Partner has used Work Credit Card for Personal Expenses!

[Charcol]

Hes been called in for a disciplinary meeting to explain himself.

I have advised him to co-operate and tell the truth as best as poss. Its several transactions, including cash withdrawals. Although he has never tried to claim them as a business expense to recoup the money from work, and has paid the monies back after use.

However, the policy is no personal expenses!

What are the best options to avoid dismissal? Has anyone witnessed or seen similar scenarios? Advise would be much appreciated. thanks!

That’s not right, both mind and my husbands is paid by the company and it’s not against your credit rating,

Yes I wouldn’t even dream of doing that.

This. In my case, the company paid off the balance in full each month and the credit limit reset itself.

Although I did also need to save receipts and each transaction had to be explained and coded.

I once used mine by mistake to buy lunch (I’d just grabbed the wrong card from my wallet before leaving the house and not noticed). Even though the value was only £5 I owned up straightaway and paid them straight back.

It’s how my company Amex works. So it’s right for me.

That isn’t how mine works I have to specifically process it and am responsible for doing so. Then the company pays directly for business expenses. I have to pay anything else.

Sure, no disputing, but you posted saying that’s for everyone basically and it isn’t. By a long way. You just happen to work for a shit company.

What an absolute idiot! Why on earth would he do this? And how on earth did he think it would not be noticed?

Then, perhaps, you should have said my company credit uses my credit rating, rather than your broad statement.

Every time I've had a company credit card, it's been no personal use. I've had to review the bill each month and make sure an expense claim has gone through to cover each expense, and anything not covered by the claim has been my problem to sort out (including late fees).

I've never accidentally used it for personal expenditure, but with the above process, any cost to the company would have been met by me, so not a big deal, and not a disciplinary.

I can see how some people would use a card accidentally and pay it back - card details save to your payment options and you might not even realise until you get the bill. But cash withdrawals? That seems more suspicious to me.

No one takes cash out from a credit card unless they are desperate. No one takes cash out from a company credit card unless they are up to their eyeballs in debt and therefore a big enough fraud risk to worry about...

I just don't see how you don't notice sticking a credit card into an ATM, let alone one that 'isn't yours'.

Okaaay…. I agree you have an amaaazing job. Not like sad little me working for a crappy FTSE 100.

At least mine wouldn’t fire me for using it.

There are many other broad statements on here. Most of them from people who don’t have company credit cards.

The key thing here is that the cash is dodgy and the company policy. It isn’t fraud though. Unless there is some that isn’t declared somewhere.

I think that’s a fairly unusual scenario, as every company I’ve ever worked for settled the bill directly and I would have to supply receipts for all the money spent.

OP - the only way is brutal honesty.

Take union advice on this! Like now!… I don’t need to comment on the situation, there are enough out there already. So just to say. Stay strong, your propping everyone up right now and you are feeling ashamed. You’ve done nothing and remember, this will end. Make sure you look after yourself x

From the other end of the piece, we have staff with company credit cards and take a flexible line on one off mistakes, but anyone withdrawing cash and fiddling and diddling about would be a no no. There's no need for it, he's either dishonest or daft, and neither is good news for his wife.

One place I have worked, this would have been an instant dismissal, gross misconduct, pack your things, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

My current employer, as he’s a man and presuming he’s an otherwise good employee, it would be a slapped wrist, they’d make it look as though they’d taken it seriously and he’d been disciplined, but in truth they’d not care. If he was a woman, however… 😑 (they’re forever putting women on PIPs and trying to engineer them out). Both finance.

Comply, own it, take rep if applicable.

He's got to hope that he's well liked and usually a solid worker and has a good explanation for his lack of judgement as well as a boss who is willing to give him a chance . If any of these things are missing the outcome will not be good .

There's different ways that company credit cards can be structured.

With some, the card is officially in your name and you are responsible for claiming your expenses and paying the bill, but you getting accepted for the card and the credit limit set is based on the company rather than your personal finances. If you're a young graduate on a fairly basic income who needs to regularly fly across the atlantic and pay significant hotel bills then you may have that and it may be less serious to use it for personal expenses.

With others it may be a way of simplifying the expenses process altogether - if a card is only used for work purposes then the company paying the bill each month as a single transaction is a significant saving in administration costs (compared to dealing with an expense claim of 100 small receipted transactions) which offsets the card fees. If the card is used for personal purposes so that the admin work to examine each transaction isn't skipped then there's no saving.and you're costing the company money even if you pay everything back.

Exactly the same system for us. My company Amex is in my name, I'm liable for all the spending on it but I ask the company to pay for all the parts that are business expenses.

Money laundering.

A company has to know what it is buying / spending.

Sadly, I think he'll be fired for gross misconduct.
If it happened once, it could be put down to an oversight.
Multiple times suggests fraud.

I know nothing about it but I’d agree with this.
A one off can be excused if it’s been paid back in timely fashion but doing it repeatedly was very stupid.
Having paid it back has to count for something but I’m afraid I’d prepare for the worst.

tough one. My husband has accidentally used his corporate card for persona use (he has a barclaycard business and a personal barclaycard on his Apple Pay!) but never claims back and it's been for minor things (think a coffee or tapping in on the tube).

Withdrawal of cash is very very different, in my eyes.

She asked for advice, not a lecturer. Did you read what was written. As she answered almost everything in her statement. Try a bit empathy

I know of someone who used their company cc to go on a personal spending spree - new clothes, make up, toys for the kids...

Got caught, dismissed and her DH promptly agreed to repay as she couldn't see what she had done wrong.

The mind boggles quite frankly at how she thought she would get away with it. They had to borrow money from family to pay it back and stop the company from taking legal action against her... and she still works in Procurement!