Somebody in the Pentagon decided that EVERYBODY needed to have government credit cards.. in fact, if you are travelling on orders, some military facilities won't take anything EXCEPT a government credit card (issued by Bank of America).
The REALLY fun part is that finance still doesn't pay the soldiers until they're damn good and ready (30 to 90 days later), but the bank wants their money NOW (not later than 45 days). Guess who typically is stuck floating a loan to the bank, and it damn sure isn't the pogues at post finance?
Bank of America got mad, tho... GIs learned, and requested that their expenses charged on the card be paid directly by finance... so the bank is no longer getting free loans from GIs.
They threatened to cancel the contract (leaving GIs down range with no funds or ability to pay for anything.. how thoughtful!), until Uncle Sugar threatened to yank their license to do business...
Overall, the damn things are one of the biggest pain in the ass items around... but since the burocrats know best, we're directed to follow... Until the reg gets changed again.
V/R