Tips for using government travel cards

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Brian Maguire
  • 436th AW Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  With no government travel cards more than 60 days overdue, Team Dover members know the importance of prudence and responsibility when using and managing their GTC. 

The annual training all Air Force members go through to receive and possess a GTC informs Airmen about the fundamentals of the GTC program, but doesn't provide all the information that can improve an Airman's use of the card. 

"If you know you are going to be gone for more than 45 days, file an accrual voucher," said 1st Lt. Chris Spaulding, 436th Comptroller Squadron. "That will pay off your government travel card automatically." 

As soon as you return from your travel, make sure you file your payment voucher. You have five duty days once you return from your travel to file your voucher, said Lieutenant Spaulding. 

With finance functions moving to the Air Force Financial Services Center at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., there has been a delay in payments to the GTC. The delay can be from a week up to 15 days, so the best advice is to file your voucher as soon as you get back, and file an accrual voucher before you leave, Lieutenant Spaulding said. 

"Make sure you are doing accruals, and make sure you are filing your voucher as fast as you can," he said. "It is also important to review your completed voucher, because an entitlement can be missed, or corrective actions will be annotated for incomplete vouchers."  

There are also safeguards built into the system to protect users and their cards, should the card be lost or stolen. 

To prevent malicious use of the GTC, agency program coordinators can deactivate your GTC while you are at home station. This also means that you have to reactivate your card with your APC before you go TDY, said Lieutenant Spaulding. 

"We highly recommend that all squadron APCs deactivate your card if you're not TDY," he said. 

Another way to monitor your card is to regularly check your statement. Doing that and using www.myeasypayment.com to pay your GTC, if you need to, is a good way to ensure nothing happens with your card, he said. 

The card has protection to prevent it from being used at unauthorized locations, but those protections don't cover everything. Each merchant has a category code that your card recognizes when it is used. Certain category codes, such as for bars, are not authorized, and your card will automatically be declined, the lieutenant said. 

When the card is declined, that sends a flag to the APC. The APC can pull up the record of GTC usage, and verify what the card was used for, and what locations it was used at. The base APC can also access these reports, which they send to the wing, group and squadron commanders at quarterly intervals, at the minimum, he said. 

If in doubt, remember the travel card should be used for travel-related purposes only, said Lieutenant Spaulding. 

"If you are ever in doubt of whether or not you can use it, don't," said Lieutenant Spaulding. "If you think it may not be a travel related expense, just don't use it." 

If you ever have any doubt, ask the question. There are various resources available to get the information, from squadron and base APCs, to the 436th CPTS and the GTC training Web site, available via the Dover page or the Air Force portal.