Company cards in the UK

JackJ
JackJ Expensify Customer Posts: 4 Expensify Newcomer
edited January 2019 in Advanced Admin Controls

Much as we like Expensify, we're getting increasingly frustrated with lack of working card support in the UK.

At the moment, we can't find a business credit card that actually works with Expensify properly, and before we move to another platform I thought I'd appeal to the community for suggestions.. in case I've missed something.

Currently we have Barclaycard Business. However since we've had Expensify, which is over two years, they've been telling me that support it 'coming soon' for these cards and so in that time we've been manually importing CSVs every month then battling the Expensify system to reconcile the entries with the receipts that we have. Because Expensify's system seems to be entirely built on the premise that most users' data is being fetched from the card providers or banks, a lot of the useful features don't work for us, and we always end up with random duplicates from the Smart Scans and all sorts.

So,
Does anyone have any suggestions for business credit cards that have the usual business features which do work with Expensify?
Or,
If someone from Expensify would like to comment, can you give me a real ETA for things working as they should?

For what it is worth, Barclaycard is working fine in more than one other online service that we have trialled.

Thanks all,
J

Answers

  • Julia
    Julia Expensify Customer Posts: 164 Expensify Pro

    I can't speak to the issue you're having, but I wanted to mention that I noticed on a recent product update that they should have improved the functionality of smart scanned receipts auto merging with CC transactions from a CSV upload. Wanted to share this in case it's at all relevant.

    https://community.expensify.com/discussion/433/csv-uploads-auto-merge-with-smartscanned-receipts#latest

  • JackJ
    JackJ Expensify Customer Posts: 4 Expensify Newcomer

    Thanks Julia,
    That's actually helpful. We have tried that now though have found issues with that as well (I've seen the same issues in another thread). Hopefully it will be sorted soon though and that will definitely make a difference.

    I've actually drawn a blank with Expensify support on the card issue. They're not actually able to recommend a single UK card that actually works. I'm really hoping that someone here in the community has one that I haven't thought of! There must be some UK users here who are having a better experience than we are!

    Most threads I see about similar issues just get closed by Expensify staff with a comment like 'please see this link for what to do when your card doesn't work'. Not helpful. Maybe there just isn't a working UK option.

    Any input from anyone here gratefully received!
    Thanks all

  • Tom Rhys Jones
    Tom Rhys Jones Expensify Team Posts: 7 Expensify Team
    edited December 2017

    Hi @JackJ,

    Tom here from the EMEA Growth Team. Just thought I'd step in here quickly to explain how the majority of our banking connections work outside of the US.

    Your bank issued card will typically be one of three card processors; Visa, MasterCard or Amex. In conjunction with the bank, the card providers deliver corporate credit card data to third parties, including Expensify, via SFTP.

    For reference:

    Visa = VCF data feed
    MasterCard = CDF data feed
    Amex = GL1025 data feed

    There's nothing special about Expensify in this relationship, it's existing and standardised architecture that the card processors maintain. Expensify is simply one of many recognised and registered third party vendor within the portals.

    Almost all of the main banks in the UK support these commercial card data feeds, but some banks limit access to them based on a number of moving parts - such as minimum spend thresholds, account types, annual fees and so on.

    The thing with the UK banks these days is that 2FA for sign-in is standard, unlike the US banks. This means a direct connection system is not possible for us to explore for the UK banks. Commercial card feeds are the only way to go until the Open Banking APIs are finalised and released - which are mandated to come into effect in 2018.

    In the meantime though, I'd love to help put you in contact with the right team at Barclaycard to explore whether you're eligible for a feed. If that's not possible, I'll point you in the direction of the right teams at the other UK banks. Check your inbox, I'll be dropping you a message now.

    Cheers,
    Tom

  • JackJ
    JackJ Expensify Customer Posts: 4 Expensify Newcomer

    Thanks Tom.
    I'll see how far I get this time - and report back. Lets keep this forum post open so I can update.

    J

  • rjrh
    rjrh Expensify Customer Posts: 1 Expensify Newcomer

    How did you get on? I've had similar trouble with AmEx UK personal cards, which seemed to be introduced when AmEx updated their user portal last autumn. Since then I've been stuck with CSV import and having to fight date format mismatches :(

    Support's last update on the matter was 30th Nov :\

  • Rob_H
    Rob_H Expensify Customer Posts: 1 Expensify Newcomer

    Interesting to read that RJRH. I've was banging my head against a wall thinking I was doing something wrong. It worked, and then didn't. Most frustrating!!!

  • BenZego
    BenZego Expensify Customer Posts: 0

    @Tom Rhys Jones

    Hi Tom,

    Just wondering if there was any update on whether Expensify was looking to make use of the open banking API's now available in the UK, and build a direct connection with Barclaycard?

    Our business can't get access to the Mastercard CDF feed from Barclaycard because we are still "small business" and don't meet their minimum thresholds.

    For the time being we are managing our credit cards with manual uploads, but it's far from ideal as it's slower and more prone to error.

    Any update on whether UK customers will be supported with direct bank connections in the near future would be great.

    Thanks,

    Ben

  • JJLond0n
    JJLond0n Expensify Customer Posts: 17 Expensify Newcomer

    Great thread. I'm currently having problems with my UK Amex feed and my personal visa and Mastercard. Does anyone have an update on this?

  • Jeremy Boniface
    Jeremy Boniface Expensify Team Posts: 202 Expensify Team

    @JJLond0n Per Tom's post, UK Amex is not currently functional. Regarding your MasterCard, I'd recommend reaching out to concierge@expensify.com directly, so we can take a look.

  • pduffy
    pduffy Expensify Customer Posts: 1 Expensify Newcomer

    JackJ's post was from 2017, and it is now 2022 - it seems there has been no progress in the last 5 years. Or has anyone figured out how to link a UK credit card? I just had a v frustrating chat with the concierge, who eventually pointed me to this string.