Credit card for nanny - how does it work?

[Anchovy]

I would like to set my nanny up with a credit card to deal with the various expenses that she deals with. She is extremely trustworthy, so I am not particularly concerned about her defrauding me (or perhaps it would be better to say that I would be concerned about her defrauding me but see it as extremely unlikely). However obviously there are the usual checks and balances which I would like to have in place with anyone (including DH!) who I share a credit card with.

I would be interested to see what anyone else does. For example do you take out a credit card in your name with a low limit and then give the nanny a second card on the account? Its really to deal with petrol, runs to the supermarket and eg picking up the odd bits of clothing without me having to deal in wads of cash.

I did what you're thinking of - took out another credit card and gave her the second card on the account. It worked well for us.

Could you get a joint account with a debit card? Then you could limit the damage by the amount you choose to put into the account. Also,I think the risk is not just whether you trust her. But, what if the card is stolen and someone else runs away with it? I would give my nanny a pay monthly mobile phone for this reason. If she loses the phone, some might find it and call china for 3 hours.

Could she not just get a card herself and you clear the balance each month on production of the bill and maybe you check receipts against it ?

I would be really nervous about giving her a card on my account to be honest.

Hi Anchovy

We've always been very relaxed about this and just given our nanny a second card on my credit card account. I did consider whether our current nanny or our two previous nannies might defraud us - for about 10 seconds then dismissed the idea. They live in our house and look after my children, the trust thing is so big that I couldn't get worried about the credit card. If you just want to keep tabs on the spending, payments on her card will appear on your credit card statement.

You might want to check out what happens if your nanny (or you) lose a card. One of our nannies lost the card a couple of times and I can't remember whether we had to cancel just her card or my card as well.

Oh hell - I just can't resist posting about nannies.

Hi Issymum.

Our nanny worked for her last 2 previous employers for 2 and eight years respectively. I suspect they were both immensely better off than we are (last one had a helicopter!), so I'm sort of assuming if she had tendencies to fiddle the petty cash they would have manifested themselves before now.

I would quite like the statement to come directly to me - that's the sort of check/balance that I was thinking of. Good point re what if it gets lost. She's not the "losing things" type, so I think I will just deal with that via the low credit limit.

My own card has quite a high limit, so I think it is best to get a separate one.

I'm going to ask her how she has done it previously, but I just wanted to have some idea in case I didn't like what she was suggesting.

Mrs W - thanks for your input: you are one of my guru's here on MN

Credit cards are much safer than debit cards, in terms of things being lost, from what I know. Anyway, with pins, as long as she doesn't write down the pin, it should be fine.

That's what I was thinking. Debit cards have a direct access to your account, whereas at least credit cards are a separate "pot"

It's more than that - from prior experience, if you dispute a debit card charge, you have to prove you didn't authorise it, while disputing a credit card charge is much easier.

I always had a credit card when I was a nanny. I had to keep the card receipt (not the long shopping receipt ) so they could check it against the credit card bill to make sure the company hadnt made a mistake . Worked really well for me and the bosses .

Hi Anchovy

Yes, the statement comes directly to me as the statement is for the account rather than the card.

I'm with you on Mrs Wobble's Senior Prefect status. Partly because she is just so....unwobbly.

Oh God, you've just vindicated Zippitippitoes' complaint - I always post about nannies and being a lawyer - in a single post. But what the Hell - please do start another thread on Autumn Attire for the Office or CAT me and we can throw in lunch as well as a visit to the personal shopper and you can time-write it as 'Marketing'.

If you trust someone with your child you really ought to trust them with a credit card!!!!!

Issy/Anchovy ... that JL personal shopper meetup idea - it couldn't be crashed by another stylistically challenged lady lawyer, could it? I am strangely bad at telling whether something I like is actually right for work - so everything I carefully plan looks ill-conceived, yet an emergency jersey from a matronly shop in Truro has worked brilliantly. So I think I need supervision.

Email me please, ladies!

(DH is constantly entertained by the idea that I need a personal shopper to buy another black trouser suit!)