Hapless Military Personnel Are Ordered to Use Plastic, Get Dunned by the Pentagon;Staring Debt/Face

Village Voice ^ | August 14 - 20, 2002 | Geoffrey Gray

[ivegotabrain]

But throughout congressional hearings on the topic in July, the real scandal with the military's other piece of plastic, the Government Travel Card (GTC), went ignored by the mainstream press, despite the fact that the card has plunged thousands of ordinary servicemen and servicewomen into debt so deep that the Pentagon is busy garnishing the wages of its own soldiers. And the only military commander known to raise hell about the scheme—a lone air force colonel based in the Midwest—tells the Voice that blowing the whistle on the GTC ruined her career.

[razorback-bert]

A sheez bump

[Maximum Leader]

Let me get this straight,
the government orders soldiers to use a credit card for government purchases (I'm assuming that they can't use this card at Wal-Mart to buy a home stero) and the soldier is personally liable for the card?

This is so wrong. I'm on an expense account with my employer when I travel, but (a) I get paid off every two weeks (and I still collect the frequent flyer miles on American Express) and (b) if my company doesn't pay, I'll quit and sue them for the money. Fat chance you can do that in the service.

[rangerwife]

Hubby has one of those damn cards. He had to go TDY on two occasions, one for a month for some silly recruiting trip and the other for some reserve conference. He's a detailed recruiter and he had to drive this rock wall around the state and help the other recruiting stations try to recruit (you have to be 16 or older to climb the wall and you have to fill out an info card).

Anyways, his travel orders were set up (he was allowed up to $3000 in expenses, which he didn't spend all that) and he was given a list of the hotels he was to stay in. Well, the card got paid, but the government didn't pay the full balance because it said on the payment stub they sent here that the max for a hotel room they'll pay is $55/night. Well, most, if not all, of the hotels were more than $55/night. So, now we owe Bank of America about $200. I am so ticked about that....we don't really have $200 to fork out. Why the heck did the Army put him up in hotels that cost more than $55/night if they weren't going to pay more than that? Why should we have to pay for a trip that he was ordered to go on? He had no choice in the matter. Also, the last statement says that the payment is overdue, which I have yet to figure out that one. I don't see how, they just got paid by the Army. It just ticks me off to no end that they put a financial burden on us for these mandatory trips. Like I said earlier, he was allowed up to $3000 on his orders, which he didn't spend that much, and they still didn't pay the full balance.

Oh and better yet, the Army didn't even pay for his conference trip he supposedly (as told by his commander) had to go on. They revoked his orders and decided not to pay, so that was another $200 we forked over for trips he was ordered to take. And, its true, they do tell the soldiers they have to have the credit card.

[rangerwife]

Yes they are ordered to have them and no, they cannot use the cards for personal items. Only for government related trips.

[Always A Marine]

Good article. The gospel truth. Dammit.

[xNavspook]

The group I worked for tried this when there was a contract with AMEX. Serious problems! Some of us cancelled the cards ourselves. Our command eventually cancelled all of the cards and went back to cutting checks before travel. MUCH better!
Like the article says, it's illegal and an obvious gov't screw job.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I know an individual (who will remain nameless due to their current status...) in the army reserve who, upon receiving orders for AT was issued a "gov't" credit card, and ordered to use it for all expenses (travel, lodging, meals, etc...) or else none of it would be reimbursed. This indivdual asked if they could use their own card instead - Wasn't allowed. Orders.

Of course, a bill came and this individual ended up paying the bill because the gov't hadn't gotten around to paying it yet, finance charges were accrueing, and it was this individual's credit rating that was at stake...

This individual was finally reimbursed about 6 months later, except for the finance charges...

Anyway, for what it's worth... :0)

[Vineyard]

The government decided that those traveling on government orders would use their own Discover Card, and get a 1% rebate on the expenses. The government wanted their take .... so they force everyone to use the GTCC (Gov. Travel Credit Card), so the government can get the kickback. (The credit card company reimburses the hotel or rental car company for the bill less about 2 - 3%, and then gives the U.S. Government a 1% rebate.)

Most of the time, it works good .... on your travel claim, you can list what your expenses were that were charged to the GTCC, and you can have the government directly pay the GTCC comnpany any amount you want ... and save having to send a check when the bill comes out.

For the most part, it works good. I have never had a problem, and it works fairly seamlessly.

Some of the horror stories above (having to stay at a hotel that charges more than the authorized reimbursable cost) is a problem that existed before the GTCC.

The big problem is the irresponsible spender who sees another credit card that he/she can use to further their own extravagences. So nowadays, the government is "turning the card on" a few days before the travel, and is limited to the projected expenses to be incurred while on travel, subject to the limitations (upper limit on hotel expenses, per diem expenses, and projected rental car expenses.)

All in all, I would rather go back to using my own personal credit card. Less hassle. (and of course, I don't mind the 1% rebate! But that is trival compensation for having to travel, deal with mindless airport screening government workers who are grossly overpaid and grossly underqualified ... and being away from my family.)

Mike

[Always A Marine]

Glad it works so well for you. However, this system places many junior servicemembers -- who can't possibly front the payment if reimbursement is late -- at the mercy of (often) incompetent admin processors. The Constitutional argument against the GTCC is a strong one, and I hope that it is successful...

[btcusn]

MY God, if I could count all the times the disbursing office messed up my pay!!What could they do to my credit too?? All I can say is I'm sure glad I retired in 95, I couldn't afford to be in now.
Jack

[NMFXSTC]

First, not many junior enlisteds are running around TDY, staying in hotels and renting cars on government orders...doesn't work that way!

The GTCC has many advatnages and the scam stories are way out of proportion...here's why: As an aircrew member, we travel as a course of duty. In the old days (before GTCC), if no rooms were available on base, we were given a "non-A"...nonavailable statement and turned loose on our own for meals, lodging, taxi, etc. Sometimes we had cash in our pocket, sometimes not...see the problem? If you had to pay the bill, you had no money for the family. Og, Uncle would "reimburse...sometime and up to a point.

In comes GTCC...easy, you know the limits, you use accordingly and Uncle pays the tab. No problemo!

We will always have the jerk offs who charge lap dances and Dom Perignon, but for the regualr traveler and responsible member, GTCC is not a problem at all.

[Squantos]

We will always have the jerk offs who charge lap dances and Dom Perignon.............

I don't ever remember you being TDY with me and the rest of my EOD team ....hiccup...burp... :o)

Agree on the use of the cards though. Finance office always paid off the vouchers for us ASAP and we paid the Diners Club bill with said reimbursment..... We never had a problem if one used it responsibly.

Stay Safe !

[SLB]

I guess I must live a charmed life. I have had one TDY trip in the past 36 months so Bank of America canceled my account for under utilization last spring. I had ran the whole gammet from American Express to Diner's Club to Bank of America with very few problems and from 1988 to 1991 I spent more time on the road than at home.

When I questioned Bank of America about canceling my account, they were pretty straight forward. They have to spend equal amounts of time monitoring all accounts and if there are accounts that are not used they received permission to cancel them. The Bank of America representative told me I can be re-instated if I travel again by just a phone call. Personally I would rather use my PayPal debit card. It returns 1.5% which is better than a Discover Card. If you don't have a PayPal account, go ahead and visit their website paypal.com and form your own opinion.

[Vineyard]

IF the problem is late reimbursement, the solution is for service member (or DOD Civilian) to ensure that the travel claim selects "split payment option", and the amount for pay to the Credit Card company is equal to the amount that will be owed.

When the credit card company sends the bill, send them a copy of the travel orders, and tell them it is the government that is holding up payment, not the service member. There is no "late payment" or "interest charges" under these circumstances.

This way, the credit card company leaves the service member alone, and hassles the DoD. At the Navy Reserve Center where I drill, the CO of the reserve center advises that any "nasty grams" from the Credit Card company will be ignored for all people who do the split pay option, and the CO will ping on the Travel/Disbursing people, and the service member will be "held harmless."

Mike

[ofMagog]

Brig. Gen. Frederick Roggero now works at the Pentagon as director of marketing for the the air force.

[Red Jones]

Brig. Gen. Frederick Roggero now works at the Pentagon as director of marketing for the the air force.

wow, I didn't know the air force does marketing. but I fully believe your assessment of him is correct. It is so sad that lies have become completely normal in american life. somebody in charge has an agenda, they try to accomplish it, if they have trouble doing that, then they bend or break the rules or lie. A big problem is that the american nation wants its military to be a super-power, but they don't want to pay for it. The military people who died in afghanistan practically got no monetary compensation to their families compared to the people who died in wtc, who got a great deal. Why is one life more valuable than another, because slimeball attornies and judges and lawmakers say so.

[ofMagog]

BUMP

I hope the FReepers at the Pentagon read the article.

[SLB]

I admire the CO trying to get Bank of America to not hold the service memeber liable. However, he/she really has no say in the matter. Even though I have not traveled in many months, many of the "green suiters" I work with travel often. One NCO spent 90 days in the California desert, his bills kept coming in and he kept sending copies of his orders to Bank America. The outcome is ruined credit even though our department director (an O-6) got involved. The credit card company does not have any sense of national pride. They looked at him as a dead beat. Glad that I do not travel and will use my own credit card if I do.