negative balance on comdata

I havent used com-data in a long time (when i was a company driver),, but if its the same way as before, the card is issued to the company and not the driver, if you get a different card from the same company they can transfer, but not another companies card, unless the have a relation with that company, guess they could have them apply

 

NO!
That Comdata card is YOUR money...just like a bank account...actually it is a bank account, they can deposit into using their tax ID number but the company cannot access the account for withdrawals.

If they overpay you, the correction comes the following pay period with a deduction from what has been "newly earned". The PIN number you established for yourself is the key to making a withdrawal. DON'T LET ANYONE KNOW YOUR PIN NUMBER!

That card is actually a "two in one" card...it is a fuel card and a bank account!

 

good to know it has changed abit, at least the way it was back when I had one, from a company I worked for

 

think your question through.....if the company pays for...is the key wording!

As an O/O, or a L/O with a company, the operator pays for their own fuel, it is deducted from the settlement gross by the company since in most cases (especially with the L/O), the comdata card is the fuel account used by the company for the driver. The company maintains "X" amount of credit or "on hand" dollars for fuel expenses for the entire fleet with comdata. The fuel provider (Pilot, Petro, T/A and the like) have a billing agreement with comdata...hence the small electronic delay when you swipe the comdata card at the pump....your information, (truck number, driver ID, mileage) is used by the "authorizor" (Comdata computer) and the balance due Comdata is tallied on a daily basis....a company like Swift has well into the million dollar daily fuel bill.

 

I've never done a lease/purchase and I don't know the terms in the agreement you signed. I would guess they will take any escrow balance you had and look at the tires, repairs, maintenance and cleaning needed to prepare the truck for another contract and use all your balance or more for those costs. Then they will look at any revenue you have coming and all monies they advanced for fuel and other expenses and again come up with a negative balance. The latter is probably what is reflected on your card now.

I assume this because if the money end were going well you would have, most likely, stayed on. Then they will total up all the negative balances and sell them off to a collection agency. The collection agency will probably purchase them for 30 - 40 cents on the dollar. They will then add a few hundred to a few thousand in legal and other fees and come after you for that amount.

Now I don't know this to be a fact, but this is common business practice I speak of. You could likely find out more by speaking to others who have gone through this with the same company. Just so you know, if your credit is important to you, you can usually settle these things for less than the balance due. It depends on the collection agency, how many times it has been sold and the time that has passed. They can often be settled for 35 - 65% of the total, in cash.

Again I have no idea if this is the situation. It is what I would expect though. I'm just offering some information that I hope will be helpful if this is the situation.

The bigger question, with respect to your next company, is what will they put in your DAC report?

 

I am not sure that you can have a negative Comdata Card balance. You cannot get more off the card than is allowed. It should only go to zero. If you owe the company money then they will do what they must to recover their money from you. If you have anything in escrow, a maintenance account or for loads, they could keep that to cover any monies owed. They have up to six weeks to settle your account if you are a lease operator or owner operator. If the company put money on your card they should be able to take it back. It is more difficult if a check has been authorized rather than a fuel card.

You need to read over the contract to get your answers. It should list what you can or can't do and the responsibilities of both parties.

 

I would agree with everything g/man said. First, it's a cash account and behaves like a debit card. A negative balance is unlikely and neither Comdata or the account holder get any benefit from it. However, after getting some visibility to the administrative side of a Comdata card, I've learned the account holder can move money around within the sub-accounts however and whenever they want to.

I've got no visibility to how the driver cash account features work as it's too complex to bother with given my simple operation. If my driver needs a cash advance, I either authorize him to take it off his card (my main cash balance) or I walk some dollar bills into his local bank branch so he can withdraw it using his own atm card. If the Comdata advance (not otherwise limited with daily cash limits) request is greater than the available balance, the transaction fails and no negative balance results.

The answer would be in your contract. A less reliable choice would be to call the toll free number on the back of the card and ask Comdata if it's possible, given your specific account setup.