Company forcing me to use corporate Amex card

abedegno

Hi,

My employer has recently introduced a new global policy that all employees must sign up for a corporate Amex card, and use it for all business-related expenses. Nothing wrong with this per-se but there a couple of aspects that worry me:

• I'm being asked to sign an agreement that I am "Personally responsible for all the charges made on the card"
• The card is administered out of the US and not the UK/EU so I'm being to sign up to some very scary Ts&Cs

A few things worry me:

• Even if the card was used fraudulently, then I seem to be agreeing that I am responsible for these charges. I have read elsewhere that fraud and consumer protection rules that apply to normal credit cards don't apply to corporate versions.
• Whilst the company is responsible for paying the card each month - what if finance messes up and incur charges/penalties, I seem to be making myself liable for these also.

I appreciate other people's thoughts, please.

Abe

Chino

abedegno wrote: »

I appreciate other people's thoughts, please.

In the first instance you ought to be raising your concerns with your company's HR department.

(BTW, it's "per se")

[Deleted User]

My previous company tried to impose this arrangement a few years ago, but abandoned it in the face of some protests and made the arrangement optional. The biggest issues here are that YOU will be hit with a hard credit search, and if the company screws up a payment YOU will be hit with a credit report black mark. It's a very unsatisfactory arrangement and I'm surprised companies are still trying to impose this on their employees. Try and resist it.

[Deleted User]

johnsmith1890 wrote: »

The biggest issues here are that YOU will be hit with a hard credit search, and if the company screws up a payment YOU will be hit with a credit report black mark.

Probably not, if this is a corporate card, but the OP's concern about personal responsibility is valid.

BoGoF

And the merchant is entitled to levy a surcharge with a corporate card.

[Deleted User]

Deleted_User wrote: »

Probably not, if this is a corporate card, but the OP's concern about personal responsibility is valid.

Maybe they have different arrangements now (I'm retired), but when this happened in my previous company a rep from Amex turned up to explain the new procedure. I asked him straight, about the implications on personal credit files, and he confirmed the situation I described.

abedegno

Chino wrote: »

In the first instance you ought to be raising your concerns with your company's HR department.

Have done - looking for other thoughts or insight from the MSE hive mind...

Paul_DNAP

The alternative is that you have to use your own personal card to fund your expenses and then claim it back later on. You're left with the identical exposure to and cover for fraudulent use, and you're also still exposed to charges and interest in the shortfall if the accounts don't pay your expenses in time for you to settle your card.


You're only being asked to sign to basically say the you'll take the same level of care over your corporate card as you would do if it were your own personal card. (In terms of looking after it, and reporting if it was lost or stolen etc.)

stripeyfox

I work for a large US owned global business and we have to use a corporate credit card. There were some concerns initially but there was no credit search on my file. I am "responsible" for the card in that I have to make sure it is only used for legitimate business reasons.

If I lose the card or it gets stolen then I would report this in the normal way and would not be liable for the expenses. I guess if I was reckless, left it lying around and someone racked up spending on it then the company could discipline me.

The company issues me with a credit card and expects me to use it responsibly and look after it exactly the same way as they give me an Iphone and laptop

We have thousands and thousands of employees with cards no major issues that I am aware of

[Deleted User]

Essentially there are two arrangements for corporate credit cards: where the company is liable, and where the user is liable. For my former company the user was liable, whereas the type stripeyfox is describing appears to be the alternative. The one described by the OP sounds like the 'user liable' variant, but he would need to check for definite. My advice is that for 'user liable' cards, reject them if possible. You are, in effect, handing control of your credit history to a third party. Now I don't suppose it's a common occurrence for a company issuing corporate cards to adversely affect an employee's credit history, but it could happen. And would you really want the hassle of trying to sort it out afterwards, if indeed it was even possible to sort it out?

abedegno

johnsmith1890 wrote: »

Essentially there are two arrangements for corporate credit cards: where the company is liable, and where the user is liable. For my former company the user was liable, whereas the type stripeyfox is describing appears to be the alternative. The one described by the OP sounds like the 'user liable' variant, but he would need to check for definite. My advice is that for 'user liable' cards, reject them if possible. You are, in effect, handing control of your credit history to a third party. Now I don't suppose it's a common occurrence for a company issuing corporate cards to adversely affect an employee's credit history, but it could happen. And would you really want the hassle of trying to sort it out afterwards, if indeed it was even possible to sort it out?

I think this card is the third type - joint liability - which is probably why my employer is asking me to sign an annexe taking full personal liability.