TRAVEL CARD PROCEDURES
The Travel Card is a type of P-Card that can be issued to University departments for the purpose of making authorized travel-related purchases on the University’s behalf.
Travel Cards do not “travel” with individual cardholders. The card is meant to be kept in the office and pay for certain travel-related expenses in advance.
If employees wish to have an individual card to take with them when they travel to pay for University travel-related expenses, they may apply for the Diners/Mastercard Corporate Travel card.
Special Points about Travel Cards:
- Travel Cards must follow P-Card procedures (except where travel-related expenses are prohibited). This includes statement reconciliations and administrative reviews.
- The Travel Card may be used to pay for the following travel-related expenditures in advance of travel:
o Airfare (Delta, Southwest, Expedia, Travelocity, etc.)
o Travel Agencies (including agency airfare)
o Hotel
o Shuttle Service (Airport Shuttle, for example)
o Bus Service
Note: The Travel Card cannot be used to pay for workshop registrations. Departments may use their P-Cards, or employees may use their personal credit card and request reimbursement through the travel authorization process.
- All hotel charges MUST be University travel-related business expenses. If a department wishes to rent a hotel to host a conference, the appropriate payment process is to submit a requisition to Purchasing Services using a non-travel account code. Please note that if the hotel requires a contract, departments may negotiate the terms, but ONLY the Director of Purchasing may sign to the contract.
- Please advise your travelers that even if their hotel room charges are being paid for via the Travel Card, they will still need to present a personal credit card when they check into the hotel to cover any incidental expenses. If the incidental expenses are University travel-related business expenses, travelers will be reimbursed through the Travel Authorization form process.
- Departments can choose between the two following options:
1. One card for all University travel-related expenses. Since a Travel Card can be assigned to only one index, expenses can be reallocated to other indexes by the Cardholder or Card Manager.
2. One card per index for University travel-related expenses
- Transaction and Monthly Limits
o Departments are allowed to set the monthly total limit and single transaction limit based on their volume of travel.
o Single transaction dollar limits and monthly total limits can be considerably higher than for regular P-Cards.
o For example, if a department that has a low volume of travel, they may set their monthly total at $25,000 with a single transaction limit of $5,000.
- Travel Authorization Forms
o Travel Authorization (TA) Forms must be filled out and approved (signed) before the Travel Card is used for a transaction. All TAs must be submitted to the travel department even if there is no need to reimburse an employee.
o Each line item charge on a Travel Card US Bank Statement must have a correlating TA number written beside it. Departments must be able to provide a copy of the TA during any kind of audit of the Travel Card.
o Each line item charge should have an itemized receipt for support documentation. Copies of itemized receipts are fine as long as they readable.
- Travel Cards may not be used for on-campus expenditures.