New Air Force Travel Card available to Airmen

  • Published
  • By Major Erik N. Dunn
  • 28th Comptroller Squadron
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  The Air Force is in the process of implementing a new travel card called the Controlled Spend Account.

The card may be used to pay for travel expenses for a deployment, temporary duty assignment or permanent change of station to a new duty location.

Here are just some of the highlights of this new program:

1. All travelers will have a CSA and no credit check will be necessary.
2. Spending limits on the CSA will be based on approved travel authorizations or orders.
3. The CSA will be used for all TDY and PCS travel.
4. Cardholders will now be able to contact Citibank directly to request temporary spending limit increases without having to go through their unit agency program coordinators.
5. Total trip reimbursement, including 100 percent of travel voucher settlements, must be sent to Citibank to reconcile charges on the account and determine the residual value for travelers to spend. Travelers then have several options to spend the residual amount from their voucher payment.

To learn more about the CSA program, visit the Air Force portal, click the "Life & Career" tab, then "Money-Welcome to Virtual Finance," followed by the CSA cardholder training modules in the "Controlled Spend Account" section. All travelers are required to complete the following four modules:

1. Why CSA?
2. CSA What's Changing
3. Traveler Training Deck - CSA 101
4. Traveler Training Deck - CSA 201

The Air Force is currently in the auto-enroll process of transitioning from existing government travel card accounts to CSAs . By May 2011, existing GTC cardholders with either zero dollars or a credit balance will be automatically transitioned over to CSA. A CSA application is required for new accounts and accounts that do not qualify for auto-enrollment during this transition period.

For more information, Airmen should contact their unit GTC agency program coordinators, or the 28th Bomb Wing agency program coordinator, Lan Gualano, at (605) 385-1500.