Joint Base Charleston, S.C. –
Recently, the Air Force decided to transition existing Controlled Spend Account travel cards to an enhanced Government Travel Card by the end of fiscal 2012.
"The CSA provided some enhancements for travelers, but also brought about significant challenges for our most frequent travelers and those with unique mission sets," said Senior Airman Michael Smith, 628th Comptroller Squadron Separations and Retirements technician. "For any travel card program to work, it has to work for all travelers."
The actual transition will occur in August and September and current CSA cardholders should continue to use their cards as normal. The transition strategy allows travelers to continue using their "blue cards" without interruption. The card functionality will be converted to a GTC by CitiBank without the need to get a new card. Also, travelers will once again be provided with a permanent credit limit, and there will be to need to call for "temporary spend limit" increases.
One of the enhancements being pursued for the GTCV program will be via the Defense Travel System. Default settings will be changed to automatically align most non-mileage expenses to the card. Additionally, the traveler can split-disburse any residual funds to his/her personal account. Finally, as a carryover from the CSA program, Citi will upgrade their GTC online system to allow travelers to request electronic fund transfers of credit balances directly to their bank accounts, according to Joan Causey, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Operations.
The CSA to GTC transition plan has already began. If all systems perform as expected during a brief test period in July, roughly 300,000 cardholders will be converted during the August-September timeframe, according to Smith.
For more information, contact the 628th Comptroller Squadron at 963-4909.