AMEX Corporate Card - HELP!

[cslam]

Hi there. Filed petition for Ch 7 with my attorney a month or so ago. Expecting court date within the next month. My question is that I have an AMEX Corporate card from my employer for travel purposes. Although AMEX is typically paid in full on a month-to-month basis, I know that they were listed as creditor on my filing. Will I need to speak to my HR dept. about this? It would be rather embarassing telling my boss I cannot go on a trip due to the fact that my card was rejected and I could not book a flight, however it would be none of his business. Has anybody dealt with AMEX on a similar matter, if so, what was the outcome? Do I have any options other than notifying my HR dept.?

Your advice is appreciated.

[FilingOnMyOwn]

Have you asked your attorney?

[lrprn]

Hi there. Filed petition for Ch 7 with my attorney a month or so ago. Expecting court date within the next month. My question is that I have an AMEX Corporate card from my employer for travel purposes. Although AMEX is typically paid in full on a month-to-month basis, I know that they were listed as creditor on my filing. Will I need to speak to my HR dept. about this? It would be rather embarassing telling my boss I cannot go on a trip due to the fact that my card was rejected and I could not book a flight, however it would be none of his business. Has anybody dealt with AMEX on a similar matter, if so, what was the outcome? Do I have any options other than notifying my HR dept.?

Your advice is appreciated.

Welcome, cslam! Glad you found us!

First, with my moderator hat on....I noticed you posted this identical question in the Chapter 13 forum. In the future, there's no need to post the same question twice in different areas. The majority of our regular knowledgeable members and moderators cruise all the forum areas answering questions, so posting the same question in two areas doesn't get your question seen by any more folks and bloats the forum with unnecessary duplicate questions that can actually end up with less replies than if you just posted the question once. Thanks for your consideration!

As for your question - I also have a corporate card for travel (not AmEx) - we filed Ch 13 in June. I had no personal charges on my card - only business travel expenses - and my cc payments are also required in full every month. Like you, I was quite worried about what would happen to my card since I need it for travel for my job. Our lawyer advised me to call the card provider directly before we filed and find out what I needed to do to ensure my corporate card stayed active after we filed. I spoke with the card's division manager who handles deliquent accounts and bankruptcies. He told me that if I listed the card on my creditor list, they would cancel the card immediately when they were notified. However, since I had a stellar payment record for three years and had no personal charges on the card, he said that as long as they weren't listed on our creditor list, payments continued to made on time, and no personal charges ever appear on the card, they will leave my card activated during our bk. So far they have been true to their word - I traveled on it just last week.

Since you listed your AmEx card on your bk creditor list, were there personal charges on it in addition to your business travel charges? If yes, how did your lawyer split out the business charges from your personal charges on your forms? And if there weren't any personal charges on it, then I'm curious why your lawyer listed AmEx on your creditor list since the debts were your company's and not your own?

I hate to be pessimistic, but AmEx is known to be unfriendly to their cardholders who have filed against them. If I were you, I'd be putting Plan B together in case they cancel your corporate card (which frankly wouldn't surprise me unless your company guarantees 100% payment no matter what charges may be on it). Keep us posted on what happens, ok? Good luck - hope everything turns out well for you.

[cslam]

Thanks for the great response lrprn! Unfortunately I did have some personal expenses on my corp card however I paid off in full last month as my business travel has slowed and my expense reports could no longer mask my personal spending. I asked my attorney about this and he was not very helpful other than to say that he had to report to all creditors, which included AMEX. I have heard as well that AMEX does not take kindly to these matters. I think with this helpful information you have provided that I will simply go to my HR department and explain my situation to them and see what my options are. Maybe the company will be willing to take on the card in their name authorizing me to use it for business expenditures only. My only fear is that HR must report to my senior mgmt. whenever an employee uses the card for personal use. I will discuss this with them as aren't there confidentiality laws prohibiting them from sharing BK info with my colleagues?

Anyway, thank you for the great response. This is a great forum, very glad I found it. Lots of useful info on here. Just received my papers today for the 'meeting of creditors' for Sept. 25th! Wish me luck!