Enroll in American Express® Virtual Card Issuing in Emburse Spend

Your organization can enroll in the American Express® Virtual Card Program to issue and manage Virtual Cards in Emburse Spend. Virtual Cards help enforce spending policies, provide real-time visibility, and reduce manual reconciliation.

Choose one of the following enrollment options during setup:

• Enroll My Own Card: Supports Corporate Cards and non-supplemental Small Business Cards. Virtual Cards issued from this enrollment type are eligible for mobile wallet provisioning.
• Enroll Someone Else’s Card: Supports delegated enrollment and supplemental Small Business Cards. Virtual Cards issued from this enrollment type are not eligible for mobile wallet provisioning.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, confirm the following:

• You are an Emburse Spend administrator.
• You have access to your American Express Manage Your Card Account (MYCA) credentials.
• You have access to the American Express Card account you want to enroll.

For the Enroll My Own Card flow:

• You must be the Cardholder of the parent card being enrolled.
• Supplemental Small Business Cards are not supported.

American Express has a 40-character limit for company names in its API. If your company name exceeds this limit, enrollment fails.

To resolve this issue:

1. Go to Company Settings.
2. Shorten your company name to fewer than 40 characters.
3. Select Save.
4. Return to Card Programs and continue enrollment.

Understand the Enrollment Options

Step 1: Start Enrollment

1. In Emburse Spend, go to Settings > Card Programs.

2. Select Add Card Program.

   

3. In the pop-up window, select American Express.

   

4. Select Activate Virtual Cards Issuing.

   

The Add your American Express Card Program window displays.

5. Select the enrollment option that matches your Card type and mobile wallet requirements.
6. Select Accept the terms and conditions.
   
7. Enter the required details:
8. Card Description: Name on the parent Card
   • Billing Address: Valid U.S. address (PO Boxes and Commercial Mail Receiving Agency addresses are not allowed by American Express)
   • Preferred Account Name: Optional internal name
9. Select Add Parent Card.
10. Select CONTINUE TO AMERICAN EXPRESS.
    

A new browser tab or pop-up window opens to continue enrollment with American Express. Make sure your browser allows pop-ups for this site.

Step 2: Complete Enrollment in American Express

Choose the enrollment option that matches your Card type and mobile wallet requirements.

Enroll My Own Card

Use this option when you are enrolling your own Corporate Card or non-supplemental Small Business Card.

Enroll Your Own Card

1. Sign in using your American Express MYCA credentials.
   • Use the credentials for the Cards and Banking account. These may differ from your American Express @ Work login, which is not supported for Virtual Card enrollment.

If you do not have credentials:

• Select Forgot User ID or Password?
• Or create an account through the American Express website.

2. Select the eligible small business or corporate Card account to connect with Emburse Spend.
   

3. Accept the terms and complete enrollment.
   

After completing enrollment, return to Emburse Spend. The Card program displays, and you can begin issuing Virtual Cards.

Option 2: Enroll Someone Else’s Card

Use this option when:

• You are enrolling a Card owned by another user.
• You need to enroll a supplemental Small Business Card.

Enroll Someone Else’s Card

1. In the American Express Card window, select I’m enrolling another person’s card.
   

2. Enter the other person's 15-digit Card number in both fields.
   
3. Select Submit.

American Express contacts the Card owner by email to request approval for the enrollment.

While approval is pending, the Card program displays the status Pending review by financial institution.

Once the Card owner approves the enrollment:

• The pending review message disappears.
• The Card program becomes active.
• New Virtual Cards can be created.

The program status updates to Issuing Enabled after enrollment completes successfully.

Mobile Wallet Eligibility and Re-Enrollment

Virtual Cards can be added to mobile wallets only if:

• The program was enrolled after April 13, 2026
• The program was enrolled through the Enroll My Own Card flow

Programs enrolled before April 13, 2026, require re-enrollment to enable mobile wallet functionality.

Eligibility Summary

Virtual Cards added to mobile wallets may be used for contactless payments at participating merchants using Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.

Re-Enroll a Card Program for Mobile Wallet Functionality

If your organization enrolled in the American Express Virtual Card Program before April 13, 2026, and requires mobile wallet functionality, you must re-enroll in the program.

Re-enrollment:

• Creates a new Virtual Card program
• Does not replace the original program
• Does not affect approval workflows
• Does not interrupt existing Virtual Cards

Impact to Existing Virtual Cards

Re-enrollment does not affect:

• Existing Virtual Cards
• Cardholders
• Transactions
• Accounting integrations
• Reporting or reconciliation

Existing Cards remain active and usable.

New cards from the re-enrolled program support mobile wallets.

Required Administrator Action

1. Repeat the enrollment process following Steps 3 and 4, above.

2. Rename the original card program and give the new card program a distinct name to differentiate the two programs.

Rename a Card Program

1. Go to Company Settings > Card Programs.
2. Select More Actions next to the original Virtual Card program.
3. Select Rename.
   
4. Enter a clear name.
5. Select Save.
   

Related Information

See Issue and Manage American Express Virtual Cards.