Square's Business Credit Card Now Runs on American Express. Here's What Changed
By Yan Payments
What actually changed with the Square Credit Card?
On October 19, 2026, Marqeta announced it’s now the issuer processor behind the Square Credit Card, and that the card itself runs on the American Express network. If you’re a Square seller who carries one of these cards, or you’re weighing whether to apply for one, that’s the whole headline. The card is still issued by Celtic Bank under a license from American Express; Marqeta just handles the processing plumbing underneath it.
Does this affect Square’s payment acceptance or card terminals?
No, and this is the part worth being precise about. The Square Credit Card is a business charge card Square issues to its own sellers, a lending product, not something related to how Square processes payments at checkout. Nothing here changes whether a Square terminal accepts American Express as a payment type, how card-present transactions are routed, or any part of a merchant’s acceptance stack. If you read a headline about “Square and American Express” and assumed it was about taking Amex at the counter, it isn’t.
Why did Square move the card to Marqeta and Amex?
Square’s debit card has run on Marqeta’s platform since 2019, issued by Sutton Bank on the Mastercard network. That piece isn’t changing. What’s new is that the credit card program is joining it, so Square’s debit, prepaid, and credit products now all sit on one processing platform instead of two. Andrea Raj, Block’s head of product for Square Banking, framed it as a speed play: “Square sellers depend on both credit and debit to run their businesses, and consolidating those programs onto Marqeta’s platform means we can move faster and safer on the products they need.” The Amex network piece specifically comes from Square’s choice to issue the credit card under an Amex license rather than through Visa or Mastercard.
Do existing cardholders need to do anything?
Based on the companies’ own statements, no. Marqeta describes migrating existing Square Credit Card accounts without disruption to the cardholder experience, meaning no new card number and no re-application for people who already carry one. Neither company has published specifics on rewards rates, credit limits, or fees tied to this change, so there’s nothing concrete to report there yet.
What this means if you’re choosing a payment processor
This is an internal change to one competitor’s banking product, not a shift in the broader card-acceptance landscape. If you’re a merchant deciding between processors and POS systems, the more relevant questions are still the ones that affect your day-to-day: what you pay in processing fees, what hardware fits your business, and how your Clover setup (yanpayments.com/hardware) handles things like Amex acceptance at checkout, which is a completely separate question from what happened with Square’s credit card this month.
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