Pay Business Plat Balance with personal bank account?

[natterbox105]

I recently got an Amz business plat. I’ve been using it for business expenses but also personal to try rack up the points. I’ve also been paying off the balance as I go with personal account and my business account.

Am I doing something wrong here?

Can I use it for both?

Would I be flagged for paying off the balance with a personal card?

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

AMEX seem quite hot on people using a personal bank account to pay off a business card and vice versa.

There have been threads about this in the past and Amex sending people letters about it.

They don’t like it so try and keep it as separate as you can and if you must use personal funds transfer them to your business bank account and then pay Amex

[Richard Peters]

I’ve two companies with business credit cards and always settled by DD through personal bank account with appropriate credit to DLA and no issues with AE so far! Maybe I should change that but like I say nothing from AE

[Colin MacKinnon]

I am sure Amex know that my two Tesco meal deals were personal expenses, occurred in the course of business In Dundee – or on a business course!

[Guy Incognito]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

AMEX seem quite hot on people using a personal bank account to pay off a business card and vice versa.

There have been threads about this in the past and Amex sending people letters about it.

They don’t like it so try and keep it as separate as you can and if you must use personal funds transfer them to your business bank account and then pay Amex

Unless they are after money after their own irresponsible lending, then they’ll take it from any source they can 😉

[memesweeper]

I’ve used a business Amex for several years for (some) personal + (substantial) business spend — no issues thus far. I’ve paid it off with a mixture of different cards over the years, incl. commercial and personal pseudo-debit cards and actual personal debit cards. I’m fairly sure I’ve never paid directly from my company account nor with company debit card. All correctly accounted for in the DLA. I do not claim the card fee from the firm, too much personal use for me to be happy with arguing that with HMRC.

Ironically I used to do the exact opposite — ran a personal BA PP exclusively for work purposes, paid directly from business account, linked to company via the accounting software, fee claimed as a company cost. Amex may not have been happy had they realised but the accountant was fine about it.

I should probably change my behaviour given the horror stories posted here.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

I’ve been paying all manner of cards with a mix of personal and business accounts, thusfar without trouble.

If the cash is in the business account and the directors loan balance is fat, I’ve never bothered going through the biz account -> personal account -> card shuffle – I just pay some big personal expense direct from the business account and reduce the DLA balance accordingly.

[natterbox105]

reduce the DLA balance accordingly.

Slightly off topic but Can I ask how you do a DLA ? I have an accountant who did everything for me this January (first year of business) and have seen a few people mention DLA but don’t know how people keep a record of their stuff?

[Richard Peters]

DLA is Directors Loan Account.

Just checked latest statement and wording is “pay from a business account in the name of the company or a personal account in your own name”

[TooPoorToBeHere]

natterbox105 wrote:

reduce the DLA balance accordingly.

Slightly off topic but Can I ask how you do a DLA ? I have an accountant who did everything for me this January (first year of business) and have seen a few people mention DLA but don’t know how people keep a record of their stuff?

DLA (director’s loan account) is just the money that the ltd owes you. Or money that you owe it (but be careful with having the ltd loan you money, it can have gnarly tax consequences).

If you buy something for the company, or it declares (but doesn’t pay) a dividend to you, or incurs some liability to you (for example you drive some mileage in your car for it) then it gets recorded there. I believe there is some rule that when the ltd runs payroll/PAYE, however, it has to make the cash payment – it can’t just credit the DLA.

Broadly – it saves fannying around making cash payments between you and the business all the time.