Credit card for work

Jonathan2712

A slightly different view here, so long as the expense process is quick and reliable, and you don't have any concerns about the companies stability, its fine. I pay my own expenses on my CC and submit a claim each week / month depending on what's happening at the time. I tend to get it back the following Thursday so long as it was submitted by Friday morning. I probaly spend around 30k-50k a year. My only advise would be to set aside a few thousand so that its there should there be any delays in processing or submitting a claim.

Tippbhoy1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123053494#Comment_123053494

This is the best advice on the thread.
Claim in a timely fashion.
Have a bit of backup.
See how it goes for a few months.

If getting hairy-bring it up again when you have built some relationships.

Get an Aer credit card in the meantime.

If you don’t want to or can’t do the above, you probably need to work elsewhere.

daheff

Absolutely 100% do not take out a personal credit card for work expenses. The company can issue you one at no cost to themselves (other than stamp duty...which if I were you I'd claim back if you got a card for this).

You carry all the risk of late payments etc for the company's benefits. A card such as this would also impact how much you credit you could get on another card you use for personal use. Late payments go on your credit record, potentially affecting loan applications in the future.

If they won't give you a card ask them for an advance to cover expenses. If they are unwilling to provide anything to cover business expenses then maybe you shouldn't incur them on their behalf.

wandererz

I've worked with small companies as well as multinationals. I've only ever been provided with a company credit card once. Generally it's not done except in certain circumstances.

With the large companies, things like flights and accommodation would generally be booked through something like Egencia. Even so, Flights generally paid automatically by the company but hotels would need to be paid at the hotel rather than online.

It depends on the company policy on re-imbursement. With some there were two cut-off days a month, so two chances to be paid back. With others it was once a month.

It's not altogether a bad idea to have a separate credit card, as long as you only use it for work expenses. Everything is clearly listed and makes it easier to sort through when claiming.

Also, many cards give you up to 56 days or so interest free. Check the policy of each. If a company card is not possible, I would prefer to have a separate card for exclusive use. It's also a backup when travelling in case there are problems. It will also have its own limit, so reducing the chances of maxing out the card you use for personal stuff.

Most people are saying no and never, but if not possible then you need to decide on the best option for you.

The companies I worked for included engineers and sales people who would travel throughout the country, UK, Europe etc on a regular basis for customer meetings etc. We didn't have company credit cards but got used to discipline in terms of submitting receipts on time.

SteelyDanJalapeno

One missed payment for just one month will negatively effect your chances of getting a mortgage down the line OP,

ongarite

I work for large multinational but with small Irish workforce.

We had to pay our own hotel & daily expenses for work training trips for many years. This was very troublesome for new employees as many wouldn’t have the money & capacity in their own account. A cash advance was available on request but it’s a hassle to work with on the expensing software.
Now we have company cards and it just works seamlessly with expensing software.

wandererz

To answer the original question, you can compare options here:

https://www.bonkers.ie/compare-credit-cards/your-results/

Jonathan2712

You may also have no option of having a company card. Lots of people saying insist! Well that's all very well and good if your role is big and important enough that the company will change its policy to accommodate you, but for 99.9% of the workforce you will need to work within the rules set by the company. If you manage things sensibly it will at worst be no major issue, or if you mange things well you may also be able to make some return on this be that Avios or a cash back / points based card. But I certainly wouldn't go looking to start an argument with a new employer over something like this.

grimeire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123053494#Comment_123053494

thanks as others said probably the best piece of advise here.

i don't have any doubts about the company going under they made over 800m revenue last year and have big plans for this year.

I'm going to wait a few months to get the CC to see how things go. I was told they would pay all CC fees such as stamp duty, monthly charge so as long as they are paying me in next pay interval i will go down the route of the CC.

In most cases these trips are booked months out so if they dont pay me or are slow to pay I can get a refund before the trip for most things of it.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123054642#Comment_123054642

If your company took in 800m in revenue last year and they still expect you to get your own credit card to cover your business expenses then they are taking you for a ride.

witchgirl26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123054722#Comment_123054722

Not always. I work for a large company that would make more than that but as a policy they do not issue credit cards to anyone other than complete top management. And even then, they try to limit that. Company card fraud is one of the biggest expenses in a lot of businesses. My previous employer handed out company cards like they were sweets & I was involved in doing a review of the expenses on them as part of my role - wardrobes (unless Sliderobes make something different now), Tiffany rings, concert tickets, jewellery etc were just some of the items that people put on them.

wai_xing_ren

I used to work for a pretty big company in London. The procurement department was crap. So many people bought stuff on their personal cards and claimed it back. So far so good.

Then one guy was required to do a Microsoft certification course in Leeds. He paid for the course himself, paid for a hotel and train tickets. Monday morning he was in the centre where the course was to be held. Other people were called to join different courses until he was left by himself. He asked about it. It turns out that his course had been cancelled. The company had been told about it a week before but hadn't bothered to tell him. It took months to sort this out. Getting the course fee back was bad enough but the company was not going to reimburse his train fare and hotel expenses since he shouldn't have gone in the first place.

That put a stop to people paying for things on their own credit cards.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123048762#Comment_123048762

it can work better when you pay and claim expenses…

example. the civil service 24 hours rates for travelling can be €450 tax free.

you have the choice of taking that and paying your own hotel and food, or letting the company book you a hotel and paying for your food. and you get nothing

with regards loyalty schemes, the traveller gets them and not the person booking

Fann Linn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123054800#Comment_123054800

So to eliminate CC fraud, they get the sucker's to use their own CC? I'd be giving that a miss, thank you.

As many others have said here, let HQ book the big ticket items s and the OP should just pay the day to day costs and return the remittances asap.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123054722#Comment_123054722

I worked for a firm with >$10bn in annual revenue that expected people to expense and reclaim everything that couldn't be done through their terrible captive travel agent; or set up credit/invoice arrangements. There were a tiny number of company Amex cards around but nobody at my level ever got a sniff of them.

Cheapest credit line you can get is your own staff!

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123054834#Comment_123054834

#JoinAUnion

Dick Turnip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123053494#Comment_123053494

But this only works as your company does a weekly payment run it seems. A lot of companies will only pay out expenses in payroll the month following approval. An employee could go on a trip the first week of July, and not get reimbursed until the August payroll which would be in the last week of August, 7-8 weeks later.

This was the way it was in the last company I worked for. However, for flights and hotels, the company would pay as they should be booked through an agency. So at least the high value items were paid by the companies.

OP, I worked on the finance side for a startup (<20 people) before. I used to book any hotels/flights/car rentals in advance using the company card if anyone was making a trip. Then the employee would submit expense claim for any meals or taxis etc. There was also a few people in the company that had a card that would pay for meals on any trips that they were on.

Your company is taking the pi$$ asking you to spend €1-2K a month on average on your own card.

F1ngers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123054642#Comment_123054642

thanks as others said probably the best piece of advise here.

One, I repeat, one other person said it's the best piece of advice.

Countless others have said "get a company card".

But as with a lot of people looking for advice on boards, they single out the one that suits themselves and go with that.

Don't be afraid, because you're new, insist on a company card.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123054642#Comment_123054642

If there booked months out then why the hell wouldn't the company book it for you. Your basically ignoring every piece of advice on this thread.

witchgirl26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123054868#Comment_123054868

No to stop them having a huge amount to pay off & having to deal with people thinking it's free money, they set up a system whereby flights & accommodation was booked on a centralised system & any food etc was out of pocket expenses that were reimbursed. Realistically that's how most companies work these days. I actually don't know of many companies at all that issue corporate cards to anyone but the most senior people in a business.

Fann Linn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123055382#Comment_123055382

That's exactly what I said too. However there are lads on here suggesting the OP should take the CC out in his name, plus , make sure to keep a couple of grand set aside just in case HR/Finance cock up with reimbursement!

The whole thing is ludicrous.

watchclocker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123055382#Comment_123055382

The last two companies I worked for, including my current job, you got your credit card as quickly as you got your phone, I'm not a particularly senior employee but I do visit clients and travel to overseas other offices

My partner works for another multinational and while they're senior now, they weren't when they started and have had a credit card from the get go

All of these companies also have central booking agents to book flights so they don't even go on the card

In my experience, if you travel regularly then you have a card or you have a central booking agent or at a minimum there is the one card that gets used for the big ticket items and the smaller day tomday stuff gets claimed back (which was the case in a previous job I had where I rarely traveled)

It is never the case that you pay thousands out in advance, and it's very strange that a manager would tell you to get a personal credit card specifically for work - that's such bad advice

witchgirl26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123056007#Comment_123056007

My experience is in 2 different multinationals. One is a US headquartered entity and they handed a credit card application to you on the first day if you were doing any kind of travel. The other is an Irish headquartered entity (Europe only) and I can count on 2 hands the number of cards in the entire business (& yes I do know how many as it comes into my role to know). I probably did travel a bit more in the US multinational generally but that was the nature of that role more than anything. The credit card wasn't helpful though as it was an AMEX which wasn't accepted in most places I needed to use it.

I do still travel in my Irish multinational role but it's all either booked via a system or else I can book & claim my expenses the normal way through the system. I've never been left down thousands & I don't know anyone who is. One of my colleagues would travel at least twice a month & never had an issue claiming things back when paid. I claim flights as soon as I've paid for them rather than when I fly and hotels are then after the fact.

I do agree that a manager suggesting you take out a credit card is stepping over a line a bit.

helimachoptor

For previous companies I have company credit card, a personal Amex (paid by me on expenses received but amount guaranteed by the company)

Current company we use Revolut business, my expenses for Jan- April will likely be about 20k, finance add funds to the card based on expected spend, all receipts are uploaded in a couple of seconds and it’s pretty cheap.

grimeire

funny that aer lingus have their own CC but are advertised as using revolut business on the revolut website.

witchgirl26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123111818#Comment_123111818

Because it's a different thing completely. It's a personal credit card that allows people to get avios points by using it. It being a personal one would mean that they couldn't use it for employees being given a corporate card. Which is probably why they use Revolut.

ferg01

leave aside the borderline hysterical comments here. I’ve been using personal credit card for my expenses for years now.

Aer Lingus credit card isn’t nearly as good as it sounds. I never manage to get the “free” flights that I look for so unless you’re flying frequently I wouldn’t bother with the Aer Lingus card. You might have better luck if you fly from Dublin though.

If you need to book hotels, I would set up a Hotels.com account. You get a voucher for every 10 nights booked. I use them all the time.

Just go for the credit card that has the lowest interest rate wound be my advice.

If it transpires that your company is slow in repaying your expenses then there’s a very strong case for them to provide you with one.

BrokenArrows

Honestly it depends on the company.
I have had a personal credit card for work, but from large companies who had no chance of failing to pay the expenses.
If it was a smaller startup situation then there is no way i would have a personal credit card for work expenses. The risk would be way too high.

Redderneck

On no account should you be paying personally for big ticket items, such as airfares, accommodation or car hire. Company books on your behalf, or else company provides a credit card, or alternatively provides a cash advance, with you returning the unspent balance, plus receipted expenses record.

If they say no company card is the norm, then say it is not for you, and that you find it unacceptable that your personal credit standing and potentially cashflow is being used to fund their start-up. Calmly suggest that big ticket items be company booked, with you happy to pick up incidentals on your card/use cash, which you can claim for; or suggest the cash advance option. Record/note the conversation.

You are an employee not a shareholder. If they balk, then you might have some fun and suggest you'd be willing to accept personal risk, in return for a shareholding. Note the conversation.

Any outfit looking to do this is possibly exhibiting signs of being under-funded/cash flow squeezed, and is very much in the higher-risk side of an already high risk start-up category. If they dig in, and especially if they howl in derision at the 'cash advance' option then personally, I'd be updating my CV.

Wildly Boaring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123052781#Comment_123052781

Very similar here.

For 5 years i paid for flights, train tickets (not accommodation) etc on my own CC. Got reimbursed around the 15th of every month along with my mileage claim. Worked perfectly.

Then a new CFO introduced a new sign-off procedure where everything was double checked, first by an admin who was just scared to get anything wrong. And they started rejecting foreign receipts due to VAT rate, or receipts with a slightly different shop name to the one online. Also there was a new App, that now works fine, but had teething problems.

Now i'll only pay for things like a lunch when i'm on the road. Anything else few of us just started to raise a formal requisition and put through admin. Soon changed the process for flights and train tickets to an email/phone call