The two payments discussed in the course are the government charge card and centrally billed accounts. These two methods are available to all travelers via Defense Travel System (DTS) or manually. How the travel processes through the system is the difference between the two methods.
When processing an authorization via the DTS for a member that has a credit card the system will automatically default to the method of payment that is in accordance with the Department of Defense Financial Management Regulations Volume 9, Chapter 3. With the credit card there are no advances, if the traveler does not have a credit card he can request an advance. The advance is then routed to his personal bank account via electronic funds transfer. This method of processing advances is superior to the paper method because it does not required manual computation or processing.
The most common challenge travelers have with the travel credit card are delinquencies.
What that means is the account is between the traveler and the bank with the government being the sponsor in collaboration with the bank. Travelers forget that the government travel credit card is an individually billed account. The traveler’s bill is to be paid in full on the due date of the statement. The traveler’s who do not have the government travel credit card want to revert to having an advance paid to them to cover the cost of travel and thus eliminate the delinquency from occurring. With either method it is incumbent on the traveler to take ownership of the card or to be pro active in acquiring an advance.
By: G. W. McCurtis