Reap your rewards

By Tara Weiss

updated 3:34 p.m. ET Feb. 7, 2007

Kate Carson's favorite indulgences are monthly facials and massages at Elizabeth Arden. The best part: She doesn't pay a cent for such treats, which cost $200 or more. The bill is taken care of by her unwitting employer, Stockamp, a health care consulting company.

Carson isn't involved in any type of illicit behavior. She's making the most of her corporate credit card by racking up rewards points. As a recruiting manager for Stockamp, she gets sent around the country, and charges meals, car rentals, hotels and events to her corporate American Express card. For each dollar she spends, she earns one or more Membership Rewards points. "There's almost nothing I can't buy with points," says Carson. "It's great."

If you're not taking advantage of your corporate credit card's rewards programs, you're losing out on a lot. American Express, Visa and MasterCard all have bonus programs that employees can use to offset the cost of a personal flight or hotel stay.

Savvy corporate card users can also furnish their homes, buy electronics, attend concerts and sporting events, and even purchase items at stores such as Coach, Sharper Image and Raymond Weil.

Carson is a points master. Or as her friends call her, a points hog. Carson travels so frequently for work, her monthly expenses go from $2,000 to $10,000 if she's sponsoring a big event. She currently has 276,000 Amex points. For those not schooled in rewards points--that's huge. As in, a free trip around the world type of huge.

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"The company's philosophy is, 'We know traveling is a really hard life for our people, so we want them to have the benefits that comes with all that traveling,' " says Carson. Stockamp puts its money where its mouth is. It pays the fee that comes with signing up for Amex's rewards program for a new employee's first year. (There is a $75 annual fee for Green and Gold corporate card members.)

However, not all companies feel they should pay for their employees to get rewards. In fact, only 25% that have corporate cards offer rewards programs as an option to their employees. That's because of the banks issuing Visa and MasterCard charge companies for the rewards program. That extra cost goes toward funding the rewards programs, and things like customer service and the discounts that are offered.

Shutterstock Find out if your company allows its employees to reap the benefits of the card's reward programs. Not every company does since rewards programs--particularly those offered by Visa and Mastercard--can cost companies more money to sign up for.

Amex is the granddaddy of all corporate rewards programs. But MasterCard has expanded its business offerings in recent years. Its World Elite MasterCard, for instance, is geared toward executives of large corporations as well as small business.

The rewards available to them are broader than a regular corporate card rewards program. For example, they can choose from a number of products and vacation packages from the luxury retailer Virtuoso and concierge service to help arrange them.

Visa also has a corporate card option, but it's used mostly for small- and mid-size businesses. The redemption options are not as broad or open as Amex's. For example, users that visit visaextras.com see that most of the rewards are for set gift certificate amounts such as a $100 gift certificate for a Royal Caribbean Cruise. It costs 40,000 points just for a $100 gift certificate.

Last fall, Starwood and American Express created the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card. For employees that have the card, the rewards are impressive. Users of the card get 10,000 points with their first purchase--that's equal to three free nights at one of the company's hotels.

Kathy Kilbride, owner of Structural Technology, a steel detailer in Southington, Conn., which prepares detailed plans and drawings for the manufacture and erection of things like columns, beams, stairs and handrails that are used in the construction of buildings, recently got the American Express Business Platinum because of all the rewards that come with it.

Kilbride has a personal Amex and was able to combine the points for both cards. She has about 10 employees and encourages all of them to use the card--even for their personal expenditures--because of the rewards points they receive. (Of course, they have to pay those personal bills themselves.) "They love it," she says.

Can you blame them? Kilbride plans on using her points this summer when she goes to visit her sister in San Diego, Calif.

As the saying goes: Not having to pay for a cross-country trip: Priceless.

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