Inside American Express Business Finance

As an ex -AMEXBF employee I still keep in touch with some employees. This is

what I am hearing from several employees but I don't know if it is

indicative company wide.

The rolling stock division is growing in sales as they have added sales

staff but are still lacking in administrative support. Many customer

complaints with misapplication of payments, elevated pay offs, calls not

being returned, paper work screw ups etc which happens when you ramp up

sales and don't ramp up the rest. A lot of things seem to be falling through

the cracks. Hey, but SALES ARE UP, which is encouraging in this economy.

The equipment division has underwent several major compensation structure

cuts and has eliminated quite a few salespeople with another scheduled

employee (in sales) cut happening soon. They are switching the accounts

around that the salespeople handle so one month Salesman Bob may be handling

a large national account and three months later they assign the account to

any other salesperson, which certainly doesn't bode well for vender

retention or reassurance.

The equipment division doesn't seem to have the customer service related

problems that the rolling stock division is encountering, so we would assume

then that it may be a problem with that particular field office or the

corporate contacts for that field office.

All in all it appears that AMEXBF is going through some growing pains.

Hopefully in this economy the existing employees and the company can weather

the storm.

I have a feeling that AMEX may spin off/sell the vehicle division. Their

knowledge appears limited in this part of the leasing industry.  Many of us

were hoping that after the acquisition that some FAT would be cut and

processing streamlined, but the company is essentially operating off the old

First Sierra crew and way of doing things.  GREAT and WONDERFUL computer

operating system but some employees in key positions don't really care about

the overall team concept and are essentially clock punchers. Instead of

reorganizing the First Sierra operating side they have essentially kept it

the same and placed more restrictions on decision-making and on operations.

Much authority has been taken away from prior decision makers which hurts

the credibility of employees.  Restructure our compensation program!?   (how

can anyone stay with a company that year after year changes its criteria

thus causing some salespeople to actually make less and less money?)

It became like trying to turn oranges into lemonade, it just became a lot of

effort spinning your wheels after awhile.

And then the broker thing: Yes we can, no we can't, yes we can for some

sales people but no we can't for you. Too many double standards when it came

to taking broker paper.

I grew tired of the head butting over common sense items, the cutting of

income, the ever changing internal climates and all the bureaucracy that it

took to get anything done is what pushed me to leave.

There is only so many times I can bang my head on the desk..

( Name With Held )

(Disclaimer: American Leasing hired an American Express Business Finance

business development person, but the person was involved in the private label

leasing program for Cisco. It is true the former sales manager and others

may have left, but this is from a person known to the editor for perhaps 15 years,

plus higher up in the administration. editor ).