The second service American Express announced last week for businesses will also have a consumer component but one not planned for 2007.

The Contract Audit & Recovery service is an online service that automates the accounts payable and purchase order process.

The audit service monitors and manages all purchasing aspects of a contract and identifies when pricing is at variance with current pricing schedules based on the supplier-buyer contract.

According to a recent study by Aberdeen, 22 percent of all negotiated savings put into contracts never come to fruition because of leakage between implementation and payment process, said Needs.

The service will identify discrepancies and billing errors and will help in the recovery from a supplier of any funds owed.

If a client is large enough, American Express will send along its own executives with the client to the supplier site to broker a settlement, according to Needs.

Needs said American Express used its own system to save $55 million on $1 billion of purchases made last year.

The service is free, with American Express receiving a percentage of the savings.

According to Needs, Audit & Recovery is also planned as a service to consumers, with Needs citing as an example the classic problem with cellular phone bills.

"That is one of the biggest opportunities," said Needs.

Whenever there is a large transaction volume and complex pricing, as in wireless, the consumer finds it hard to understand what all the numerous fees are. Take, for instance, a cellular phone bill.

The service automates the process by inputting all parts of an individual's or a business's cellular service contract, matching those contract agreements against the monthly bill.

American Express has a reputation for high-touch customer relationships that usually takes the side of the consumer over the vendor until it is proven differently, said Greenbaum.

If American Express uses the same business model for consumers for its Audit & Recovery service that it uses for its corporate customers, getting paid a percentage of recovered funds, then Contract Audit & Recovery may turn out to be one of its most popular services to date.