Employer no longer issues corporate expense cards

[pancakes]

My employer ditched corporate credit cards and opted for a system of reimbursing expenses instead.

At first I very annoyed as they reimburse monthly and that is a month I'm without my money!

Now I'm happy with the situation. I'm able to put the majority of expenses on a card that gives me  2% cash back on transactions (and no fees) and as my expenses are roughly the same each month, I'm effectively earning interest of over 20%p.a on the money I have coming and going from expenses.

Of course they've opted for this system to discourage expenses due to the employee using their own money up front (I have a budget to keep within anyway) and because they know a certain percentage of receipts will be lost or purchases forgotten about. My expenses aren't huge so at the end of the year it doesn't add up to much but it is by far the best returning 'investment' I have.

[Primm]

My husband has this same scenario, except that he has a work vehicle that they reimburse fuel for (we get full private use as well) and he works away for one week a month will all the associated accommodation and food costs.

We switched credit cards to one with frequent flyer points, and we now get a free trip each every year to see my parents on the other side of the country. Win!

[JAYSLOL]

I usually have a couple hundred dollars of expenses reimbursed each month (i put everything i can on my visa card), while most others in the company only need about $30 a month (they use a company petty cash envelope and don't pay anything out of pocket).  Someone last year was complaining that they ran out of petty cash and had to pay a $4 expense (seriously, a $4 expense!) with their own money.  I told them that i put EVERYTHING on my card and get it reimbursed before it's due, while get reward points, and they just walked away shaking their head like I was the one that was crazy! 

[Goldielocks]

Lucky,

My employer reimburses expenses, but insists that anyone with more than $1000 a year in expenses must use the company backed card.

The only benefit to me is that all the expenses appear on a separate bill from personal, but it is AMEX, must be paid every 30 days in full whether you have the company money or not, (they don't pay late dues) and no air miles or cash back.

Younger staff have the beneift of a credit line that is larger than a $1000 limit, so they don't ever need to ask for a cash advance for expenses.  for me, that is not an issue.

[jorjor]

Every several months my employer says "we should really get you a corporate card, it would be easier for you" and they send me the application. I then ignore that email until they forget about it, and continue getting points instead.

[redcedar]

Jackpot! I am very jealous. I have about $10-15k in business travel expenses each year. Oh the bonus points that I rack up if I could use a personal card.

[ender]

Be aware you are not taking the liability/risk if your employer has money problems.

Probably not likely, but something to be careful about.

[TomTX]

I probably will cycle $5-10k this year for reimbursed travel expenses. Meals I'm getting 2% back, hotels I'm getting 3% back. Conservatively 2.5% overall. Close to $200.

Plus I join every hotel club and tweak my hotel choice depending on what the bonuses are.

By the end of February I should be able to rack up 50k bonus IHG points (probably 4 stays, 8 nights total) plus a free Marriott night (just two separate 1 night stays = free night)

This is on top of regular hotel points.

[NoStacheOhio]

Just be sure to read the fine print on company policy. I got burned on a few meals this month because I submitted the credit card receipt instead of itemized.

[johnclauson]

Yes to this! It is entirely free money and requires nearly no additional time as I already religiously save my personal receipts.

[jacksonvasey]

Good for you, I agree that it's a nice little thing to have, though at my last employer the expenses would sometimes get held up, which was not cool.  Now I expense about $400 a month, and only submit expenses quarterly because I'm lazy.

But one thing that has worked really well for me is using the DO Camera app on my iphone, with a recipe that saves the picture to an expenses folder in my Dropbox, with the file name as the date/time of the photo.  So this way, immediately I incur an expense, I open the app and take a photo of the receipt.  Then when I go to file the expenses in Excel, I paste in my Amex statement list and match the photo to the expense date, easy peasy.

Much less common now for me to forget about any expenses I incur.  The biggest problem is when the place doesn't take Amex, and I use my personal Visa instead (I reserve my Amex for company expenses, but it is a personal card).  But the DO Camera app has helped in this regard, too.  But I do end up poring over my visa statement to make sure I don't forget anything.