Fuel Card Articles

Credit card or fuel card which is best when dealing with fraud ?
Credit card companies continue each year to improve their fraud prevention measures with more and more technology. They promise us that their transactions are more secure than ever and this would of course be true if the fraudsters were not also increasing their capabilities. Thousands of motorists who buy their petrol or diesel on credit cards are still being attacked by the fraudsters and are losing millions. I think we have learned over the years with so many promises broken that, in reality, there’s no such thing as 'fraud-proof'. Card-cloning is often the problem but the fraudsters will use any method to extract money from their victims. The only way to effectively protect your fuel expenditure and your bank accounts is to get a fuelcard.

The criminals are really after targeting the credit and debit cards out there because they can carry bank details and they can get access to all of your money potentially> Fuel cards are different, fuel cards are safer. So why are fuelcards so much more secure? Well firstly they do not carry banking details and are therefore not an attractive target for fraudsters. They also operate on a closed network. Criminals are looking to get cash and as many goods and services they can from their ‘stash’ but as fuel cards are limited to fuel the criminals are out off as they can only fill up their vehicles so much! The criminals cannot get what they really want cash so they are not as tempted. Fuelcards because of their nature are also secure because any usage outside of preset limits and timeframes are flagged up and reported to the company. Therefore identification of potential theft is usually pretty swift so losses can be cut off early and minimised. Lastly fuelcard firms often offer insurance against misuse of their cards and in some cases this is even free and part of the normal card benefits.

If you are one of the companies still relying on a pay and reclaim back system for their fuel expenses you are missing a trick and perhaps putting your employees in danger of becoming victims of fraud. Added to that you could be saving on fuel and administration costs. Fuel is a major cost for most firms and as such you should be looking at any way to cut the cost down. Statistically one in six business car managers who have stated that fuel is a key operational cost but are not taking any action to control their fuel expenditure incurred. That is a lot of missed savings and missed opportunities. A lot of smaller companies said they believed their fleet too small to gain any advantage but fuelcards are designed to help all sizes of company with cost, administration and fraud.
For expert advice contact www.fuel-card.co.uk