations. As organizations grow, finance teams are looking for solutions that go beyond just cards and towards a card with granular controls and platform capabilities aligned to their business process. 

To understand why companies are moving beyond Capital One cards, it helps to look at where finance teams are coming from and what modern finance operations look like today.

The old way: a one-size-fits-all card and a pile of receipts

Capital One Spark cards focus on cash back and straightforward purchasing power. But as teams expand, shared cards, manual reconciliation and delayed visibility can make it harder to maintain control.

Here’s what scaling teams often run into:

• They collect personal data just to issue a card
• They spend days or weeks reconciling transactions
• They can’t always catch unauthorized purchases in real time
• They rely on generic merchant-category controls that don’t match their real policies

It’s not about what Capital One doesn’t offer, it’s about what growing teams need next: real-time visibility, automation and control.

The modern way: purpose-built cards with built-in granular controls

With PEX, you issue cards based on how your team actually spends—not what your bank offers.

• Virtual cards for project-based work or specific vendors
• Generic cards for job roles or shared team needs
• Department-specific controls that align to your budgets
• Re-loadable cards with instant control to fund or block
• Automated reminders to upload a receipt after each transaction

Need a card labeled “Construction Materials” or “Outreach Events?” No problem. PEX lets you customize how cards are issued, who uses them, and how much they can spend—no personal credit checks required.

This flexibility makes it ideal for industries like:

• Construction – issue project-specific cards for materials, subs and site managers
• Nonprofits – separate cards by grant or program to simplify audits
• Education – control spend by department or event type
• Field Services – give mobile teams cards with fuel or T&E limits

As a result, finance teams stay in control, employees get what they need and no one is chasing down receipts after the fact.

From shared cards to full control: Shannon Staley & Sons’ story

In construction, it’s common to share cards across crews, because setting up individual cards can feel slow, risky or complex. Shannon Staley & Sons followed that model using traditional bank cards (like Capital One and PNC), but as projects grew, so did the complexity—lost receipts, delayed reconciliation and difficulty tracking spend by job. 

After switching to PEX, each foreman and van driver received their own card with built-in granular controls. Now, receipts are uploaded in real time, purchases are tagged by job and leadership can forecast margins with confidence. 

The result? 50+ hours saved weekly, tighter budget control and $100K+ in protected margins.

Smarter automation, faster close

Many teams using Capital One still close the books manually: exporting statements, sorting by cardholder, sending spreadsheets to staff and reconciling receipts one by one.

PEX automates all of that:

• Auto receipt matching – receipts uploaded by text or app get tagged automatically
• AI-powered GL coding – suggests codes up front to speed up categorization
• Real-time sync – connect to ERPs like NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct and more
  

The payoff is real. According to a recent Forrester study*, PEX helped one composite (industry agnostic) US organization with an annual revenue of $25 million and 130 employees:

• Save over 12,000 hours annually in total workforce time
• Reclaim 192 hours per year on close cycles alone
• Avoid $209,000 in added headcount costs
• Earn $41,000 in rebates over three years

By reducing reconciliation from hours to minutes, PEX gives finance teams time back, so they can focus on strategy, not spreadsheets.

4 reasons companies are outgrowing Capital One

1. Scale without personal guarantees

Many traditional business cards require personal credit checks or guarantees, which can make it hard to issue cards to contractors or seasonal hires.

With PEX, you can issue cards to any employee, vendor or department without needing their personal information.

2. Proactive controls at the point of purchase

Traditional cards like Capital One offer basic spend limits, but growing teams often need more dynamic controls

PEX gives you proactive controls at the point of purchase:

• Block weekend or after-hours purchases
• Limit spend to specific vendors
• Auto-freeze cards until receipts are uploaded
• Control spend at the state-level, blocking spend across state lines or internal purchases 

You don’t need to micromanage, just set the policy once and let the platform do the rest.

3. Virtual cards for modern workflows

Physical cards still work for many needs, but when you want to track spend by project, vendor, or event, virtual cards make it easier. 

PEX’s virtual cards are the modern answer:

• Issue one-time cards for contractors or ad-hoc purchases
• Assign project cards to budget-specific jobs
• Load cards with specific amount to avoid subscription bloat
• Set auto-funding dates to refund card balance for recurring payments

When the project ends or the vendor relationship closes, the card does too—no need to cancel or reissue.

4. Faster, cleaner reconciliations

Reconciling spend shouldn’t feel like detective work.

PEX automates all of this through:

• Transactions sync in real time to your accounting software, reducing manual work and error
• Receipts are matched automatically using AI via OCR
• You can set up workflows to send reminders, or even pause card access until receipts are submitted with Auto Enforcer

No more emailing reminders, digging through spreadsheets or rekeying codes.

Virtual cards: the flexible, secure way to spend

The beauty of PEX virtual cards is they fit your workflow—not the other way around. You can:

• Set expiration dates for short-term use
• Assign to a manager responsible for team budgets
• Fund them instantly for real-time needs

They’re more secure than shared physical cards, easier to control than personal reimbursements and better suited for modern workflows like vendor payments, conference travel or subscription services.

And with up to 1% back on eligible purchases, they don’t just save time, they return real value.

Feature / Capability	PEX	Capital One
Card type	Physical, virtual and digital cards across PEX Visa® Prepaid, Disburse and Commercial	Physical cards only
Card issuance	Issue instantly without personal credit checks or owner guarantees	Requires personal info or business credit check
Spend controls	Granular controls by day, vendor, team, dollar amount or location	Basic merchant category limits
Real-time visibility	Real-time tracking of all transactions	Limited to statement cycle
Reconciliation process	Automated: receipts matched, GLs coded, synced to ERP	Manual: export, code, chase receipts
Flexibility for roles & verticals	Custom cards for projects, teams, fieldwork and departments	One-size-fits-all cards
Virtual cards	Built-in: single-use, recurring or vendor-specific cards	Not offered
ERP integrations	Direct sync with NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct and more	Manual exports/imports
Fraud control	Preemptive blocks and real-time freeze options	Post-transaction alerts
Reward model	Up to 1% back plus 657 hours per year in saved admin time	Up to 2% cash back
Total ROI	Operational and financial ROI up to 10.85%	Reward-focused (~2%)

The bottom line

Capital One Spark Cards deliver rewards and credit lines that many businesses value. For teams ready to take the next step by automating reconciliation, enforcing policies automatically and gaining full visibility, PEX makes the difference. 

PEX gives you:

• Real-time spend control on employee and vendor spend
• Multiple card types (charge, prepaid, disburse) with flexible issuance via physical or virtual cards
• Automated reconciliation and receipt capture for faster close
• 24/7 customer support
• A flexible platform that scales with your team
• Issue cards instantly and seamlessly track across accounting platforms 

When finance teams switch to PEX, they’re not just replacing cards, they’re building a smarter, more strategic foundation for spend management. Request your personalized demo now.

*Forrester’s Total Economic Impact™ report of PEX, 2025