AmEx Corporate Cards

lisyloo

Surely that's for the administrators to resolve out of whatever assets the company was left with?

Surely this depends on who is liable?
There still seems to be some debate about this, but agree with the perrson who said that you'll know as and when you sign a credit agreement.
You can't be liable without you actually agreeing to it, so they can't do it without you knowing about it and signing for it.

pmcook1979

GRM wrote: »

Not always. My employer (11,000 worldwide staff) issues corporate Amex charge cards. From our employee handbook:

· [FONT=&quot]The employee has individual liability for the card and will therefore be subject to credit checks that American Express will carry out before a card can be issued.[/FONT]

Yes but thats a T&C from your employers not from American Express. I have personal liability but when i asked i was told we just check you are who you say you are and not bankrupt.. when/if i miss a pyment thats when proper credit checks are taken.. not my words, American Express staff.

mancini601

My experience of Amex Corporate....

I started work with a very very large company (140,000 staff) in Jan 2000. I was to be given an Amex Corporate Card. A proper credit check (not just an ID check) was carried out on me by American Express.

I should point out that I had a poor credit rating at this time. The application for a corporate card was declined based on my credit rating.

I checked with both Amex and my employer and because the card is issued as 'joint liability' with both my employer and myself being responsible for it, I was fully credit checked. Amex confirmed that if my employer excepted 'sole liability' I could've had one. My employer declined this option.

This left me with an option of spending in excess of 3k per month personally and claiming it back through the expenses system at work, or using my own credit cards. Unfortunately, I could neither afford the 3k per month out of my own pocket in advance and have to wait to get it back, nor did I have or could get, my own credit card.

My employer offered to give me a float of £500 but the expenses incurred travelling worldwide would've been much higher.

I left my job.

chattychappy

mancini601 wrote: »

I should point out that I had a poor credit rating at this time. The application for a corporate card was declined based on my credit rating.

I checked with both Amex and my employer and because the card is issued as 'joint liability' with both my employer and myself being responsible for it, I was fully credit checked. Amex confirmed that if my employer excepted 'sole liability' I could've had one. My employer declined this option.

Yes, I've commented on the before. Amex corporate chargecards are different from normal credit cards when it comes to additional cardholders. They do want the option to go after the individual cardholder.

I'm surprised about "Amex confirmed that if my employer excepted 'sole liability' I could've had one" - it's generally Amex that impose this liability because people go bust less often than companies and theoretically the cards come without a credit limit.

moonrakerz

My last employer issued me with a Nat West credit card initially. This card was fully in the company's name, the company paid the bill every month, all I had to do was account (to the company) for each item on the monthly statement which was copied to me.

My part of the company then merged with a lager company (owned by the same group) and we were informed that we would be given "company" Amex cards.
We were then informed that we had to apply individually as the card would have both our names and the company name on them. The individual would be responsible for settlement of the account each month after re-claiming the money from the company. (Of course there was no guarantee that expenses would be paid by the time that the account was due to be settled.
I spent a lot of time trying to find out exactly who would be responsible for resolution of problems if fraud/unauthorised charges were added to the card. Neither Amex nor the company would give me a definitive answer. I got the distinct impression that the answer to that was ME !

The company could not force me to apply for an Amex card - so as I was going to carry any financial risks, I decided any financial gains would be mine as well.
I opened an MBNA cash back card in my sole name to use for my work expenses !

(I heard of lot of my colleagues saying later that they were always being asked "do you have another card - rather than Amex")

pmcook1979

I chekced my credit rating just before applying for the card and it went from poor to fair recently. I was shocked i got one if truth be told but i simply cant afford £2k a month in expenses....

Once my 2 credit cards are paid off and my loan then i could afdford to do it on my credit cards, i most probably would too as i get cashback from using them!

AMEX is useful at the moment....

knightfox

Some corporate AMEX cards are liable by the holder ie yourself. So be carerful what you sign. Some people have been caught out by this.

You might end up liable for the debt if the company goes bust.

lisyloo

You might end up liable for the debt if the company goes bust.

If your company reimburse your expenses in arrears then you will be liable anyway.
Whether you pay by cash/cheque or card, doesn't matter.

If they go bust there is very little chance of getting expenses back.
It's not covered by the DTI (dept of tracde & industry) scheme for statutory redundancy payments.

I have actually been through this before and lost out.
Now my (new) employer gives me a cash advance.

spugzbunny

please be aware that your company will most likely hold you responsible for paying off your balance. In my company the amount claimed for on the card is paid into your account and then you must pay the balance off. If you miss a claim deadline or miss the bill payment extenuating circumstances must be shown before we will reimburse you for interest or late payment fees. Such examples would be your expenses getting lost or an error in accounts. You must do everything you can to ensure you meet the deadline.

MyRubyRed

Most Amex corporate cards are issued on joint and several liability and this involves running a credit check on you with you liable for payment and any late/missed payment charges. In our business there are also a small number or administrators who hold corporate libility cards and they make bookings for staff who have failed the Amex credit check or refuse to take out the card. Check with HR to see if they have a similar process