The government travel card that is issued to individuals and authorized to use for official travel are called Individually Billed Accounts (IBA). A traveler can place charges for their airline reservations, train, rental car, lodging, meals and miscellaneous expenses such as parking, gas for rental car, taxi etc. on their government card as long as the expenses are used for the official travel. Cardholders are responsible for using the card appropriately and making payments timely.
As of October 1, 2005, split disbursement payments became mandatory for government agencies. Split disbursement offers travelers a higher level of convenience by sending their credit card payment directly to the credit card company. This eliminates the hassle of writing a personal check, the cost of a stamp, and the worry of getting the payment in by the due date. Travelers will still receive a monthly statement itemizing the monthly transactions.
As a traveler myself, I have also taken advantage of the feature in the electronic travel system that allows you to place an extra amount of money that you want paid to the credit card account. I keep track of all meals that I charge on my card and when my travel is complete, I will total the charges, place the total amount in the Additional Gov’t Charge Card Amount field on the Payment Totals page and allocate that amount to be paid in addition to the amount already paid to the credit card account.
By becoming aware of all charges placed on the government credit card and allocating these charges to be paid, travelers will receive a $0.00 monthly statement from the credit card financial institute.
By: Crystal Horner
Disclaimer: The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.