Travel Charge Card Program (2024)

FAQs

Travel Charge Card Program? ›

The Government Travel Charge Card Program provides travelers with a means of financing their official travel expenses without obtaining travel advances or using their own funds.

Use of the travel card is mandated by the Travel and Transportation Reform Act of 1998 [PDF, 9 pages]. GTCC Regulations state that the card will be used by all DoD personnel (military or civilian) to pay for all costs related to official government travel, including meals.

The USDA Travel Charge Card is a convenient method for the USDA and employees to make payments for official government travel and travel related expenses, while allowing the USDA to better manage their travel related expenses.

With a charge card program, account holders can spend ahead of available funds and then repay the platform after the funds have been spent. While charge cards sound great on paper, building a program can be challenging.

Standard cards are issued to individuals with a FICO credit score above 659. The default limits are $7,500 for credit, $250 for cash, and $250 for retail purchases. Restricted cards are issued to individuals with a FICO credit score below 660.

To obtain cash, insert your card in the ATM's card reader and follow the prompts. A cash advance fee will be assessed. Restrictions on ATM transactions: Limits on the number and dollar amount of transactions may be restricted.

The Government Travel Charge Card Program (GTCC) provides travelers with a safe, effective, convenient, and commercially available method to pay for expenses associated with official travel. The GTCC includes Individually Billed Accounts (IBAs) and Centrally Billed Accounts (CBAs).

Don't charge office supplies, training, conference fees, photocopies, postal services, or equipment on the travel card.

The GSA SmartPay Travel cards/accounts may be used ONLY for authorized official travel and travel-related expenses. Official travel expenses are broadly categorized as transportation, lodging, meals and incidentals. The travel card/account must not be used for personal expenses unrelated to official government travel.

Once the mission has been completed, the traveler has 45 days to pay the outstanding travel card balance. Travelers using DTS should arrange for scheduled partial payments (SPPs) to ensure their travel card expenses can be paid while on long term temporary duty.

How do you qualify for a charge card? ›

How Can I Get a Charge Card? Although credit cards are available even to those with not-so-great credit, a charge card typically requires a good-to-excellent score. That's because the issuer is taking a bigger risk by assuming you'll pay your full bill every month and not giving you a preset spending limit.

You can't carry a balance

The debt you rack up on a charge card each month cannot be floated. If you don't pay off your card in full each due date, you'll be dinged with a late fee that is often a percentage of the outstanding balance.

Charge cards might be a good option if you would rather not worry about a preset credit limit or paying interest. But remember that issuers generally still approve purchases based on things like your spending habits—and you'll need to pay off the balance each month to avoid late fees and penalties.

standard travel credit card is given to applicants with a credit score more than 660 and has a credit limit of $5,000 ($2,500 cycle limit). USDA has also undertaken a project to have each agency review the Federal travel charge card program to strengthen the agency's internal control.

MYTH: If my bill is delinquent, the GTCC contractor will automatically report my delinquency to the credit bureaus, affecting my credit score. FACT: An outstanding bill will not be reported to the credit bureau UNLESS the bill has remained unpaid for 210 days.

Accounts are considered past due at 31 days past billing and delinquent if unpaid 61 days after the billing date.

A GSA travel card will help you pay for lodging, taxis, and other miscellaneous expenses while on your trip. While new employees may travel without one, it is required that everyone at TTS have one as soon as possible. Visit the GSA SmartPay 3 travel card page for more information.

- ANS Reduced Payment Plan Which item is a benefit of using the travel card? - ANS Using it prevents travelers from having to use their own money for official travel expenses.

A travel money card, also called a prepaid travel card, is a type of card that can hold foreign currencies. It's intended for overseas travel, and you can use one to withdraw foreign cash from ATMs and to make purchases in a local currency.