I was talking with someone at a conference recently who told me her company doesn’t provide employees with corporate credit cards.

Her airfare is handled separately, but expenses like hotels, meals, rental cars and other business travel costs go on her personal credit card. She pays the bill and then submits those expenses for reimbursement.

At first glance, that can sound like a burden.

And it absolutely can be if reimbursement is slow and you don’t have enough cash available to pay the credit card bill without waiting for your employer.

But my second thought was completely different:

If I were allowed to put reimbursable business travel on my personal credit cards today, I would look at that spending as an enormous opportunity to earn points and miles.

Not because I would spend more.

Because I would be earning travel rewards on money that was going to be spent anyway.

I actually did this early in my career

It has been a long time since I worked somewhere that didn’t give employees a company credit card, but early in my career I had to pay for business travel with my own card.

At first, I had a basic Capital One credit card.

Eventually I opened a Hilton Honors credit card with no annual fee. I used it for some of my business expenses, earned Hilton points and later used those points for personal travel.

At the time, I thought that was pretty smart.

Today, knowing what I know about points and miles, I would approach the opportunity much more strategically.

I would probably start with transferable points

If I suddenly had thousands of dollars a year in reimbursable business travel that I was allowed to put on personal credit cards, my first thought probably wouldn’t be, “Which airline card should I get?”

I would first look at cards that earn transferable rewards, such as Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards.

The advantage is flexibility.

Instead of immediately earning miles that can only be used with one airline or points tied to one hotel company, transferable points can potentially be moved to participating airline and hotel loyalty programs when you are ready to book a trip.

Chase, for example, allows eligible Ultimate Rewards cardholders to transfer points to participating airline and hotel programs including United MileagePlus, Southwest Rapid Rewards, Air Canada Aeroplan, World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards and others. Not every Chase card includes the ability to transfer points, so the specific card matters.

American Express Membership Rewards can also be transferred by eligible cardmembers to participating airline and hotel loyalty programs. American Express currently offers a broad group of transfer partners, although transfer ratios and participating programs can change.

That means I could earn points now and decide later whether I wanted to use them toward airfare, a hotel before a cruise or another vacation.

That flexibility is valuable to me.

Welcome bonuses are where this gets especially interesting

One of the most valuable opportunities in points and miles can be the welcome offer available when you open a new credit card and meet its required spending amount.

Imagine that your job regularly requires you to spend several thousand dollars on hotels, meals and other reimbursable travel.

You might already have enough legitimate spending coming up to meet the spending requirement for a new-card bonus without buying anything you weren’t planning to buy.

That is very different from opening a credit card and then looking for things to purchase so you can earn the bonus.

I would never recommend spending extra money just to earn points.

The better strategy is to look at spending that already exists and ask:

What could this spending earn for me?

The reimbursement timing matters more than the points

There is one major issue I would think about before doing any of this.

Could I pay the credit card bill in full even if my employer’s reimbursement were delayed?

If the answer were no, I would not build a points strategy around reimbursable expenses.

Credit card interest can wipe out the value of travel rewards very quickly. When a credit card has a grace period, paying the balance in full by the due date generally allows you to avoid interest on new purchases.

So my personal rule is simple:

Points and miles only make sense for me when I can pay the statement balance in full.

I don’t want a $1,000 travel reward if earning it ultimately costs me hundreds of dollars in interest.

Check your employer’s policy first

I would also make sure my employer actually permits this.

Companies have different rules about personal credit cards, expense reimbursement and whether employees are allowed to keep rewards earned from reimbursed business expenses.

Before changing anything, I would check the company’s travel and expense policy.

I would never assume that because the charge is going on my personal card, I automatically have complete freedom over how the card is used.

I wouldn’t necessarily put everything on the same card

This is another place where my thinking has changed.

The person I met told me she puts all of her reimbursable business travel on one credit card.

That certainly makes expense tracking simple.

But from a rewards perspective, I would at least ask whether that one card is actually giving me the most useful return.

If I knew I had substantial reimbursable spending coming up, I might use that opportunity to meet the spending requirement for a welcome bonus.

After earning it, I could decide whether that card still made sense for my ongoing business travel or whether another rewards card better fit my spending.

That doesn’t mean constantly opening credit cards.

It means understanding that a credit card does not necessarily have to be a decision you make for the next 20 years.

Not every credit card has to be a forever card

I think this is another mindset shift that intimidates people when they first learn about points and miles.

They think:

“If I open this credit card, I have to keep it forever.”

I don’t look at cards that way.

A card might make sense because of its welcome offer, travel benefits, earning categories or other features. Later, particularly when an annual fee comes due again, I can reevaluate whether I am still receiving enough value from the card to justify keeping it.

Depending on the card and issuer, the eventual options might include keeping it, changing to another product or closing the account.

That decision deserves more thought than simply cancelling every card after earning a bonus because opening and closing credit accounts can affect your credit profile.

The larger point is simply that I evaluate cards based on the value they provide me rather than assuming every card I open has to remain in my wallet indefinitely.

This same idea applies to everyday spending

The conference conversation also reminded me of something bigger.

You don’t have to travel for work to start thinking differently about spending.

If I am going to buy groceries, gas, pay a cell phone bill or make another purchase anyway, I would rather earn something from that transaction than automatically run it through my debit card.

Again, the critical part is paying the credit card bill in full.

When used that way, a rewards credit card isn’t giving me permission to spend more money.

It is simply changing how I pay for spending I was already going to do.

And that’s where points and miles start adding up.

Why I care about points in the first place

I am not interested in accumulating hundreds of thousands of points just so I can look at a large number in an app.

I want to use them.

Maybe points cover a flight.

Maybe they cover the hotel the night before a cruise.

Maybe a hotel certificate lets us stay somewhere much nicer than I would have been willing to pay for in cash.

We have used hotel rewards for stays around our cruises, and being able to remove a several-hundred-dollar hotel bill from the vacation budget changes the overall cost of the trip.

That’s ultimately why I talk about points and miles as part of travel planning.

They aren’t the vacation.

They’re another tool that can make the vacation cost less.

The mindset shift

If my employer told me tomorrow that I no longer had a corporate card and could put reimbursable travel on my own cards, I wouldn’t be thrilled about having to manage the expense reports.

But I would absolutely recognize the potential value of the spending.

I wouldn’t ask only:

“Which credit card should I use?”

I’d ask:

“What do I want all of this spending to earn for me?”

Once you understand that distinction, the whole points-and-miles world starts making considerably more sense.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I earn credit card points on expenses my employer reimburses?

Potentially, yes. If your employer permits you to pay reimbursable business expenses with a personal rewards card, purchases that qualify for rewards under your card agreement can generally earn the card’s normal rewards. You should check both your employer’s travel policy and your credit card’s terms.

Can my company make me give back the points?

Your employer’s policies matter. Some employers may have specific rules regarding personal cards or rewards earned on reimbursed expenses. Don’t assume. Check your company’s travel and expense policy or ask the appropriate HR or finance contact.

Should I get a new card just because I have a business trip coming up?

Not automatically. I would first look at the spending requirement, annual fee, ongoing benefits and whether I could comfortably pay the entire statement balance even if reimbursement were delayed.

A welcome bonus can be valuable when normal spending allows you to qualify for it. It becomes a bad deal if you spend unnecessarily or carry interest-bearing debt to earn it.

What are transferable credit card points?

Transferable rewards are points that can potentially be used in several ways rather than being tied to one airline or hotel program.

For example, eligible Chase Ultimate Rewards cards can transfer points to participating airline and hotel loyalty programs. Eligible American Express Membership Rewards cardholders can also transfer points to participating frequent-flyer and hotel programs.

That flexibility is one reason I would personally consider transferable points first if I were starting from scratch.

Is 40,000 Chase points the same as $400?

Not necessarily. The value of credit card points depends on how you redeem them. Chase points can have different uses, including travel and transfers to eligible loyalty programs, and the value you ultimately receive can vary based on the redemption.

That’s why I don’t like assigning one universal value to a point without knowing how it will be used.

Should I transfer points to an airline as soon as I earn them?

Usually I wouldn’t. Once points are transferred to a travel partner, the transfer is generally final. Chase specifically notes that transfers to travel partners are final, and American Express also advises checking availability before moving points because transferred points cannot simply be moved back.

I would generally leave flexible points in the original rewards program until I knew what I wanted to book.

Is using a credit card better than using a debit card?

Not automatically. A rewards credit card can provide points, miles or other benefits that a debit card may not provide. But those rewards lose their value quickly if you carry a balance and pay significant interest.

For me, using credit cards for everyday spending works because I treat the card like another way to pay for purchases I could already afford and pay the statement balance in full.

What happens if my employer reimburses me after my credit card payment is due?

That’s exactly why cash flow matters. I would not rely on the reimbursement arriving before the credit card bill is due. If I couldn’t cover the entire statement from my own available funds, I would be very cautious about putting large reimbursable expenses on a personal card.

Do I have to keep a rewards credit card forever?

No, but opening and closing credit accounts shouldn’t be treated casually either.

When a card’s anniversary approaches, I look at the annual fee and the value I’m actually receiving. Then I can decide whether keeping it still makes sense and research any alternatives available through that issuer.

Are credit card points really “free travel”?

I don’t usually describe them that way. You earned those rewards by directing spending through a particular card, and some cards also charge annual fees. I prefer to say that points and miles can reduce the cash cost of travel.

A $500 hotel booked with points may mean I didn’t have to spend $500 from my vacation budget, which is real value. But calling every reward “free” oversimplifies how the system works.

What’s the most important rule for getting started with points and miles?

For me, it’s this:

Don’t spend more money to earn rewards and don’t pay credit card interest to chase points.

(Words I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self.)

The goal is to earn additional value from spending that was already going to happen.