I am seeking a job with a fortune 500 company that requires the employee to obtain a company issued AMEX business credit card for extensive travel. The card is issued to the employee and therefore linked to their personal credit. The balance on the card is paid by the company after the employee submits an approved expense report. Presently, my median credit score is 655. Can I be approved for a company issued AMEX business credit card with this score and if not, what is the minimum score needed to obtain approval?
No one can definitely answer you other than American Express, but my guess would be that you would not qualify if the credit is being granted under your own merit. American Express has greatly scaled back on issuing AMEX business cards and has lowered credit limits on thousands of their customers. I recently saw on another forum where a man with an 830 FICO got an American Express card with only a $ 6000 spending limit.
American Express not only looks at your FICO score, but your debt to income ratio when making credit decisions. If someone has a few credit cards even if they are not using them then they have the ability to charge and carry a balance. All of these things are taken into consideration when and if a person gets approved for an Amex card.
Either it’s a business account and you are an authorized user or it’s a personal account in your name. It can’t be both.
I don’t understand why you would have to have a specific American Express card, if you must submit a expense report for reimbursement. Seems you would be able to use any of your own personal credit cards. I use to get $ 300 to $ 400 cashback on my personal cards from business travel.
A few years ago my score was below 750 and I was approved for a corporate card. Also, my roommate had a score well below yours and was able to get a corporate card. I know that they do not weigh decisions as heavily when it is a corporate card. One reason is when the application is filled out, the company requesting the card can decide to overlook certain requirements. For instance, my old company filed the application for my corporate card, and did not check to see if I had previous Amex cards. When I applied for my corporate card at Amex, they DID take my history with Amex into consideration. You can have a corporate card and still be denied a personal card with Amex.
Also, If the balance goes unpaid on a corporate card, it takes a lot longer for a delinquency to hit your credit. This does not guarantee that you will get a card, but you have a better chance because your company is is applying for you.
Good luck.