Delayed Reimbursement Expense

Q & A

Delayed expense reimbursement

Hi Gail: I'm really glad that you have a website that I can refer to!! My question: my husband travels quite a bit (at least once a month). Although his company (he works for the federal government) pays the airfare upfront, he has to pay for the hotel and then wait to be reimbursed. Currently it takes almost 6 weeks (or more) for the employer to reimburse us...therefore, with almost monthly trips, we are constantly in our overdraft as we are waiting for the hotel costs and meal/incidental money to be reimbursed. To date, we are awaiting $1500, which stems from a February trip and a March trip. We know the money is coming; however it drives me nuts to see us in the red month after month waiting for the reimbursement. Is this just one of those things? Or is my complaint justifiable? My husband works for the government....so you can only imagine how long these things take and I'm not even sure if complaining will make a difference! Let me know your thoughts! Thanks!

Name withheld

This is a tough nut to deal with. Companies have different policies about how long expense reimbursement will take, although six weeks does seem a little long. Are you sure your honey is submitting his expenses as quickly as he can? I know lots of people who put off doing the paperwork to claim expenses, which leads to delays in repayment.

If he's being diligent, then you need to find a way to come up with about $1500 to use as a float for these expenses so they don't keep pushing your budget out of whack, and you into overdraft.

I often recommend that people who have an amount that is constantly on cycle, open an account and accumulate an amount to use as a float for just such expenses.

Alternatively, your husband could have a conversation with his boss and explain his situation and perhaps they can work something out - having the department make the travel arrangements directly so they are billed to the department so you're honey isn't out of pocket as much.