New travel card coming soon

  • Published
  • By Glenna DiModugno
  • Directorate of Financial Management
DENVER --  Government Travel Card cardholders will soon be getting a new card. The new General Services Administration SmartPay® contract for the Department of Defense is with Citibank. The Air Force will begin transitioning to the new card Nov. 30. 

The contract with current card provider Bank of America will end Nov. 29. 

The agency program coordinator at the Air Reserve Personnel Center is Janice Safford. She has been working to make sure the ARPC account is ready for the transition. Ms. Safford will be able to answer questions and help with problems. She can be reached at Ext. 6-6535, Post 3-C-23 or by e-mail at janice.safford@arpc.denver.af.mil . 

Below are some important items for the transition: 

Cards/Cardholders 

To help with the transition, cardholders need to ensure their information is correct for their current card: name, address, electronic funds transfer information, etc. 
-- Citibank will begin mailing new government travel cards to cardholders with open accounts during July and August. This will ensure they have their new card when the transition takes place Nov. 30. 
-- For cardholders who are deployed from June through December 2008, their cards will be bulk mailed to Ms. Safford for distribution. 
-- Individuals temporarily assigned elsewhere at the time of transition must use their Bank of America card through Nov. 29, and then convert to Citibank on Nov. 30. 
-- Debts with Bank of America will not transfer to Citibank. Debts must be resolved within 210 days. 
-- Credits with Bank of America will not transfer to Citibank. Cardholders can request credit balance refund by contacting Bank of America or Ms. Safford. 

The following are transition issues still being worked. More information will be given once it becomes avaialable: 
-- Defense Travel System and Reserve Travel System. How to add two credit card numbers to each system. How to separate charges from two credit cards 
-- Switching current charges at the vendor (like hotel room and rental cars) at the time of transition.
-- Development of Electronic Access System for monitoring GTCs (similar to Bank of America's Electronic Accounting General Ledger System, or EAGLS) setup. There is a new benefit for restricted cardholders with Citibank. If you have a restricted account, cardholders will have the opportunity (and are encouraged) to apply for a "standard" account. 

To apply for the standard account: 
-- A GTC account must be "open," and cardholders must agree to a credit score review. If approved, they will be given a higher limit for purchases while on "official government travel." 
-- They will need an EAGLS account and can get more information at www.gov-eagls.bankofamerica.com/EAGLS/portal.do .
-- PLEASE NOTE: Citibank will copy the information from EAGLS (a Bank of America system) to process the requests.