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87th CPTS anticipates seamless travel card transition

  • Published
  • By Pascual Flores
  • Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  The Air Force recently made a decision to transition from Controlled Spend Account travel cards to an enhanced Government Travel Card.

Some CSA card holders may be unsure of how these changes will affect them.

"You should not notice a difference at all, after the test run of the CSA, the Air Force decided to go back to the GTC program so it should be a seamless transition," said 1st Lt. Josh Seefried, 87th Comptroller Squadron, financial service officer.

The actual transition will occur in August and September. Current CSA cardholders should continue to use their cards as normal. The transition strategy allows travelers to continue using their "blue" cards without interruption. The card functionality will be converted to a GTC by CitiBank without the need to get a new card. Travelers will once again be provided with a permanent credit limit and there will be no need to call for "temporary spend limit" increases.
"With getting back to the GTC program, there are only a few hundred people who have a CSA card here," said Seefried. "We anticipate no challenges at all, people who are going on a 365-day temporary duty can transition now instead of waiting for their CSA card to expire."
One of the enhancements being pursued for the GTC program will be via the Defense Travel System. Default settings will be changed to automatically align most non-mileage expenses to the card.

The traveler can split-disburse any residual funds to his/her personal account. As a carryover from the CSA program, Citi will upgrade their GTC online system to allow travelers to request electronic fund transfers of credit balances directly to their bank accounts.

The transition back to the GTC program differs slightly and cardholders will find the changes minimal.
"The CSA card was meant to front load the money, where orders were given to predict how much money people are actually going to spend," said Seefried. "The GTC is more of a credit card, it allows the card holder to go out the door quicker than a CSA card does."
The CSA to GTC transition plan is already in motion and a brief test will be conducted in July to ensure all systems are a go. If the program performs as expected, roughly 300 thousand cardholders will be converted during the August and September timeframe.