What's your risk with business plastic? -- page 2

It can vary with the card, and this is where is pays to do your homework. Some card issuers, like Advanta Corp, go after your company.

"Our practice is to go after the business. Then we would go to the person who signed the [credit] application," usually a business owner or officer, says Weinstock.

With Visa USA, the chances you'd be on the hook would be "pretty slim" even when you're the one actually paying the bill, says Cramer. If the card is centrally billed, "the cardholder would never have any responsibility at all."

Others, like American Express, will expect you to pay whether your company uses centralized billing or not. "Ultimately card members are responsible to pay off that debt," says Barringer, who says that's all spelled out in the card member agreement.

Avoid personal use
The best way to stay out of hot water with company cards? Use them for legitimate business use only.

If you "borrow" by making charges on your company card and think you can pay off the bill before anyone is the wiser, you're kidding yourself. Thanks to computerized tracking systems and real-time account scrutiny via the Internet, your office can see what's in your shopping bags before you get home. Besides, just because the bill comes directly to you doesn't mean your boss doesn't also get a copy.

And keeping your professional and personal spending separate can be doubly important in cases where your company has you traveling on behalf of a client who also could see a copy of your expenses, says Bogosian. Do you really want them to see Victoria's Secret on your bill?

But the real problem comes when an employee uses the card because he's in financial hot water and then can't pay the bill at the end of the month. Now he has a financial problem that could endanger his job.

An offer you can't refuse?
So what if you don't want a corporate card?

"There are a lot of times you're between a rock and a hard place," says Craig Greene, a CPA and partner in the Chicago firm of McGovern & Greene LLP. "In order to be reimbursed, you have to use the company credit card."

So, can you just say, "Thanks, but no thanks"?

"If you don't need it for your day-to-day job, then I think you're on firm ground to say 'No, I don't want the credit card,' for whatever reason," says David Highlands, director of litigation and forensic services for McGovern & Greene. "However, it's going to be frowned on for someone who travels a lot and needs a credit card. If that employee has credit issues, it might be more difficult to look the other way."

You can protect yourself in a couple of ways.

Unless you have a card that is billed directly to the company, find out when the bill is due and make sure it's paid on time every month. Ask what the company expects you to charge and what's prohibited. And what does the company expect you to do if the expense check hasn't come through by the time the bill is due? Will the company pay late fees and finance charges or is that your problem?

Check out the personal agreement you have with the credit card company, if any. The policies with various cards can differ depending on the bank. Get it in writing.

"Employees being offered a company card should read very carefully anything they are given to sign regarding that credit card," says Myles H. Alderman Jr., partner in Alderman & Alderman, a Hartford-based law firm. "My suspicion is that more employees guarantee debts than know they are guaranteeing them."

Dana Dratch is a freelance writer based in Atlanta.