I am love my new job! It requires lots of travel and the expenses are killing my bank account. Rather than I pay now and get money later, my employer offered an AMEX Corporate Card. I said YES! Then he handed me the application. It asks for my SSN and says a credit check will be ran! One fellow employee says he has horrible credit but was approved for the card. I know I wouldn't qualify for an AMEX on my own. Will they turn down? Does my employer get to see my credit report?
Re: AMEX Corp Card...Credit Ch The fact that this is a card that your corporation will be reembursing you for your expences will influance Amex's approval. As long as you don't owe big past due amounts you should be fine.
Re: AMEX Corp Card...Credit Ch I have heard that the Amex corporate cards are not reporting to the credit bureaus, so your credit will remain the same.
Killer Hey there. Can't help on the Amex question, but I just wanted to say "hi" and I am glad the new job is going well! Mom
Re: Killer Your company can work it one of two ways: (1) They accept all liability and you are, essentially, an Authroized User (as far as AmEx is concerned). Of course, you'll have an obligation to your employer to make sure the card is paid as agreed. Credit checks and applications are not usually pulled / filled out by the employee. or ... (2) You will be responsible for the card. The company is just, more or less, sponsering you (ya gotta have a COMPANY to have a CORPORATE account). You are fully responsible to repay, AmEx will come after you (first) if not. This requires credit checks, applications, etc., etc. I've seen situations both ways. When I worked for a previous employer, they asked me if I wanted one (I traveled for them from time to time), I said 'sure', and the card showed up in my (work) mailbox a week or so later. Nothing was ever reported/checked/pulled in my name. It was scenario #1 (above).
Re: Killer Amex corp. cards are normally YOUR liability, and Amex does do a credit check. They are more lenient on corp. cards, based on what I've seen get approved at my company. BUT ... they can put all kinds of restrictions (i.e. no retail, small spending limits, etc.). The first time I had one, as soon as the balance hit $3000, they wanted my bank account number, phone # of the bank branch, etc. Another time when I was doing a trade show and hit $25k, they wanted a letter from the company stating it would reimburse within 2 weeks. It counts as an inquiry, but really is worth it as a traveler (aren't you sick of rental car companies double-authorizing, or hotels over-authorizing ... or worse yet, a travel agent goofing up and having to re-run/void tickets all while eating up your V/MC limit?). ANd no - they do not report, nor does it really help you in getting another Amex card (it only can hurt you if you don't pay, but it won't really help you). Good luck, MJ
Re: Killer I needed a corp Amex for my job as well but they declined me when I applied a year ago. I called Amex to see if it is easier to get than a regular one and they said the requirements are the same.
Re: Killer Thanks Everyone! I decided to call AMEX and ask. I was told that AMEX randomly pulls credit for holders of corp cards before approving. If the credit doesn't meet "normal" AMEX standards, the person is denied! The rep said that there is no way to know if mine would be pulled, since it's totally random. She said most times a report isn't pulled since my employer is responsible for the bill. However, I could get randomly selected. I really don't the embaressment so I've decided to pass this up. What a shame! Having bad credit hurts in so many ways.
