Connect an American Express Business Card Program

Through our partnership with American Express®, Emburse Professional offers an API-based connection that automatically retrieves and imports credit card transactions into users' Wallets.

Your organization's American Express card program only needs to be connected once by an administrator. However, it must be reauthorized annually. After the connection is established, administrators map cards to the appropriate user accounts. Users do not need to connect their cards or provide American Express credentials.

This article explains how administrators connect U.S.-based American Express Business card programs to Emburse Professional. For Canadian small business programs or personal American Express cards, see Add a Credit Card.

Corporate or Business Card Program

If you are not sure whether your organization uses a Corporate Card Program or a Business Card Program, contact your American Express representative or review the front of the card.

Corporate Card Programs display CORPORATE on the card. Business Card Programs display BUSINESS.

If your organization uses a Corporate Card Program, review Connect an American Express Corporate Card Program .

Connecting an American Express Business Card Program

1. On the Emburse Professional home page, select Settings.

2. Under System Integrations, select Manage Your Card Programs.

3. Select Add a Card Program.

4. Select American Express.

5. Select Import Business Card Transactions.

6. Select Continue to American Express.

The American Express authentication page displays. Enter your American Express User ID and Password.

7. Select the card programs to connect to Emburse Professional, and then select Authorize.

Only the primary administrator card is listed for each card program. All supplemental cards in the program are available for import in Emburse Professional. Administrators choose which cards to import after the connection is complete.

8. After American Express confirms the connection, select Return to Emburse.

9. Review the card programs, and then select Confirm.

10. Select Return to Emburse Professional to complete the connection and map American Express cards to users.

11. On the Card Mapping page, review the imported card data.

Card data may take up to 30 seconds to display. Cards automatically map to user profiles based on the cardholder's first and last name. A card maps to an Emburse account only when the cardholder name is an exact match to the user's first and last name in Emburse.

Any cards that do not map automatically can be mapped manually using the fields provided.

You can return to the cardholder mapping screen at any time by opening the card program menu and selecting Edit Mapping.

Map American Express Card Programs

After an American Express card program is connected to Emburse Professional, administrators can assign cards to employees using the dropdown menus. The Cardholder Name field displays each name associated with the American Express card.

Cardholder mapping is not required. However, any card left unmapped does not import transactions to an Emburse Professional account. Emburse recommends mapping all cards to users for easier reconciliation of your organization's American Express program.

After a card is mapped to an employee, the card details display on the employee's Account Settings page. Employees cannot remove their American Express card from Emburse Professional without administrator assistance.

Any transaction that occurs after the card is mapped to the employee's account automatically imports to their Wallet. For assistance retrieving historical transactions, contact the Support team.

Unmap a Card

1. To change cardholder mapping or unmap a card, return to Manage Your Card Programs from the System Configuration page.

2. Open the menu for the American Express program, and then select Edit Mapping.

3. On the Cardholder Mapping screen, hover over the mapped employee and select X to unmap the card.

After a card is unmapped, future transactions associated with the card will not import to an employee's account. Any transactions imported while the card was mapped remain with the employee.

Detect New Cards

As your organization grows, administrators may need to create American Express cards for new employees. Emburse Professional detects when a new card is created in your organization's American Express program and emails all administrators that a new card is available and ready to be mapped.

Follow the card mapping steps to return to the Cardholder Mapping screen and map the new card to the appropriate employee.

Disconnect an American Express Program

Your organization's American Express program can be disconnected from Emburse Professional if the card program is no longer in use.

To disconnect a card program, return to Manage Your Card Programs and select Delete Connection from the Card Program menu.

Reauthorize an Expired Token

American Express authentication tokens expire after one year of connectivity. Emburse Professional notifies administrators by email and in the application when your card program token is about to expire.

To prevent disruptions in transaction import, reauthorize the card program.

1. On the Emburse Professional home page, select Settings.

2. Under System Integrations, select Manage Your Card Programs.

3. Select More Actions and then select Reauthorize.