Jeeves Credit Card: Is It the Corporate Card your Company Needs?

Founded in 2019, Jeeves is a technology services provider. Their platform allows entrepreneurs to open muti-currency accounts and create an endless number of corporate cards that can be used worldwide. In Canada, almost half of large companies export, compared to less than 30% for smaller businesses. Many companies also hire staff in different countries. Jeeves issues corporate cards across Brazil, Canada, Europe, Mexico, the UK and the US. Most of its services are available in Canada.

Jeeves Corporate Card: A Charge Card

The Jeeves Mastercard is issued by Peoples Trust Company. It earns 1% cash back on all your expenses. However, it is a charge card, not a credit card. A charge card is designed to be fully repaid every month. If you intend to carry a balance, this product is not for you. Issuing virtual cards is instant, while worldwide physical card delivery can take a few days. Both are free of monthly fees and shipping fees.

Jeeves allows you to invite over 1,000 team members, customize roles and permissions, and issue unlimited corporate cards for them, no matter where they live. You are able to assign employees to cost centers and group entities and review company-wide spend in minutes.

Worried about how employees might use the card? There are built in expense controls. By default, only authorized admins can issue new cards. So your employees won’t be able to create new cards to themselves, unless you let them. You can always update permissions to allow employees to issue cards for themselves with custom spend restrictions. Employees will be able to upload receipts through the mobile app and you can create custom policies to make sure you collect receipts on certain purchases.

Opening My Jeeves Cash Account

Opening a Jeeves Cash account is completely free and there is no minimum amount to deposit. In Canada, we can open accounts in four currencies: CAD, USD, EUR and GBP. You will have to pay fees when you convert currencies and send payments.

I tried to open my account but I soon found out Jeeves is not available in Quebec. Fortunately, it seems available in most other provinces although the information is not clear on their website – I tested it by changing the province. 

Jeeves also asked for the name of my company, business type, field in which it operates, monhtly revenue and my email address before allowing me to create my account. However, I knew they would verify my information, so I stopped the process right there.

The next steps would normally be to collect personal and financial information before creating the account. Here’s a glimpse of what to expect:

Once you’ve completed an application and submitted all the required documentation, it will take up to three business days for your application to be processed.

Then you will be able to fund the account and be protected by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC coverage). While the corporate card is issued by Peoples Trust, Jeeves accounts are provided by Airwallex, which partners with JP Morgan to ensure you get CDIC coverage.

Will it impact your credit score? Jeeves states that applying will not impact your credit score. However, Jeeves will check your score.

Perks 

The Jeeves corporate card offers 1% cash back on all purchases, plus extra cash back at select merchants. Take a look at the image below to check out cash back partners.

The other major perk Jeeves offers is access to 1,300 lounges globally. In general, one roundtrip travel purchased on your Jeeves corporate card will give you one lounge pass access.

These perks seem interesting, but you may get more with a traditional business credit card. Credit cards let you carry over a balance indefinitely (with interest). With the Jeeves coporate card, you have to pay off your balance in full each month. Otherwise, you could face late fees and penalties. The Jeeves program agreement states: “The Company’s Linked Account will be automatically debited on the first business day of the calendar month following the calendar month for which a Periodic Statement was issued for the full amount indicated on such Periodic Statement.” Jeeves does not disclose a lot of information about late payments, except that they “may impose interest, finance charges, or other amounts due or owed on a balance indicated on a Periodic Statement” – so that might be something to look out for. Be wise and compare business cards before making a decision.

Pay bills with Jeeves Pay

Jeeves Pay has no setup fees, no recurring fees, but it does charge FX fees and transfer fees when you send a payment. It allows you to send payments to over 150 countries in over 40 currencies. First, add your vendors through the vendor management tool, then choose your currency and amount, review the estimated conversion rate and schedule the payment to send now or for a future date.

Jeeves has some bad customer reviews. Why?

On TrustPilot, Jeeves has mixed reviews. It’s either 5 stars or 1 star! Most bad reviews date from one to two years ago, when Jeeves seem to have made changes clients didn’t appreciate very much.

In what areas should Jeeves improve, according to these reviews? The lack of transparency on currency conversion costs is mentioned by many clients. Indeed, Jeeves adds an exchange rate markup and you have to check how their rate compares to the mid-market rate to work out exactly how much your transaction will cost. People also mention issues such as changing due dates and halving spend limits.

Positive reviews, on the other side, mostly focus on the quick and easy onboarding as well as dedicated personal account managers, easy employee spending management and user-friendly interface.