Author Topic: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card  (Read 10341 times)

chicagomeg

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I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« on: June 04, 2015, 08:12:41 PM »
http://www.askamanager.org/2015/06/i-racked-up-20000-in-personal-charges-on-my-company-credit-card.html

Ask a Manager is my absolute favorite advice blog. She's had some crazy posts over the years but this one took the cake for me!!! Jaw, meet floor.

forummm

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2015, 08:17:11 PM »
People are crazy. First, living beyond their ability to pay. Then doing it in a way that will cost them their job and probably bring legal consequences. So dumb. Just shut the wallet.

nobodyspecial

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2015, 10:11:01 PM »
That one was a bit unfortunate, they were suddenly told they needed to get a car for their job and couldn't qualify for a loan and didn't have any savings - they went through 3 junk cars and hid the cost on their work credit card. They then dug in deeper with fees / interest to keep it hidden.

Stupid? Yes - but not quite the same as going on a fancy purse shopping spree on the company


Middlesbrough

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2015, 10:12:36 PM »
What did I just read? Seriously, wtf? They told you not to and you go ahead and do it anyway. Did you think there would be no consequences? Good luck over extending yourself until your fired and sued. Ugh...

Self-employed-swami

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2015, 11:47:14 PM »
I can't believe no one has noticed that yet!

Spud

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2015, 12:09:34 AM »
$600 a month in Paypal frees alone! I'm sure this guy has ended his career. What I'd love to hear about, and what is probably happening, is how this guy is more than likely still paying for a cell phone contract, gym membership, meals out, all sorts of things that he should scrap, instantly.

minority_finance_mo

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2015, 04:43:26 AM »
He's paying $2,000 off of his bill each month, so it seems like he's fairly high income. Just cut back and pay off the rest of the 20K, and stop abusing company assets in the future! Ugh!

iris lily

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2015, 08:10:33 AM »
He's paying $2,000 off of his bill each month, so it seems like he's fairly high income. Just cut back and pay off the rest of the 20K, and stop abusing company assets in the future! Ugh!

Awww, he's ADD, try to have some sympathy. And some of these. Ills were racked up,when his gf was without a job, so it's not just cars that he used this money on.

TheAnonOne

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2015, 10:10:40 AM »
This is theft. Hard to say anything else about it.

If I steal jewelery from a store and months later start paying them back (with little hope of paying the full balance) am I suddenly absolved of all crime? Am I suddenly a good citizen in a rough place?

No, you stole 20k, regardless of what you do now. His attitude is what gets me, he basically wants to sweep it under the rug.

Capsu78

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2015, 10:24:32 AM »
I would seek out "Vinny the Vig" before I neglected to pay off this card immediately...Can you still do your job with one arm broken?

mickeyj

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2015, 10:36:52 AM »
Had a few colleagues who thought it was a good idea to charge 50k in advance to a well-known club (and it's not spent yet).

They got found out and everyone was fired.

chicagomeg

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2015, 10:39:40 AM »
He's paying $2,000 off of his bill each month, so it seems like he's fairly high income. Just cut back and pay off the rest of the 20K, and stop abusing company assets in the future! Ugh!

Awww, he's ADD, try to have some sympathy. And some of these. Ills were racked up,when his gf was without a job, so it's not just cars that he used this money on.

I can't see what being ADD has to do with it, other than him.using it as an excuse.

Chris22

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #12 on: June 05, 2015, 10:52:44 AM »
I once charged $50 in gas on my corporate card by mistake (both personal and corp. cards are silver).  FIRST thing I did when I saw that email hit that the charge came through (no bad email, just the generic "there are new charges on your card, time to do an expense report" email) was 1) pay it back and 2) email my boss to say "oops, my bad, I paid it but wanted to let you know."  Abusing the corporate card is about the second fastest way I can think of to get fired, after punching your boss.

Sibley

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #13 on: June 05, 2015, 12:51:31 PM »
I'm a CPA. That guy is A. an idiot and B. committing fraud.

The ADD means nothing. He knew it was wrong and did it anyway.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #14 on: June 05, 2015, 01:06:49 PM »
I'm a CPA. That guy is A. an idiot and B. committing fraud.

The ADD means nothing. He knew it was wrong and did it anyway.

QFT. I've known plenty of people with ADD and worse who refrain from committing fraud.

slugline

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #15 on: June 05, 2015, 01:15:09 PM »
I can't believe no one has noticed that yet!

For two years. Actually, I'm not sure coming clean is clearly the best policy. Isn't it very possible that whoever at that company is responsible for Travel and Expense could also lose their job for not catching this????

expectopatronum

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #16 on: June 05, 2015, 01:20:19 PM »
I don’t know if it is relevant but I have ADD, so impulse control, particularly when under stress, has always been an issue for me, and the whole thing was really traumatic with changing roles and several other factors. My mental state was definatly not clear at the time I started doing this.

I can't even.

I got stressed and did something stupid. I plead...insanity? I was actually feeling sorry for the guy up until that sentence.

RunHappy

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #17 on: June 05, 2015, 01:29:58 PM »
That one was a bit unfortunate, they were suddenly told they needed to get a car for their job and couldn't qualify for a loan and didn't have any savings - they went through 3 junk cars and hid the cost on their work credit card. They then dug in deeper with fees / interest to keep it hidden.

Stupid? Yes - but not quite the same as going on a fancy purse shopping spree on the company

It  sounds like he also floated his unemployed girlfriend's lifestyle too.

BlueHouse

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #18 on: June 05, 2015, 01:44:33 PM »
I don't really think it's that horrible, but I may not have a full understanding of the company credit card.  Isn't the guy still responsible for making all the payments?  Isn't it HIM on the line for those charges?

Whenever I've had corporate cards in the past, (twice in my professional life), I've always been 100% for the payment of the cards.  I had to submit an expense report and was reimbursed for anything that was related to corporate travel / work.  I thought it was good practice to keep business and personal separate, but I wasn't required to do that and quite frankly didn't when it wasn't convenient.  Then I'd pay the bill in full and get reimbursed for the business portion of it.

After a while, I realized there was no benefit in me doing this, and dropped the corp card altogether.  In fact, some of the consumer protections that we have with credit cards do NOT apply with a corporate card.  Also, I didn't really like my company seeing all the details of every transaction.  So I started using a separate PERSONAL card for business-related travel and then did my expense reports exactly as I had always been required to do. 

Unless he has a different kind of setup, it sounds as if he's personally responsible for the payments, so I guess I don't see why the company should even care one way or the other.  I know I'm about to be schooled.  :)

fantabulous

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #19 on: June 05, 2015, 01:51:11 PM »
I once charged $50 in gas on my corporate card by mistake (both personal and corp. cards are silver).  FIRST thing I did when I saw that email hit that the charge came through (no bad email, just the generic "there are new charges on your card, time to do an expense report" email) was 1) pay it back and 2) email my boss to say "oops, my bad, I paid it but wanted to let you know."  Abusing the corporate card is about the second fastest way I can think of to get fired, after punching your boss.

Seems like if you punched hard enough, you'd have a good amount of time before your boss regained consciousness.

Jags4186

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #20 on: June 05, 2015, 08:03:09 PM »
My corporate card is paid by the company...I've never even seen a real statement from Amex. That said we have to fill out an expense report that needs to match the bill...

If I was responsible for paying a corporate card...why would I use it?  Wouldn't I rather get all the points on my card?

Financial.Velociraptor

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #21 on: June 05, 2015, 08:14:29 PM »
I had to use corp card on corp sites to do corp things.  For example, business travel.  I had to buy my airline tix on the company amex site even if the quoted price was 3 times what I could have found online (there was an "override commission" involved [a fancy pants - kickback]).  I had to use corp card to order office supplies from the official corporate catalog.  And I had to use it (frequently) to order dinner for staff when working late during close.  I was on the insider roster so the reporting requirements were more strict.  Using a personal card to get cash back rewards and getting reimbursed was forbidden.  What a PITA.

FIRE is awesome and not just because there are no more expense reports with 2.5 hours a month worth of documentation requirements. 

nobodyspecial

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #22 on: June 05, 2015, 10:37:27 PM »
Reading that site - the number of people that were working and complained that they couldn't afford to put expenses on their personal cards because they couldn't find the $1000 if the bill came before the expenses!

And these aren't Walmart greeters - the are the sort of jobs were you have $1000 trips as part of your job.

RocketSurgeon

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #23 on: June 06, 2015, 12:49:24 AM »
Quote from: Some moron from the internets
Somehow I have managed to rack up a rolling balance of $20,000 on this card and I can’t ever pay it all off in one go.
I wonder how. What a curious mystery. Poor guy.

BlueHouse

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #24 on: June 06, 2015, 05:56:47 AM »
My corporate card is paid by the company...I've never even seen a real statement from Amex. That said we have to fill out an expense report that needs to match the bill...
Those cards are usually reserved for the big shots. I never had one of those, but I've seen a few people get in trouble with them.

Quote

If I was responsible for paying a corporate card...why would I use it?  Wouldn't I rather get all the points on my card?
You are entitled to all the points and all frequent flyer miles that are earned by using your corp card if your name is on the cards. There was a big lawsuit on this in the mid-nineties when companies were trying to keep employees miles benefits.

Jags4186

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #25 on: June 06, 2015, 01:28:40 PM »
My corporate card is paid by the company...I've never even seen a real statement from Amex. That said we have to fill out an expense report that needs to match the bill...
Those cards are usually reserved for the big shots. I never had one of those, but I've seen a few people get in trouble with them.

Quote

If I was responsible for paying a corporate card...why would I use it?  Wouldn't I rather get all the points on my card?
You are entitled to all the points and all frequent flyer miles that are earned by using your corp card if your name is on the cards. There was a big lawsuit on this in the mid-nineties when companies were trying to keep employees miles benefits.

Interesting. My name is on my company Amex but I certainly do not get any of the points.  That's something they actually recently took away.

expectopatronum

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #26 on: June 07, 2015, 02:16:53 AM »
My corporate card is paid by the company...I've never even seen a real statement from Amex. That said we have to fill out an expense report that needs to match the bill...
Those cards are usually reserved for the big shots. I never had one of those, but I've seen a few people get in trouble with them.

Quote

If I was responsible for paying a corporate card...why would I use it?  Wouldn't I rather get all the points on my card?
You are entitled to all the points and all frequent flyer miles that are earned by using your corp card if your name is on the cards. There was a big lawsuit on this in the mid-nineties when companies were trying to keep employees miles benefits.

Huh. Guess I'm an anomaly. I got a company paid credit card that I never use except for legit business expenses at age 22 when I joined the company ...but then they're also small, so...everyone was kinda a big wig back then? I think it was just easier to do that than for my boss to both with reimbursing people. He fundamentally trusted them and had better things to worry about. And also I guess nobody had ADD, otherwise we would have racked up the debt.

Chris22

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Re: I racked up $20k in personal charges on my company card
« Reply #27 on: June 07, 2015, 10:50:41 AM »
My corporate card is paid by the company...I've never even seen a real statement from Amex. That said we have to fill out an expense report that needs to match the bill...
Those cards are usually reserved for the big shots. I never had one of those, but I've seen a few people get in trouble with them.

I'm a very small shot at a very big company and that's how mine works.  I get emailed a notification I have charges on my CC, and then I go in and create an expense report (in Concur, a popular tool) and as long as expenses = expense report, it gets paid and I never see a bill.  I've worked at 3 companies and this is how it has worked at all of them (all were very large companies).  There's also a provision to pay part of the bill yourself; say you're in an airport and you buy a book and a sandwich at a kiosk.  The sandwich is reimbursable, the book is not, so you just input the sandwich portion and then you have to go in and pay for the part that is nonreimbursable.