The company I am trying to work for uses Hogg Robinson Group for their travel management. They are requiring me to add my credit card in order to get a relocation allowance. Are these normal procedures? The company said they will reimburse me.
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1HRG is a legitimate corp services provider. It's possible that they collect credit card numbers as a default when filling out a profile for a new client - many of the travel services I've used at work have done that. That said, this is a hard question to answer because we're only getting part of the story. Did they specifically require you to provide it? Did they specify why they wanted it, or whether or not they were going to use it for anything? Did they ask you for "a credit card" or specifically for your personal credit card?– dwizumCommented Jan 24, 2019 at 21:08
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Preference: 01: Individual corporate credit card of the traveller Preference: 02: Personal Credit card of the traveller (Visa, Master or Amex only)– Curt RandCommented Jan 24, 2019 at 21:18
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3What happens if you don't have a credit card?– sf02Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 21:49
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3you need to FIRMLY AND CLEARLY ASK "What will be charged to my card?". You need to ask that of BOTH the company and directly to these Hogg jokers. Take care!– FattieCommented Jan 25, 2019 at 18:38
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4 Answers
This doesn't sound normal. When you ask for a credit card number, usually you are asking for it with the intent of making charges to it; I've never heard of asking for a credit card number with the intention of paying it (well, not anyone who isn't trying to scam anyway). I'd ask for more information from the company or from Hogg Robinson Group as to what exactly they plan to do with your credit card information, and why they can't, for example, send you a cheque or direct deposit the money for you.
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2+1, you may want to include "contact your bank" as well for some advice from them as well. Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 21:01
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+10 If travel expenses are on them, scheduling it also should be their job.– StraderCommented Jan 24, 2019 at 21:18
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1"the intent of making charges to it" - this is exactly what the question implies will happen though - "The company said they will reimburse me" (you can't be reimbursed if you didn't pay anything in the first place). Simon's answer seems more on point. Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 21:43
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@Dukeling I mean, the requester of the credit card number (in this case it sounds like Hogg Robinson Group) will be making charges against the card, which they shouldn't be doing for obvious reasons, and hence even asking for the number would put me on edge.– Ertai87Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 21:58
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@Ertai87 Why shouldn't they be making charges against the card? Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 22:01
It sounds like what they intend to happen is that any relocation expenses are initially paid by you. Then you put in an expenses claim to get the money refunded.
I haven't heard of it being done that way for relocation expenses, but it's quite normal to do travel that way.
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Sure. In that case, OP should be paying for things, and submitting reimbursement forms later. That's no reason to hand over credit card information. Commented Jan 28, 2019 at 16:47
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@DavidThornley my employer's travel department has my (corporate) Amex card number. They need to to book travel on my behalf. Otherwise, I'd have to do all the bookings myself.– Simon BCommented Jan 28, 2019 at 22:50
There is reason for this.
If you've ever had a corporate credit card you will have seen in the small print that if the company doesn't pay the bill you are liable (had this happen to me leaving a multinational with expenses only approved, but not paid, and mysteriously they unapproved themselves).
Similarly, should HRG relocate you and you decide you don't really want the job, the new company doesn't want to be on the end of the bill. So HRG will charge you and as you say the new company will reimburse you.
It's not great, but it's not that unusual, but find out the schedule for repayment. You may find there is some time set in your employment contract where you forfeit the expenses if you resign and they may not actually reimburse you until that passes.
answered Jan 24, 2019 at 23:44
The Wandering Dev ManagerThe Wandering Dev Manager
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I would not want to deal with such company. There are other less underhanded methods to deal upfront with this, namely contract clauses. Commented Jan 27, 2019 at 22:33
I would recommend finding out why they want the card.
Given the circumstances and the preference 1 / 2 that you provided in your comment, I would guess they use the card to cover any additional expenses at accomodation, etc that you are using as part of the relocation (for example, they will cover the hotel room, but not pay-per-view).