Enroll in American Express® Virtual Card Issuing in Emburse Enterprise

Emburse Enterprise offers US-based customers the option to enroll in the American Express® Virtual Card Program in order to issue virtual credit cards on demand.

Eligibility and Prerequisites

Any American Express Business, Corporate, or Purchasing Card customer is eligible to enroll in the American Express Virtual Card Program. There is no limit to the number of Virtual Cards you can create and no cost per Card. However, the combined credit limit for all "child" Virtual Cards will be that of the "parent" Card used to enroll in the American Express Virtual Card Program. 

The following prerequisites will be covered in detail in Steps 1–3:

• The Card you wish to enroll is a part of an American Express Business, Corporate, or Purchasing Card program; personal American Express Card connections are not supported.
• The Card is enrolled in American Express' Manage Your Card Account (MYCA).
• The following Access Permissions are enabled:
  • Card Programs: Show in Admin Menu
  • Card Issuance: Show Card Issuance Button
  • Cardholder Management: Create/Edit Cardholder

Step 1: Identify the Funding-Source Card

In order to enroll, you need to first identify which American Express® physical Card to use as the parent funding source for the child Virtual Cards. The following types of Cards may be enrolled as parent Cards:

• American Express Corporate and Business Cards, including Corporate Purchasing Cards
• Basic Account Cards
• Supplementary Cards

The Card you choose must also be enrolled in American Express' Manage Your Card Account (MYCA) program. If necessary, use this link to register.

Once you finish enrolling a parent Card in the American Express Virtual Card Program, you may issue as many Virtual Cards as needed, to as many employees as needed. However, the combined credit limit for all child Virtual Cards will be that of the parent Card used to enroll in the American Express Virtual Card Program.

Any transactions made with the child Virtual Cards will appear in each Virtual Cardholder's eWallet.

Best Practices

• Choose a parent Card that is not being used today for physical Card purchases. This will simplify the reconciliation process, since you will only receive a statement with Virtual Card transactions.
• Choose a parent Card that is not tied to an employee who might leave the company.

Step 2: Verify Access to the Card Account

Once you have identified which Card to enroll, you need to verify whether you have the American Express Manage Your Card Account (MYCA) login credentials for that Card. This is the account that the Cardholder uses to log in to the Cards and Banking features.

• If you have access to the login credentials, the enrollment is online and real-time.
• If you do not have access to the login credentials but someone else in your company does, you can still enroll the Card, but it will require approval from the person who owns the Card. See Step 5 for complete details.

Step 3: Enable Emburse Enterprise Access Permissions

The following user access permissions must be enabled in Emburse Enterprise for your organization to enroll in American Express Virtual Card issuance.

1. In Enterprise, select Admin Settings > Security > Access Permissions. Select the appropriate policy, then select Edit.

2. Under Admin > Card Programs check Show in Admin Menu.

3. Under Admin > Card Issuance check Show Card Issuance Button.

4. Under General > Cardholder Management check Create/Edit Cardholder.

5. Select Save.

Step 4: Begin American Express® Virtual Cards Enrollment in Emburse Enterprise

1. In Emburse Enterprise, select Admin Settings > Transactions > Card Programs, then select Add Card Program.

2. In the Cards Gateway pop-up, select American Express.

3. On the next screen, select United States as your Account Region.

4. Select Connect an Account to Issue Cards.

5. Next, you will add the information for the parent American Express Card that will serve as the funding source for the child Virtual Cards.

• Card Information – Card's Description: This should be the Cardholder name that appears on the face of the parent Card you wish to enroll.
• Billing Address: Enter the billing address that appears on the Card in the American Express portal.
  • Must be a valid U.S. address.
  • PO Boxes and Commercial Mail Receiving Agency addresses are not allowed. 
• Additional Options – Preferred Account Name: Choose a name that will help you differentiate between this and any other programs that may appear on the Card Programs admin screen in Emburse Enterprise (e.g., Marketing Team Amex).

6. Review the listed permissions and select Connect.

Emburse Enterprise will request permission to: 

• Issue Virtual Cards
• View and download financial settlements (i.e., transactions)
• Receive real-time transaction authorizations

Step 5: Log in to American Express 

Once you have completed the Emburse registration, a new browser tab or pop-up will launch to allow you to complete the Virtual Card enrollment with American Express. (Be sure your browser settings allow pop-ups for this site.) You will follow different steps depending on whether you have the American Express login credentials for the parent Card you are enrolling.

Enroll a Card for Which You Have Credentials

If you are enrolling your own Card, or if the primary Cardholder or an authorized account manager is on hand, follow these steps. Otherwise, follow the steps under "Enroll Another Person's Card," below.

Click I’m enrolling my own Card.

You will be prompted to sign in using your American Express MYCA account user ID and password.

Enroll Another Person's Card

Click I’m enrolling another person's Card.

Enter the other user's 15-digit Card number in both boxes and select Submit. 

American Express will contact the Card’s account owner via email to ask for verification. The owner will need to log in to American Express and follow the instructions in Step 6, below, to complete enrollment.

Step 6: Complete Enrollment

Once you have logged in to the American Express website, you will select the desired business or corporate Card account to connect with Emburse.

Select an eligible Card, review and accept the Terms & Conditions, and complete enrollment.

Once the Card is successfully enrolled, the new Card program will appear on the Card Programs admin screen in Emburse Enterprise and Virtual Card issuing will be enabled for that program.