After reading something at Jeremy’s blog over and what I’ve heard from some friends working at other banks, it appears there is a little bit of a gray area when it comes to using the corporate credit card. I thought we’d talk about it because it seems to be a topic of interest at the moment.

If you read my roundup this week, you already know that the guy Jeremy was talking about was a producer for ABC News. He was arrested at the National Democratic Convention for trying to film a private party. As he was doing his job at the time of arrest, he decided to place his $500 bail on the corporate card. Everyone at ABC got a laugh out of the deal. No harm, no foul.

When I wrote the roundup, I was in agreement with both the decision and what Jeremy had written…since he was fulfilling his obligations to the company at the time of arrest (and it was those direct obligations that got him arrested), then it is a legitimate business expense. I still believe it to be so, though I think this is a rare exception to the case.

So, just for giggles, I thought we’d go over the things that you SHOULD NOT expense on your corporate card. All of these stories listed below were actual expenses found on corporate cards for people in my industry.

Story # 1 – Furniture Shopping

Over drinks at happy hour came this delightful little story. An employee of a fairly large bank (who shall remain nameless) decided to go furniture shopping on a whim one day. Since she knew she’d be turning in her two weeks notice, she decided she would place the purchase of furniture items on her corporate card, thinking nothing would happen since she was leaving the company anyway. Well, little did she know that the bank could garnish her wages and press charges against her, which is exactly what they did. She had no paycheck at the end of this ordeal and couldn’t work in the banking industry for the rest of her life.

It really makes you wonder what she could have possibly been thinking to put $5,000 worth of furniture on her corporate card and THINK it would be ok since she was leaving. Unbelievable.

Story # 2 – Boys Night Out

Let’s not kid ourselves and pretend otherwise…there is a ‘good ole boys’ club in the business environment. It’s always been there, probably always will be. When it comes to schmoozing a client, guys do it well. But, when does schmoozing become a personal gain?

In the financial industry, it’s not uncommon to take our clients out to lunch or dinner, or whatever. For business clients, there may be some form of entertainment on the agenda – like baseball games or…strip clubs. As a general rule, strip clubs aren’t widely practiced in the industry because it’s common knowledge that there’s not any work going on at such an outing.

Apparently, one of the guys at another bank who shall remain nameless, bankrolled his best friend’s bachelor party on the corporate card. He rented a limo – and not just any limo, but a hummer limo – he paid for the club admissions, drinks all night, the strippers, and the champagne bar (no idea what goes on here, don’t really want to know either). When his boss gets the bill he naturally demands to know why those items had been charged to the corporate card. The guy lies and tells his boss he took a client out for a good time.

I was told the boss’ face was beet red, a vein popping out of his forehead, and his jowls were shaking violently. In an explosion of rage, the boss went off and asked what the hell had taken him and the client to strip clubs and champagne bars, not to mention the limo, and kept them drinking into the wee hours of the morning. The guy still continued to lie, saying that they’d hit it off and he was close to closing the deal. Of course, there was no deal and the boss knew it, so he told the guy he wanted to meet the client. The guy was cornered, but called his best friend in to pretend to be the client. Apparently, the friend was supposed to decide he didn’t like the boss’ attitude and walk…with his half a million in business.

Long story short, the guy was so fired. His total tab…$3,456. My friend is in the accounting department

Story # 3 – Fertility Drugs Anyone?

I don’t have all of the specifics on this one because the managers were being very quiet about it. I think the guy’s wife was on his case about not being able to get pregnant and the managers took pity on him. Even still, he used his corporate card to pay for fertility sessions and the drugs to go along with those sessions…none of which was covered by either of their insurance plans.

I’m not sure why he thought he would get away with this and no one would say anything about it. However, surprisingly, he got to keep his job. His corporate card was revoked – of course – and he had to repay the debt in a time specified by the bank. He also filed for a divorce and the fertility drugs didn’t work.

Story # 4 – Don’t Say the F(oreclosure) Word!

This one takes the cake in my opinion. Someone caught up their mortgage payments so their house wouldn’t be repossessed, using their corporate card. I think it was something like 32 payments behind at $990 a payment, so that’s a little over $31,000 on the card. The best part? The house was financed with the bank that the corporate card belonged to. Ok, I don’t mean to laugh at someone’s misfortune, but you have to see the irony in that. First of all, the amount of time it takes to foreclose on a house is ridiculous, but secondly, to not have that flagged since the woman was an employee…in upper management no less which is why her limit was so high. Even still, it’s rather funny that she paid the bank that holds her mortgage with their own money. The details are still being worked out on this deal, so I have no idea if she’s going to keep her job and her house or what they’ll do.

If I had to guess, they’ll do a home equity loan to refinance the house at a lower rate, take a cash out option to repay the corporate card, and keep her around since they’ve already invested so much money in her. But, I could be wrong. It’s just what I would do.

Now that you’ve heard the stories that happen in my world, tell me some of yours. What are some great stories involving the misuse of corporate cards – whether your own or someone else’s?

Related posts:

1. Leaving the Corporate Life Behind
2. Kristy’s Weekly Roundup
3. The Cost of Being a Good Friend
4. Surprising Purchases that Put People In Debt
5. The Precarious Nature of Social Media