How to Use Corporate Credit Cards

The corporate credit card is the next best perk to a company car. Corporate credit cards are a sign you have arrived in the corporate world, according to some folks.

I once worked for a company that offered corporate credit cards to all employees that would be traveling on company business. The company did a lot of work in the hazardous waste field and had projects all over the world. Since I had extensive training in the field of hazardous waste cleanup, I volunteered for any project that needed additional personnel. The corporate higher ups sent me the applications for the corporate credit cards I could use. I filled them out, sent them in and received my cards. I was all revved up and ready to go and as each project came about, I was excited about the possibility of traveling to places all over the world. But each time my supervisor decided the project wasn’t right for me or I was needed in the office for some of the more mundane projects.

A year had passed and it was time to renew my corporate credit cards and I received the most disturbing news from the big boss. Since I hadn’t used my credit cards at all, I was responsible for the renewal fee, which added up to many hundreds of dollars. It didn’t matter that my supervisor put the kybosh on all potential projects that required travel. I cancelled my unused corporate credit cards. Not long after that, a project came up that my supervisor thought was just right for me. My bags were packed for 3 weeks in the Yukon before I left the office that afternoon but guess what? I couldn’t go because I didn’t have any corporate credits cards to charge the trip on and their wasn’t enough time to get them before I was supposed to leave. I think I may have accused the company of underhanded manipulation or something like that.

I have lost count of the number of times I have met friends for lunch or dinner or even just drinks and they picked up the tab and put it on their corporate credit cards. They always claimed they hardly ever did that but they did it all the time. I often wondered how often they had to reimburse the company for such charges. Sometimes it was the battle of corporate credit cards after an occasion out. “I got it.” one would say. “No I got it” someone else would say. I didn’t have any corporate credit cards so I just offered cash. Sometimes the wait person had to split the bill and let each corporate card holder pay a share of the bill to avoid a brawl.

One time, upon entering a restaurant with a group of friends we found two corporate credit cards on the floor. We gave it to the maitre d and explained we found the cards on the floor. Thinking that they would put them away for safe keeping until the rightful owner could be found, we didn’t give it another thought. We had a nice evening of eating and drinking and singing with the band and eating some more and drinking a lot more and being asked to not sing with the band. At the end of the evening when it came time to pay the bill, the waiter brought the two found corporate credit cards to the table and asked which card the bill should be put on. Apparently, when we gave the corporate credit cards to the maitre d, something was lost in the translation and the waiter was under the impression the corporate credit cards belonged to us. Without saying a word, we put half the bill on each card, scribbled a signature and left a cash tip.