Is there any law or precedent that says I don't have to use the corporate mandated AMEX credit card?

[Anonymous]

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@tinuviel wrote:

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@laz98 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CHARGE_IT wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

My Fico is actually very good and I want to control all factors that can effect it.  With the corp card, since it would be AMEX which is not accepted everywhere, that means I have to carry two cards now...more risk, hassle to manage and to ensure it's timely payments, etc.

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This is such a myth, that I suppose will never go away. Go out and try to find a place that does not take it. I certainly find that the places that don't take it are off my beaten path.

Maybe "SIDE STREET CRISPY FRIED RACCOON"; my point being you 'can' always find a place that does take it, but I can find places that don't take any of the others but people don't seem to make that statement. And not to offend, but it shows great inexperience with the company when people say that.

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Not sure where your beaten path takes you, but in the US there are fewer merchants that take AmEx than Visa / MasterCard.  It is a myth fact that even AmEx acknowledges and I doubt anybody here has more experience with AmEx than, say, AmEx.

Granted, when you are talking about major merchants or even mid-sized merchants the numbers are virtually identical, but there are many smaller and specialty merchants that simply do not take AmEx -- and this is just in the L.A. or NYC areas. 

If your beaten path takes you overseas, there are many, many countries where Visa / MasterCard has at least 100 times the number of merchants that AmEx has and 200 times the number of ATM machines. 

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ditto.

& i have actually come across some places that don't take visa or mastercard or both.  sams club actually doesn't take visa.....it drives me nuts because we used to only have visa cards.  now it seems like we only have mastercards

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I've noticed this, as well. My perception is that Visa predominated in the 80s and 90s, but now I'm seeing more MCs. Has anyone else noticed this, or is this just my imagination? And if this is so, then does anyone know why the shift? (sorry for the TJ, but I am curious)

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I've noticed the MC thing, too.  A couple of summers ago I was in Canada and stopped at a large Canadian chain (that has some US outlets, I believe) and they only took Mastercard - which sucked, because the only thing I had on me was my Visa debit and another BoA Visa.  I had to go find an ATM and run back to the store to get my stockpile of coffee before I left for the States.

[Anonymous]

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@laz98 wrote:

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ditto.

& i have actually come across some places that don't take visa or mastercard or both.  sams club actually doesn't take visa.....it drives me nuts because we used to only have visa cards.  now it seems like we only have mastercards

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I've never shopped at Sam's Club so I have never seen that.  It sure is strange.  I have never encountered a merchant that accepted MasterCard that did not also accept Visa, but I guess times are changing.

I wouldn't be surprised that by accepting one card to the exclusion of others they obtained some type of "sweetheart" deal from the one they did accept.

It's getting to the point where you can't leave your house without at least one each of the 4 major credit cards in your wallet.  Plus-sized wallets now, anybody? 

[thrasher865]

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@Anonymous wrote:

No, but sometimes corp law supercedes state/federal law. For example, federal law doesnt say you can be fired for looking at porn at work; however, corp policy probably says so.

FWIW, corp Amex doesnt show up on your personal report.

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This is not an example of corporate law superceding federal law.  Just an example of it being more specific.  For example, if federal law said you could NOT be fired for looking at it while at work, and corporate law said you could, THAT would be superceding federal law.

[valley_man0505]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've noticed the MC thing, too.  A couple of summers ago I was in Canada and stopped at a large Canadian chain (that has some US outlets, I believe) and they only took Mastercard - which sucked, because the only thing I had on me was my Visa debit and another BoA Visa.  I had to go find an ATM and run back to the store to get my stockpile of coffee before I left for the States.

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I also travel to Canada once in while too.  It seems that you run into quite a few stores in Canada that only accept MC and not Visa.

[mindacid]

I haven't worked for a company that uses Amex as their corporate card in a while, but as I recall, when I did have one, I do not remember it reporting against my personal credit files.  Things may have changed though...

[Anonymous]

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@mindacid wrote:

I haven't worked for a company that uses Amex as their corporate card in a while, but as I recall, when I did have one, I do not remember it reporting against my personal credit files.  Things may have changed though...

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That has been my experience, too.  The only time they would report it on your credit report is if the company had financial issues and didn't pay AmEx.  Then AmEx could go after you for your individual use of the card.

[Anonymous]

UPDATE:  I called the Corporate Card group of AMEX and asked them directly my questions and here's her response:

By applying for the corporate AMEX card, they will pull my credit report and do their analysis.  Once the card is approved, it will NOT SHOW up on my personal credit report.  She also stated that all charges and payments to my card will NOT AFFECT my personal credit.  Now, after she stated all of that and after I probed further, she did finally state that after multiple attempts at collecting the payment owed by my company to no avail, then this "COULD" SHOW UP NEGATIVELY on my personal credit file.

So, now I'm completely clear (I think!).

I'm at the conclusion that it still all boils down to the card holder is responsible and I would be impacted by non-payment by my company for any reason! 

Thanks for all the feedback and thoughts!

[valley_man0505]

So, basically they are forcing you to let them put an inquiry on your report for something that could have no positive impact on your report no matter how responsible you are with it, but it could potentially have a negative affect?  Well, at least that isn't as bad as having a potential employer pull your credit as part of a job interview.  I actually got turned down from a job once due to my credit report even though my job had absolutely nothing to with money--I would have been in Research.  Still not sure how that isn't discrimination!  Anyway, at least in your case, they do at least have a reason to pull your credit.  However, what would they do if they pulled someone's credit in preparation for issuing the corporate card and their credit wasn't "good enough"? 

[Anonymous]

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@valley_man0505 wrote:

So, basically they are forcing you to let them put an inquiry on your report for something that could have no positive impact on your report no matter how responsible you are with it, but it could potentially have a negative affect?  Well, at least that isn't as bad as having a potential employer pull your credit as part of a job interview.  I actually got turned down from a job once due to my credit report even though my job had absolutely nothing to with money--I would have been in Research.  Still not sure how that isn't discrimination!  Anyway, at least in your case, they do at least have a reason to pull your credit.  However, what would they do if they pulled someone's credit in preparation for issuing the corporate card and their credit wasn't "good enough"? 

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Um...this is how many corp (and all Amex corp) cards work...nothing really to get worked up about.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Um...this is how many corp (and all Amex corp) cards work...nothing really to get worked up about.

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+1.  DH got approved for his corporate card when his credit was less than pristine.  He wouldn't have qualified on his own, but getting the corporate card was a non-issue - it went through just fine.

And I wouldn't fret over the hard pull - the convenience of a corporate card is worth a single inquiry.  Having a corporate card is really in your best interest - much easier to manage than using a personal card for business.  We've done it both ways and we definitely like going the corporate card route better.

You'll probably cause more issues with those you report to, by refusing to get it taken care of in a somewhat timely manner.