Best Way to Provide "Petty Cash" to Nanny

[Anonymous]

Any recommendations on the best way of providing a "debit card" type instrument to our nanny? We've been handing her cash all summer to pay for pool and attraction admissions for herself and our kids, gas, etc. and thought it would be more efficient to give her a debit card/prepaid card type instrument where ideally we could see what she was charging. I was reading through the threads on how to provide $ to college students, but this is a little different because she's not so tech savvy and I don't see her paying via an app on her phone. TIA.

[Anonymous]

I’d provide her a rechargeable prepaid Visa card.

[Anonymous]

We made our nanny an additional cardholder on our account and set a low spending limit and an alert for when the limit is about to be hit. We have Am Ex and it can all be done online. She has access to $, we get points.

If you do this, don't be alarmed the first time she buys gas. They throw $100 hold on there and it may trigger your spending alert/limit, depending on where you set it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We made our nanny an additional cardholder on our account and set a low spending limit and an alert for when the limit is about to be hit. We have Am Ex and it can all be done online. She has access to $, we get points.

If you do this, don't be alarmed the first time she buys gas. They throw $100 hold on there and it may trigger your spending alert/limit, depending on where you set it.

we did the same

[Anonymous]

From a very wise colleague of mine, a few years ago:
"We weren't really sure what to do but ended up giving her a low-level credit card. I figured if I can't trust her with that, how can I trust her with my son?"

[Anonymous]

Former nanny here, parents made me an additional card holder on their Amex. No idea if they set a limit but I often gassed the car and did grocery shopping, sometimes on the same day, so it at least covered around $250.

I also okayed all activities that cost money before hand, and normally did those once a week at most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former nanny here, parents made me an additional card holder on their Amex. No idea if they set a limit but I often gassed the car and did grocery shopping, sometimes on the same day, so it at least covered around $250.

I also okayed all activities that cost money before hand, and normally did those once a week at most.

This is what we do, but with MasterCard. Her card has a different number but is attached to mine, so the bill breaks down what was spent on her card.

[Anonymous]

Put money in paypal or debit account and ask her to keep receipts.

[Anonymous]

We started off doing pre-paid AmEx card. Then we made her a cardholder on our card.

Agree with the PP about trusting someone with CC is much easier than trusting them with my kids.

[Anonymous]

Veemo

[Anonymous]

We opened a second checking account at our bank and made her an "agent" on the account. This means she got a debit Visa card and her own PIN, but she could not make changes to the account.

I would fund that account with $300-$500 at a time; I did not connect it to our main account for overdraft protection. I liked that it basically created an itemized list for me. She was scrupulous to a fault about not abusing the card; I finally had to start giving her $50 Walmart gift cards every couple of months because she would buy little items for projects out of her own pocket (some stickers here, some glitter glue there ...).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We opened a second checking account at our bank and made her an "agent" on the account. This means she got a debit Visa card and her own PIN, but she could not make changes to the account.

I would fund that account with $300-$500 at a time; I did not connect it to our main account for overdraft protection. I liked that it basically created an itemized list for me. She was scrupulous to a fault about not abusing the card; I finally had to start giving her $50 Walmart gift cards every couple of months because she would buy little items for projects out of her own pocket (some stickers here, some glitter glue there ...).

^^ we did debit Visa instead of credit card on the off chance she might need cash for something, she could get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We opened a second checking account at our bank and made her an "agent" on the account. This means she got a debit Visa card and her own PIN, but she could not make changes to the account.

I would fund that account with $300-$500 at a time; I did not connect it to our main account for overdraft protection. I liked that it basically created an itemized list for me. She was scrupulous to a fault about not abusing the card; I finally had to start giving her $50 Walmart gift cards every couple of months because she would buy little items for projects out of her own pocket (some stickers here, some glitter glue there ...).

^^ we did debit Visa instead of credit card on the off chance she might need cash for something, she could get it.

We did similar. I didn't want it linked on the overdraft protection - not because I didn't trust our employee, but it was just one more card to potentially get lost and I wanted to minimize that risk. I just keep an eye on the balance and move money over as needed.

[Anonymous]

The parents would have a prepaid card for several hundred a week for expenses.