I’m Freaking Out, a Little
Posted on January 17, 2006 12 Comments
I have a headache…my money is out of control! And due to no fault of my own (which really steams me). I’m currently waiting for more money in reimbursements from my office than I have in my checking account (it’s on my personal credit card right now), and the due date for my payment – the very latest date – is January 20.
It’s weird for offices to require their employees to use personal credit cards, right? Well, our policy prohibits accountants from taking out an office credit card, which means that when my accounts need payment asap (and they always do) or I’m on the road, my personal card foots the bill. To be sure, our accountants don’t want employees using personal cards, but when you’re down to the minute to secure a program, sponsorship or event, waiting a week for a corporate check simply won’t do.
I have a card expressly for this purpose. Usually the turnaround time on payments is fine, but the year’s end really slows those reimbursement checks down. I only have until the 20th to make my payment or else I have to go through the painful process of requesting reimbursement for finance charges – which can be insane on an AmEx card. I also worry that having so much out on a credit card will negatively affect my credit, even if I make all my payments on time. I worry, too, that the discrepancies between my salary and what I charge are enough for me to be audited.
I can budget for myself. I don’t worry about making my own payments each month. In fact, once my bill is cleared, I should have enough coming in each month to increase my 401k contribution easily. But instead, I’m budgeting for expenses and dollars that I don’t have – and it’s putting a serious damper on my anxiety levels. I want to scream!
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12 Responses to “I’m Freaking Out, a Little”
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January 17th, 2006 @ 11:00 am
I used to get around this issue by having 3 credit cards. I would space out their statement dates as follows: 1st of the month, 10th of the month and 20th of the month. Whenver I would travel I would use the card where the statement date just passed, meaning that it would be 30 days before I see that bill. This worked out well as my company was on a 3-week reimbursement cycle. It takes some discipline and some good accounting skills to keep track of it, but it allowed me to float their money longer until they paid me back.
January 17th, 2006 @ 2:18 pm
I really like Steve’s advice. I had no idea that businesses put you under that type of risk without giving you a spending account to pull money from to cover expenses like those. Good luck and keep us updated!
January 17th, 2006 @ 4:36 pm
Steve, that is some great advice. I only use one…maybe that’s the problem.
January 17th, 2006 @ 5:11 pm
More people need to refuse putting out personal money for business expenses. I would do daily expenses like food on my own credit card, but I simply will not pay for hotel rooms, conference fees, rental cars, or airline tickets on my own card. It is not that difficult to give the accountants a business card and purchases can be made through them only after they apprve them.
January 17th, 2006 @ 6:23 pm
Super bummer! I think your business is putting you at risk financially. Not Cool! I agree with Anon..
January 17th, 2006 @ 10:12 pm
I like Steve’s idea. Right now if reimbursement doesn’t arrive by the due date, I just pay the minimum (though sometimes that is even over $100!) and expense the finance charges back to my company. I completely separate personal and business spending partly for this purpose (and it just keeps everything clearer for me)
You can also request a different due date from your card (I can’t remember whether they call this the cycle date or something else) if it’s fairly close to your existing one if that helps with the reimbursement cycle at your work.
But yeah, this whole thing strikes me as messed up.
January 18th, 2006 @ 3:06 am
I definitely understand what you’re going through. My ex-company did exactly the same and I used american express as the “corporate card” as well. I really had to be on top of things to keep the payments in check and make sure I’m getting reimbursed correctly and on time. But many times, something stupid happens, and I’m stuck paying it out of my pockets while I wait a week or two more for the reimbursements to roll in. Argh, hang in there!
Poe
http://www.ocbudget.blogspot.com
January 18th, 2006 @ 3:59 am
Just make sure that if you do use your own cc for work that you have one that is giving you some kind of reward (cash back or sky miles). At least that way you get some kind of benefit from using a personal account
January 18th, 2006 @ 1:04 pm
I’m not sure it if this will apply to personal Amex cards but it certainly worked for business Amex cards. Call Amex and explain that you haven’t been reimbursed by your company yet and the you will send them the money when you get the cheque. They will usually waive the fees.
January 18th, 2006 @ 4:52 pm
Why can’t you use a debit card for the business transactions that isn’t linked to the main account? If you have an idea of the monthly need, then I would place “x” amount into that account, away from my personal money, so even if they are slow to pay me back, it’s not affecting my main stockpile of cash set for bill payment. Just my two cents. Otherwise, yeah, that is extremely frustrating. I refused to setup a credit card for work, so I placed a few hundred into a bank checking account and use the debit card for these expenses, takes the worry out of things and I know I can’t exceed this amount.
January 19th, 2006 @ 4:46 pm
I administer a Purchasing Card Program for state government. The bank we contract with has an Internet system that allows me and anyone else with the proper authority to check transactions for any employee at any time. That being the case, there’s no reason not to give employees credit cards — monitoring controls are available, if that is their concern.
January 27th, 2006 @ 1:54 pm
I found your blog through clutter2cash! It’s quite informative and very entertaining.
Here’s my story:
I got a job working from home, which I was thrilled about because I have 7 kids and lost my last job due to a string of court dates (fighting ex over home), stomach flu jumping from kid to kid and appointments for specialsits (my youngest was diagnosed with autism). I thought it would be great, but I was told I have to pay for all the postage, gas, paper for copies, use of my private cell phone and my home number (basically I pay for everything and get paid just for the phone calls I make- not even the tons of paperwork). All this and my kids broke my computer the week I started working, I had to buy a new computer and ink! I lost more money that I even made this year. I love my job, but I can’t flip the bill anymore. Now I am focued on getting out of debt, blogging for adsense revenue and affiliate income. I’m afraid to work another 9-5 since I don’t a support system and I don’t want to have a bad employment history. Even so, I recently interviewed for a job and guess what?! They told me I would have to use MY car to transport clients. No reimbursement, no insurance with the company or incentive. Then I was told to be careful, some of the clients MIGHT HAVE LICE! That’s a job working with families that have open CPS/BCW or the Dept of Child Welfare cases….
I need to fix my finances and get it together with the google adsense and quick!!!!!
I’ll be linking to your site.