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Do You Trust Your Employers with Credit Cards?

What’s In Your Wallet?

A card for every purpose.

From: Inc. Magazine | By: Ryan McCarthy

Credit card companies want your money. That’s nothing new, of course, but the number of cards aimed at small businesses is. “The big card issuers are kind of foaming at the mouth,” says Ben Woolsey, director of marketing at CreditCards.com, a credit card information website. Discover (NYSE:DFS), for example, launched its first small-business card this year, and American Express (NYSE:AXP) has recently introduced a small-business card called Plum. The average APR for corporate credit cards is 13.2 percent, according to CardRatings.com, a consumer advocacy and research company based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. But with a good credit rating, you can do better–and get a bevy of other benefits. Here are some of the best credit card offers for small businesses with a strong credit history.For the entire article go to Inc.com

Corra realizes that there are more than a few employers who hold their breath when issuing employees a credit card. The main concern of course is that the employee with get a little too frisky with their expense accounts. This is something to consider in these tighter economic times.

But there are other concerns. Corra is aware of several situations, one where the employee used her boss’ company charge card to run up a few things for herself. This included articles of clothing, some computer hardware, and in one case even a trip to Las Vegas for the extended holiday weekend.

Apparently not everything that goes on in Vegas stays there, since the rather irate employer pressed charges and as part of the settlement the employee had to pay back the money she had “borrowed.”

So what to do? One consideration should be that with each employment candidate and even your current employees you run the credit report to see how they are managing their personal finances. If there are problems, then there is a likelihood those problems could become your problems as the increasingly desperate employee searches for increasingly desperate solutions.

We recommend the criminal background report, pretty much a must these days, and the MVR Driving Report can often reflect substances problems which, less face it, impair rational decision making.

So guard against any rude surprises. Check them out before you hire.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.