I am in the process of rebuilding my credit, and am curious about something. I recently got a corporate credit card with a high limit (quite high, as I travel a lot). It has my name on it and the bill comes to my house for me to pay with my reimbursed money from the company. I can’t imagine it got approved just on my credit (I know it could not have) but I did have to give them my SS# to get it. I would guess it’s secured through the company- if I don’t pay the bill probably the company does, then they go after me for the money, so the issuer doesn’t care who they give the cards too. That’s my guess, but I"d rather not ask the higher ups and point out my crap credit.
Will this card count in my favor on my credit reporting? In other words, will this card show up and my monthly pay offs count as good credit in my effort to rebuild?
Also, does an overlimit count as a hit on your credit? I accidently went over by a small amount and was hit with a fee through one of my low limit cards I use to purchase items and pay off regularly. I paid it up right away. Does it vary by company or is it standard practice to report or not report that activity?
I don’t know the answer to your questions but one thing you might try is, check your credit report from one or more of the 3 big agencies (using the free report you get once a year). Give it a month or two after you have the corporate card to give it a chance to get into the system. If the corporate card is listed, then I’d imagine it affects your credit rating.
Corporate cards are based on your companies credit, not yours, hence, you did not use your SS#. Sorry, but this card will not show up on your credit reports, so it will not have any impact your personal credit issues.
The reason I thought it might positively impact me is that I’d read if someone with good credit puts you on their credit card as an authorized user, both credit scores improve.
Corporate credit cards never show up on your personal credit report, UNLESS you don’t pay within a given time frame. I think 60 or 90 days late is the threshhold, although YMMV.
One of my consultant co-workers wound up with a ding on his report because he did a BUNCH of plane flights on his card, and his company reimbursed his 3 months late. The kicker is that he could have made minimum payments if the card had been a corporate CREDIT card, but it was a corporate CHARGE card, so less than 100% payment counted as a late pay.
I personally have 3 credit cards for my small business and one charge card for my Fortune Big-Big-Big employer. None of these four report on my regular credit report.
On liability: in every case I know of, both you AND your employer are liable for your corporate card.
If your employer Enrons ™ on you while there are several thousand dollars payable on the card, the card company will pursue you as well as the bankruptcy courts for reimbursement.
Sucks to lose your job the same day a $7K credit card bill shifts from “my work is gonna’ pay it” to “I’ve gotta pay it”.
That’s interesting- I’m trying now to find out how that works. I mean, I went on a trip week before last and am going on another one for a week starting tomorrow. I’m guessing they’ll both be on my first bill, but no way will I be reimbursed fast enough from the second trip to pay it in full (I don’t think). I need to find out what to do in that case. Thanks for the tip.
At my company, we use the third one. I worked for a company that used the first method, and it sucks, because that company was slow to pay and didn’t pay back my interest! On my current card, there’s never any visible interest; it’s all something handled internally between my company and Citibank.
Not sure whether the corporate card will be on your report. In part, it depends on the credit provider. If it’s some commercial bank, they probably don’t report much. Best way to find out is to check the credit report. You can get your free annual report here.
On the liability question, did you sign any agreements with the credit provider? That’s probably the first thing to look at.