Work expenses no credit card

LionelNashe

Tombo2001 wrote: »

OP

Can I ask - if this travel expenses issue ended tomorrow - would your personal finance issues then be resolved? Or would your partner find some other reason to leave you with no cash at the end of the month?

Or, would the OP spend the €1000 on a holiday for herself or the family and then they'd be back to Square 1.

OP you really have listed two problems the expenses and the more general problems of living month to month and the stress of that.

Others have addressed funding the expenses - solving that would relieve some stress but won't do anything about the other stresses.
What could you (both or individually) do to get out of the cycle of living hand to mouth?

JustMe,K

Tombo2001 wrote: »

How exactly is OP supposed to go and negotiate terms for expenses with her Husbands employer?

talk about splitting hairs - her husband should go speak to them

meeeeh

We pay an amount in advance and they usually drop in the expenses. We have only a couple of people travelling and not very often and I usually have to chase them for the bills. They already got the money so there is less of an initiative to get things sorted. It's a pain but I prefer it to them financing their stuff. I think it's fairer.

Getting expenses paid in advance would help with your cash flow but it still doesn't change the fact that your family income isn't sufficient. While I can completely understand how your credit rating could be bad after the last recession the fact is that with Brexit on horizon things won't get better so you need to look into employment if you are not working or into getting better paid jobs. Or reducing your outgoings. Your income simply isn't enough and if you are not able to save something in the period of strong wage growth it won't get any easier in future.

Strumms

meeeeh wrote: »

We pay an amount in advance and they usually drop in the expenses. We have only a couple of people travelling and not very often and I usually have to chase them for the bills. They already got the money so there is less of an initiative to get things sorted. It's a pain but I prefer it to them financing their stuff. I think it's fairer.

Getting expenses paid in advance would help with your cash flow but it still doesn't change the fact that your family income isn't sufficient. While I can completely understand how your credit rating could be bad after the last recession the fact is that with Brexit on horizon things won't get better so you need to look into employment if you are not working or into getting better paid jobs. Or reducing your outgoings. Your income simply isn't enough and if you are not able to save something in the period of strong wage growth it won't get any easier in future.

A family income should be chosen with providing for your family as your priority, not loaning a big corporation money who refuse to front up and pay for work and travel that THEY want you to do.

Strumms

Strumms wrote: »

A family income should be chosen with providing for your family as your priority, not loaning a big corporation money who refuse to front up and pay for work and travel that THEY want you to do.

There's no mention of the company size by the OP.
An advance or company credit card or personal credit card would solve that overnight but wouldn't solve any of the other problems listed.

meeeeh

Strumms wrote: »

A family income should be chosen with providing for your family as your priority, not loaning a big corporation money who refuse to front up and pay for work and travel that THEY want you to do.

You can be on a high horse about it all you want but the fact is if your cash flow is so tight 1000 Euros affects your ability to live despite working full time then that means you have more serious issues.

BarryD2

FishOnABike wrote: »

Could be close to two months if expenses are reimbursed monthly an expenses claim just missed the cutoff date for inclusion in this months payroll.

Sure you get it back eventually but a lot of people would not be in a finanvial position to be continually out of pocket for a month or two.

Yes but I agree with previous poster, this is confusing. If this is a regular set of expenses, it would have been a savings issue for the first month or two but after that, it should not affect monthly disposable income. As the additional expenses roll over month to month and are paid month to month, the end result should be the same.

Strumms

meeeeh wrote: »

You can be on a high horse about it all you want but the fact is if your cash flow is so tight 1000 Euros affects your ability to live despite working full time then that means you have more serious issues.

I think most people with children, mortgages , rent, car loan would be struggling if someone nicked 1000 euros out of their monthly income.

It’s not a high horse you need be worrying yourself with but rather the low road of pay to work which you might be advocating.

Dav010

Strumms wrote: »

I think most people with children, mortgages , rent, car loan would be struggling if someone nicked 1000 euros out of their monthly income.

It’s not a high horse you need be worrying yourself with but rather the low road of pay to work which you might be advocating.

Who is nicking money? You really are blinkered.

The ops husband is being reimbursed at the end of each month, this is common practice, and saying that the employer is doing something wrong or underhanded just derails the thread for your own agenda.

It isn’t a high horse, it’s just nonsense and another thread turns into the Strumms militant philosophy of how employers are doing wrong.

MrS, €1000 is very low for a month of expenses if it included flights and hotels, and would be about right for meals, taxis/hire cards, hotel incidentals, drinks with clients etc. Maybe the op could confirm if husband has to book own hotels/flights, I’m inclined to think an employer does the hotel/flight booking to ensure costs are kept as low as possible.

meeeeh

Strumms wrote: »

I think most people with children, mortgages , rent, car loan would be struggling if someone nicked 1000 euros out of their monthly income.

It’s not a high horse you need be worrying yourself with but rather the low road of pay to work which you might be advocating.

In previous post I wrote I forward some money for the expenses before they leave and it's usually enough to cover all their expenses because I believe its fairer. You decided to ignore that and insinuated I'm advocating something completely different. It's a nasty way to misrepresent what I said and I have nothing more to say to you.

Strumms

What is fair is if you travel for work, work covers 100% of your expenses. Again if you are going to need 1000 euros for hotels, food and taxis, this money is advanced to you, 500 ? Same, 2000 same. Not even for a 24 hour period would I advance them a cent.. they WANT you to go there ? They pay... comfortable 3-4 star hotel with good amenities such as a gym, pool, centrally located to give you access to comforts, social and entertainment aspects of the city.....

Dav010

Strumms wrote: »

What is fair is if you travel for work, work covers 100% of your expenses. Again if you are going to need 1000 euros for hotels, food and taxis, this money is advanced to you, 500 ? Same, 2000 same. Not even for a 24 hour period would I advance them a cent.. they WANT you to go there ? They pay... comfortable 3-4 star hotel with good amenities such as a gym, pool, centrally located to give you access to comforts, social and entertainment aspects of the city.....

Employer is covering expenses, unless I missed it, the op has not said that vouched expenses are being refused. The rest of your post is nonsense.

Strumms

Dav010 wrote: »

Employer is covering expenses, unless I missed it, the op has not said that vouched expenses are being refused. The rest of your post is nonsense.

Nonsense is contained here... https://www.boards.ie/search/submit/?user=895100&sort=newest


And despite what the OP said the scope of the conversation has widened as with any topic on this site, so welcome to boards.ie

whippet

Strumms wrote: »

What is fair is if you travel for work, work covers 100% of your expenses. Again if you are going to need 1000 euros for hotels, food and taxis, this money is advanced to you, 500 ? Same, 2000 same. Not even for a 24 hour period would I advance them a cent.. they WANT you to go there ? They pay... comfortable 3-4 star hotel with good amenities such as a gym, pool, centrally located to give you access to comforts, social and entertainment aspects of the city.....

out of curiosity what do you work at?

I have been claiming expenses / mileage monthly in arrears for almost two decades and it has never been a problem .. some months this could be close to 2k but usually about €800-1000.

After the first month there isn't a problem.

I think the OP's husband has a bigger issue with budgeting etc and that is where the focus should lie

Strumms

I have worked in the aviation industry as a trainer for 10 years hence the requirement to travel.

If you are comfortable with your own situation that’s good, maybe thinking bigger picture though that everyone may not be of the same mind or personal resources.

MrMusician18

whippet wrote: »

out of curiosity what do you work at?

I have been claiming expenses / mileage monthly in arrears for almost two decades and it has never been a problem .. some months this could be close to 2k but usually about €800-1000.

After the first month there isn't a problem.

I think the OP's husband has a bigger issue with budgeting etc and that is where the focus should lie

There's really two issues here. A budgeting/money management issue that really belongs in PI tbh and then the issue of expenses.

The savvy business traveller is usually able to turn trips abroad into a fairly profitable endeavor. And someone on the road all the time should know all the tricks to reduce cost to maximize return. After a couple of months travelling you really should be in the green wrt expenses and costs.

Phileas Frog

Surely this ceases to be an issue after Month 1 if the expenses are ~ €1000 every month ?

skallywag

It is not the norm for companies to issue credit cards in my experience, and I know quite a lot of folk who use their private credit card and then get reimbursed the following month.

I would imagine though that his company do not know that he does not hold a private card himself. I would advise having a word with his boss about this, in such a case I think that either issuing a card or providing a cash advance of some kind is quite acceptable and reasonable.

Certainly ignore the 'suspicious/drink/gambling' hysteria.

One thing to keep in mind too OP is that the vast majority of people I know find business travel a real pain and would much rather not do it, myself included normally. It might sound attractive being all over Europe, going out to dinners and socializing etc., but it really very rarely is, and is much more of a chore and a burden than actually genuinely entertaining.

BillyBird

whippet wrote: »

I have been claiming expenses / mileage monthly in arrears for almost two decades and it has never been a problem .. some months this could be close to 2k but usually about €800-1000.

You've given your employer an interest free loan of €1k for the last 20 years.


If you're happy with that, no problem. Many of us would not be.



I was lucky enough to be in a well paid job, but no way I would have supported that on principle alone.

Strumms

MrMusician18 wrote: »

There's really two issues here. A budgeting/money management issue that really belongs in PI tbh and then the issue of expenses.

The savvy business traveller is usually able to turn trips abroad into a fairly profitable endeavor.

That depends on the company. With other companies I know they would have no issue with an employee expensing two to three beers a night, a cinema ticket and a taxi ride there and back...’travel entertainment.’ Although I wouldn’t be knowing such a luxury.

I know a trick too with people is when buying beer get the barman to put it down as two cokes or whatever, keep the change. I’d be far too honest though :eek:

Strumms

skallywag wrote: »

One thing to keep in mind too OP is that the vast majority of people I know find business travel a real pain and would much rather not do it, myself included normally. It might sound attractive being all over Europe, going out to dinners and socializing etc., but it really very rarely is, and is much more of a chore and a burden than actually genuinely entertaining.

True, it’s overrated to be honest. You generally get back to the hotel, eat dinner, flop into bed at 10 after a couple of pints, glamorous it ain’t.

whippet

my wife works for a multinational and travels about 4-5 times a year - usually long-haul for a week or two at a time - she has an American Express card from the company for expenses - she is responsible for booking her flights and everything is paid on the card.

As for mine .. if there are flights involved the company books these but I would book my own hotels. I get on well with my employer and my choice of accommodation has never been queried.

As mentioned earlier - mileage and expenses usually mean I am 'quids in' by the time I get reimburse

Anyone who has to travel regularly for work and DOESN'T have a company credit card is in a pretty poor job IMO and is being exploited.

Don't care what the Public Sector do before anyone jumps in .... they get very generous mileage and subsistence that offset this compared to being nickel and dimed in the private sector.

the_pen_turner

i dont understand this situation. i dont see why anyone would be ok with this set up.
the employer has to supply everything for the workers to do their jobs , be it a company car if needed, phone, office supplies product to make or sell etc

would anyone be ok working in a cafe or resturant and the owner asked you do go down to the cash and carry adn buy the raw food for todays menu. of course you wouldnt. how is this any different. without these overheads of the business being supplied to the employee they cannot do their job.
tell them you are going to be useing your money for other things and they have a month to make other arangments.

whippet

Deleted User wrote: »

Anyone who has to travel regularly for work and DOESN'T have a company credit card is in a pretty poor job IMO and is being exploited.

.

i'd strongly disagree - I am in a very good job - I travel quite a bit and I don't have a company credit card. I'm not being exploited.

I make the company money - I get rewarded for making them money and I will work 'with' the company to make sure both of us make money.

My relationship with my employer means that I don't get questioned on my choice of accommodation, places I choose for lunch and who and when I take out for lunch.

whippet

whippet wrote: »

i'd strongly disagree - I am in a very good job - I travel quite a bit and I don't have a company credit card. I'm not being exploited.

I make the company money - I get rewarded for making them money and I will work 'with' the company to make sure both of us make money.

My relationship with my employer means that I don't get questioned on my choice of accommodation, places I choose for lunch and who and when I take out for lunch.

I had a friend who worked like this - the company went belly up and he ended up being owed 3 months worth of expenses. Never got them back.

I am an employer and would never expect an employee to be out of pocket to make me money.

whippet

Deleted User wrote: »

I had a friend who worked like this - the company went belly up and he ended up being owed 3 months worth of expenses. Never got them back.

I am an employer and would never expect an employee to be out of pocket to make me money.

I'm working with this company almost 20 years and I get paid my monthly expenses on the first Friday of every month for the previous month.

If you are waiting more than a month for your expenses there is something fundamentally wrong .. people get stung for wages all the time.

Jim2007

Mr.S wrote: »

You obviously will not notice it if you have a personal credit card with high line of credit, and you get your expenses paid on time to pay the bill - but that isn't what is happening to the OP's example - so of course it's a large amount of money or why else would he be complaining!? What happens when funding a trip eats into all of his available cash? Think logically :rolleyes:.

It is actually a one off advance of 1k, so no it is not a large some. Once it is up and running it should not materially impact the monthly salary because each month's expenses should be funded firstly from the reimbursement of the previous month's expense. Perhaps you need to think logically :rolleyes:

meeeeh

Mr.S wrote: »

Granted, employer probably assumes all is fine as he hasn't complained so this really should be raised.

Or maybe the employer assumes all is not fine and possibly don't want to issue credit card for that reason. That being said I think they should pay some sort of advance if they are reluctant to provide credit card.