Analise

Both my corporate Visa and Amex are billed directly to the company.

gglave

My current employer was recently bought by a competitor, and as part of the merged company I have to get and carry one of these cards now.

When you say "you've always refused" what does that mean? That if you were required by company policy to get one of these cards you would transfer into a postition at your employer with no travel and no expenses? Or that you would quit? (...and likely wind up in another position at another company that required you to have a corporate card?)

KenF

When I was a permanent employee, I argued that no employer could use any policy or contractual term to force me to enter into any personal liability on behalf of my employer, indeed, if I remember, I had an interesting discussion with a CFO where I pointed out the "joint and several liability" clause in the credit card agreement, and suggested that it was unreasonable to ask me to take on such a liability. In both cases where it was suggested, an exception to the rule was quickly added.

As a consultant, if it isn't in my contract, I don't do it, and no client would be daft enough to include such a clause in any contract, lest they be landed with the liability of being considered as my "deemed employer" based on my suddenly becoming "part and parcel of the organisation".

As an employer myself, I've always ensured that any company credit card option I offer is:

A> Voluntary
B> Entirely the liability of the company (with contractual sanctions just in case anyone blows a gasket and goes on a spending spree).

I've got very strong opinions on companies that try to use their employees as a source of short-term credit, as you can tell!

Ken.

Willard the Bear - But don't even ask him which companies, the only chance you have is to come to the next FT do and ply him with alcohol!

silverthief2

Nor did I. My company pays it and harasses me for the expense report later.


Were you aware that they would be on your credit report when you began your job? Because it didn't occur to me that mine would appear on there, but it certainly makes sense since it's got my name plastered all over it, so I'm going to check (7 months later ) and see if it is. Not that it'll cause any harm given that company is paying it on time.

rw55

The last company I was at had the sort of arrangement the OP describes. You got the bill and paid it, despite the fact that the company's name was on the credit card. The explanation was that you had the card in your hand, and signature authority for the card, so it was effectively "your" credit card. To be fair, they were pretty unconcerned if you used the card for personal purchases. It was sort of "discouraged," but no one said anything, as long as it wasn't overdone. I never did, to make my accounting easier, but it was a noticeable difference from my current company.

My current company pays directly, and they're very strident about never, never, never using it for a personal purchase.

I don't know if there's any correlation, but the last company was tiny, and my current company is huge.

djk7

The companies that I have worked for that provided cards were of the type where the employee pays the bill. Luckily, none have required use of the company card. I always looked at is more as a way for employees who had credit issues to get the company to co-sign, so they would be able to get a card and travel. Of course, those might be the people you would least want to be co-signing for.

I worked with a sales rep who lived beyond his means, and always counted his chickens before they were hatched He ran up about 7-8k of personal charges that he couldn't pay before the card company went to the the employer looking for payment. The company ended up paying the bill, docking the rep's pay, and taking away the card. After that, there were several times where he invited me to lunches with customers where the only purpose for me being there was to handle paying the bill and expensing it.

rw55

This was a sales-person from the same company, right? It wasn't the Wally Scenario?

djk7

Yes, he was one of my co-workers. That would be a real coup, using the Wally Scenario and getty Wally to pick up the tab.

SPN Lifer

Federal employee travel cards are employee-billed (to one's home address) and paid. That serves as an incentive to file travel claims promptly, which is also mandated by regulation. One is required to use them for airfare, hotels, and cars, and "supposed" to use them for meals. However, one can also pay cash for or skip meals, so this is essentially unenforceable.

Prohibitions on using the (non-point earning) cards for anything other than government travel -- absolutely no personal use -- are strictly enforced.

On the bright side, federal employees are not jointly and severally liable for the federal debt.

Antiqantas

Good for you. In my view, corporate credit cards are effectively an agreement by two corporations to exploit the employees of one of them. If the card is only supposed to be used for legitimate business expenses (apart from bundled charges like non-claimable hotel items), then why can't the corporation simply pay the bills and let us subsequently sort out the adjustments either way? Of course, that would require an element of trust to operate between the corporation and its employees, and such quaint notions were shelved years ago.

The objection on the grounds of personal liability may need to be refined, though. In the complex legal mire in which we work these days, it's probably impossible to completely shield employees from such liability on behalf of their employers. An example is access to a customer's confidential information, especially information considered to impinge on national security. In such cases, typically the employee will be individually vetted and required to personally sign his acceptance of the confidentiality provisions. So perhaps the objection should be to the imposition of personal liability that is not a prerequisite for the corporation to transact its regular business.

ajnz

My employer (large telecomms company) offers us the choice of a corporate AmEx - we can earn MR Points if we pay the $75 - or to use our own cards.

The AmEx bills are sent to the cardholder, care of the company. The cardholder pays AmEx and claims from the company.

The benefit? You get access to the company guaranteed credit line, which is useful if you ever need to expense a conference or 50+ hotel rooms, or whatever.

The downside? It's another card to keep track of, no personal expenses allowed, and you have to pay it yourself.

Apparently they used to auto-pay it, but after some staff getting silly with the cards, they nixed that approach.

They encourage anyone who has >$10K/yr in expenses get a card to ensure company expenses aren't impinging on your credit limit, or causing interest charges to go up. Many people in my organisation seem to live in debt (new hires, out of university, for example), or don't have high enough credit limits.

I myself don't carry a personal card, and use my own AmEx for work expenses. I regularly have to pay for colleague's hotel rooms, so it's not unusual for me to turn in a $10-20K expense claim as a result.

Although... Finance recently suggested to me (again) that I get a corporate card, and now want copies of my credit card bill to ensure that they're not being taken for a ride on foreign currency conversion. A trifle annoying.

KenF

Definitely agree with you on that one! My view is that if you can't trust people, you shouldn't be employing them (especially not in roles where they are travelling and representing your organisation). When I used to sign off innumerable expenses claims every day, I treated my staff as adults, and when, every once in a while, someone pushed at the boundaries, I applied the appropriate measures to modify their behaviour before it got out of hand. I'm not really sure why this approach has dissapeared, after all, if you treat all your staff like they are dishonest criminals, you can hardly complain if some of them start acting like they are!

Fair comment, when I wrote that I was thinking specifically of financial liability, but the wider picture has to be considered too. Entering into personal liability for things like confidentiality has it's place, but it really depends on what you are being asked to sign. I've balked at contracts that have clauses that basically say "you have to sign everything we put in front of you" because that sounds too much like a blank cheque, but I accept the need to personally underwrite confidentiality and IPR clauses when appropriate.

To give you some idea, after around 40 years of dodging the bullet, I finally ended up having to sign the Official Secrets Act last year, and I'm aware that in doing so I've signed away a chunk of my civil rights in perpetuity, but the requirement to do so was hardly unreasonable at the time.

Ken.

Willard the Bear - I am not aware of any such contract, nor, if I were aware of it, would I be predisposed to comment....