Corp AMEX card

[sunnie_321]

My company is requiring me to apply for a corp amex card.  They do a hard inquiry on personal credit reports for some reason.  I'm terrified right now as my credit has tanked since having to pay legal fees for a nasty custody battle. I'm at 465 eq and 521 exp. I would rather not have my employer know my private life. What are the chances I'll get approved for this?  I do currently have 3 CO's that I am paying but I also have 5 lines that are in good standing ( a couple lates in there also) , and student loans that have never been late.  Anyone have a similar experience. 

[JayRizzo]

Most companies now-a-days, especially those dealing with some form of finances will pull your credit report (soft inquiry) before you're hired.  I don't know if it's a large or small company that you work for, but most companies that require their employees to travel or conduct business would have an AMEX card issued regardless of your personal credit report because it's on their dime -- meaning, it's a full-blown corporate card (nothing to do with your personal data).  Of course, you'll have to do the necessary paperwork with receipts for your expense reports, but the last time I heard of companies requiring employees to have a corporate card while relying on your personal credit went out back with tv shows like Happy Days, The Waltons, etc.

You mentioned that you're for sure that they pull hard inquiries off personal credit reports for the card?  Are you sure it was AMEX or the company doing the hard inquiry?

[sunnie_321]

I work for a rather larger corporation. Has over 25k employees world wide. What I was told is Amex pulls experian and it is a hard inquiry.  My experian score is 542 and has been climbing but im still worried about this.

[ptkdude]

This seems totally crazy to me.  My company provides us with corporate Amex cards and Citi MasterCards, and our SSN is required to get them BUT that's only so they can verify us if we have to call into Amex or Citi customer service.  The cards are issued based on the comany's credit, not the employee's. 

[CS800]

I don't think that AMEX checks your personal credit since the tradeline is for your company and not yours. I have an AMEX corp and when I got it, there was no inq on my credit. The company bears the responsibility. You're just a user.

If the credit line was reporting as your personal CL then it would make sense. If that was the case, I would have a huge CL.

I would ask your HR dept about that but i'm pretty sure they don't consider your credit when deciding whether to give you an AMEX Corp.

[hemi961]

I don't have a corporate card but I have heard of people being denied for them. Since you are responsible for all charges made on your card, Amex will probably check your credit particularly to make sure that you haven't had a charge off with them. In many cases with larger corporations, the company backs the card and guarantees payment but this isn't the case with all corporations.  If your company backs the card, they can probably make it happen for you regardless of your personal credit.

[Walt_K]

Not so sure they don't check personal credit.  Take this for what it is worth, but I had a similar problem at my last job.  It was a corporate diner's club card so it may be a different process.  I was initially declined for the card.  The stated reason was "credit report contains collections, charge-offs or repossessions."  My credit at the time was pretty bad, but I did not have any collections, charg-offs, or repossessions.  My only negatives were lates, admittedly alot of them, and several 120+.  I wrote a recon letter explaining that the reason was incorrect and explaining that the lates were due to unemployment.  They issued the card.

My corp diner's card also never reported to my personal report, so it is similar to a corp amex at least in that sense. 

[IrishPM]

I have some experience with this. My company requires all employees who travel on company business to obtain the Amex Corporate card. There are 2 kinds of corporate card programs from AMEX.

The first type is a "true" corporate card...this is where the company will direct AMEX to provide you with a card for business travel and expenses and the bills for your expenses come directly to your employer. You never see the bill unless you do your own expense reports. AMEX does not pull your personal credit report for this type of card. I know, I asked and AMEX told me no, it is based on the employer's creditworthiness. 

The second type of card, which I currently have, is the AMEX Corporate card that you have to apply for individually. The company name is listed on the card and below that, your name. With this card, AMEX does a soft pull of your credit to determine if you are eligible to receive the card. If you have a score under 680, you'll have a problem. If you have any derogatory items in your report, you will be declined.

My scores, when I applied over 3 years ago, were in the mid-700's and I was declined. Reason: My relationship dating back to 1982 with AMEX was not good...I had several lates, and that was 26 years ago and even though my credit file shows that I have a perfect record of payment with AMEX...they do hold a grudge. However, I sent a copy of my credit report to my HR person along with a note showing that I have a perfect pay history with AMEX and an "excellent" credit record so I'm not sure of there reason for declining. My company then sent a letter to AMEX "guaranteeing" my card up to $5,000 credit limit for business travel. Within 3 days, I had a Corporate AMEX in my hands. 

Who knows what lurks in the halls and minds of the decision makers at AMEX but nonetheless, I got the card but had to jump a hurdle.