The BYOC advantage: How to integrate your existing corporate cards with Expensify
By Joe Kaufman, Product & Operations Leader at Expensify. Connect with Joe on LinkedIn.
"If we want better expense tools, we need to switch cards." Right?
This assumption is so common that most finance teams accept it as truth. You want automated expense tracking? Switch to our card. You want realtime visibility? Switch to our card. You want better reconciliation? You guessed it: switch to our card.
Here's what those other platforms won't tell you: you don't need to replace your corporate cards to get powerful expense management. With Expensify, you can integrate your existing AMEX, Chase, Citi, or Bank of America cards in minutes and get realtime transaction flow, auto-categorization, and zero team disruption.
No plastic swaps. No subscription migrations. No explaining to your CFO why you're replacing perfectly good corporate cards. Just better expense management with the cards you already have.
Key takeaways
- Most modern expense platforms force a card switch. Expensify doesn't.
- Bring your own card (BYOC) means you keep your rewards, history, and workflows.
- Setup takes minutes and requires no technical expertise.
- Transactions import automatically, and employees never have to manually create expenses again.
- Admins love it because they get continuity, control, and central visibility on day one.
Why switching cards shouldn't be the default
Let's be clear about what's happening when expense platforms push you to switch cards: you're being locked into their ecosystem.
Companies like Brex and Ramp pitch their entire platform around using their native cards. They'll tell you their tight integration offers benefits you can't get elsewhere like better controls, more customization, features that only work with their plastic.
Some of that can be true. But here's what they won't say: a one-size-fits-all approach is never best for every company.
According to Joe Kaufman, Expensify's Product & Operations leader: "Companies don't really assume they have to switch cards; they're told they do. Many fintech companies don't allow customers to bring their own cards. But one-size-fits-all doesn't work for every customer."
The reality? Some teams have built substantial rewards programs with their current cards. Others have negotiated custom terms with their bank. And many just don't want to deal with the operational nightmare of replacing every corporate card while the business keeps running.
For these companies, BYOC (bring your own card) with Expensify solves the real problem: getting organized, automated expense management and credit card reconciliation without the forced migration.
See how we stack up against the competition:
What is BYOC (and why does it work)?
According to a recent J.D. Power study, 89% of small businesses used a credit card for recent purchases, which is far more than other payment types. Corporate cards aren't going anywhere, and forcing teams to switch them creates unnecessary friction.
BYOC = Bring Your Own Card. Sometimes called "bring your own card BYOC" in the industry, this approach lets you keep your existing corporate card program infrastructure while gaining modern expense management capabilities. Expensify supports direct integrations with major corporate card providers: American Express, Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and more.
No need to swap plastic or update all your subscriptions. Just connect your existing cards and go.
As Kaufman puts it: "Replacing all your company credit cards is a huge lift. You have to get cards to employees, manage the switch, deal with accounting changes, move existing subscriptions to new cards. With BYOC, you skip all that pain and plug into Expensify on day one."
How corporate credit card integration actually works
When you connect your corporate cards to Expensify through credit card import, transactions flow automatically from your card provider to Expensify in realtime. Every swipe creates an expense entry with merchant details, amounts, and often electronic receipts without employees doing anything manually.
Your finance team gets full visibility and control. Your employees keep using the same cards they already have. Everyone wins.
How to integrate your corporate cards with Expensify
Setting up the corporate credit card software integration is straightforward with no technical expertise required. Here's how it works with major providers.
How to integrate AMEX corporate cards
American Express cards integrate seamlessly with Expensify:
Log into your AMEX account through Expensify's secure connection
Choose which cards to assign to specific employees
Transactions start flowing automatically
Expensify pulls transaction data directly from AMEX, including merchant details and purchase amounts. Electronic receipts are often included automatically.
How to integrate Chase business cards
Chase corporate cards follow a similar process:
Use secure login credentials to connect your Chase account
Map cards to individual users or teams
Enable automatic transaction import
Chase's integration supports eReceipt capture, making it even easier for employees to stay compliant without hunting down paper receipts.
How to integrate Citi business cards
Citibank corporate cards connect through the same straightforward process:
Authenticate your Citi account within Expensify
Select cards and assign them to cardholders
Activate realtime transaction sync
Once connected, all Citi card transactions appear in Expensify automatically, ready for categorization and approval.
How to integrate Bank of America cards
Bank of America's integration offers centralized card mapping:
Connect your BofA account securely
Map corporate cards to employees from a central admin view
Enable automatic expense creation
BofA's integration is particularly useful for larger teams with multiple cardholders, as admins can manage all cards from a single interface.
Other card types
Expensify also supports corporate credit card integration for smaller banks and credit unions through:
Direct feed connections for banks with API partnerships
File upload for manual statement imports (CSV, OFX formats)
Banking APIs that pull transaction data automatically
If your corporate card provider isn't listed above, check Expensify's supported banks list or contact support. Chances are it's already supported.
What teams love about BYOC
No disruption to operations
Replacing corporate cards mid-year is operationally risky.
As Kaufman explains: "Replacing cards means managing physical handoffs, dealing with accounting changes, moving subscriptions to new cards, all of which take time and carry risk. You can avoid all of that."
What BYOC eliminates:
Waiting for new physical cards to arrive
Coordinating card distribution to remote employees
Updating payment methods for dozens of SaaS subscriptions
Reconciling expenses across two different card programs during transition
Training employees on new card policies and platforms
With BYOC, your existing corporate credit card reconciliation software processes stay intact. You're adding automation and visibility, not replacing your entire payment infrastructure.
Setup is surprisingly simple
Most teams assume corporate credit card integration requires IT involvement or technical configuration. It doesn't.
"It's often as easy as logging into your bank and mapping cards to employees. The entire setup process can take just a few minutes." – Joe Kaufman, Product & Operations Leader at Expensify
Typical setup timeline:
5 minutes: Connect your card provider account
10 minutes: Assign cards to employees
Instant: Transactions start flowing automatically
No developers. No API keys. No complicated technical requirements. Just straightforward authentication and card assignment.
Central admin visibility
Here's a critical setup tip from Kaufman: "The big one is centrally connecting cards for the entire company, rather than having each individual employee import their own card. That means admins have the option to centrally manage all cards."
Why this matters:
When cards are connected at the company level, finance teams can:
See all card activity across the organization in one dashboard
Enforce company expense policies consistently across all cardholders
Update settings or permissions without touching individual accounts
Monitor spending patterns and identify issues immediately
Generate custom financial reports that span all corporate cards
Individual employee imports create fragmentation. Central admin setup creates control.
Bring your cards. Bring the control.
Companies don't need to switch cards to gain visibility, automation, and compliance. The assumption that better expense management requires replacing your corporate cards is outdated, and often pushed by platforms that benefit from locking you into their ecosystem.
With Expensify's BYOC approach, you get:
Day-one integration: Connect existing cards in minutes without waiting for new plastic or lengthy onboarding.
No disruption: Keep your current rewards programs, banking relationships, and operational workflows intact.
Zero compromise on flexibility: Choose the cards that work best for your business, not what your expense platform forces on you.
Whether you're running American Express corporate cards, Chase business cards, or a mix of providers, Expensify supports your choices instead of replacing them.
Ready to connect your corporate cards and automate expense management without the switch? Click on the button below to get started with Expensify today.
FAQs about corporate credit card integration
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Credit card integration connects your corporate cards directly to expense management software, automatically importing transactions in realtime.
Instead of employees manually entering expenses or uploading receipts, every card swipe creates an expense entry automatically with merchant details and amounts already captured.
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Corporate credit card reconciliation matches card transactions against submitted expense reports and accounting records. With Expensify's integration, reconciliation happens automatically.
Transactions are imported from your card provider, employees review and categorize them, and the system matches everything to your accounting software. This eliminates manual statement matching and catches discrepancies immediately.
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The 3% fee covers merchant processing costs, or what businesses pay to credit card networks (Visa, Mastercard) and payment processors for handling transactions. This includes interchange fees (paid to card-issuing banks), assessment fees (paid to card networks), and processor markup.
Many businesses pass these costs to customers, though some absorb them to remain competitive.
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The 2-3-4 rule is a guideline for responsible credit card use: apply for no more than 2 cards in 6 months, 3 cards in 12 months, and 4 cards in 24 months. This pacing helps maintain good credit scores by avoiding too many hard inquiries in a short period.
For corporate cards, this rule is less relevant since business credit decisions typically don't impact personal credit the same way.
