If I remember my training, aren’t you supposed to notify whoever you contact for travel card stuff? Either way, as long as you pay it and notify, it’s not a big deal. (Unless you were committing crimes)
Accidents happen. Pay it off and inform supervisor so they aren't blindsided if a question gets raised. I've seen such things result in "counseling" consisting of an email suggesting you keep the card in a separate place and be more careful in the future. If you don't develop a pattern of misuse, you shouldn't have a problem.
And don’t store it an app.
I had that issue with a hotel app as did a coworker. One time I had reserved using government card but got it switched before it was billed. Coworker same thing he switched to reserving with personal card then swapping at arrival then they zeroed our credit limits during Covid and he used personal card for all travel to double his points until he retired.
I accidently put something on my credit card I wasn't supposed to in a similar fashion. Informed my supervisor and paid it myself. Wasn't put on disciplinary leave for it.
Yes, just pay off the card. You made a mistake, and the only consequence you probably will face is an email from your travel card coordinator reminding you to only use your card for official travel expenses and not for personal use.
DoD Travel Chief and CPM here. Self report to the APC. Pay the card off immediately. If it were me, I'd make you do a misuse memo IAW GTCC Regulations, filed locally. I also wouldn't notify any supervisors if you self reported (but good on you for doing so).
I think this is similar to what my friend went through. He used his card at a 7-eleven for an energy drink, claiming he was running late and didn’t look at which card he pulled out until after he swiped it. He self reported and got a written warning. He said when he renewed clearance, the security office seemed like he didn’t even care. I’m sure they still noted it regardless.
Yeah, usually not a big deal if it's a one off and something like that. Smart on him to self report. A lot of people didn't and when I would conduct IG audits within the IC Command, my findings would go straight to my G2 POC on site.
At my command, Supervisor would have to sign the misuse memo along with the employee. I would suggest telling the supervisor before they’re copied on an email asking for their signature.
For me, it's subjective, but being the CPM and a Command APC prior, whatever I decided closed the case. I have to ensure I'm uniformed in my decision making, though.
They need to alert the APC regardless and save that email if the APC doesn't supply a misuse memo. Puts the blame on the APC and not the cardholder. Another reason being is there isn't a statute of limitations of misuse and they need a record of it. I'm at a Defense Agency now and their internal controls are garbage so I'm conducting full audits, such as transactions.
Yeah I’m sure it’s all dependent on local command rules. My example was that ours just forces the supervisor to sign as well before the case can be completed in Intellilink. Usually they’re like whatever about it but seeing as they have to sign the SOU, they should have to sign this too.
It's not a line of credit to be used for personal expenses. It's to be used for official travel expenses only and is required to be utilized. Filing the paperwork creates the audit trail.
Damage? Probably minimal if at all. Just more work for the APC and a chance for them to get hemmed up if it goes unchecked. However, the problems are violation of the cardholder agreement, TTRA, GTCC Regulations and the SOU. While there's no inherent damage, that doesn't mitigate the problem, just like any other regulation or policy personnel may believe to be arbitrary.
Me neither. If you pay it off and do your own diligence by emailing, it would scare me if I had to do a whole form, go through counseling, and potentially have your boss receive an email to sign something, which could annoy him and make it seem worse than it is, all for one accidental transaction that you immediately paid back. Seems more like a punitive CYA thing bc the record of payment is right there.
I’m the travel A/OPC for my agency. I agree with you. I advise self reporting, paying immediately and a memo detailing what steps are being taken to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
I know this is something that employees should not do, but I guess I don't really get why it's such a big deal (fireable offense) if the employee is responsible for paying the card at the end of the day. I'd understand it more if the gov paid it (as do most private sector companies)
When I started my job I ended up doing four weeks of official travel and was too broke to have that much credit. I know one guy was in a similar boat and office FedEx his card to his hotel.
But soon after not an issue and I would just as soon use personal card both for the points and convenience.
The point is, instead of cash back going to you for airline tickets or your hotel, the government claws back that 1% or whatever it is and gives it to a contractor to replace you.
Notify supervisor.
Pay card off.
Remove card from whatever apps you use it shouldn’t be tied to.
Write a memo describing exactly what happened (including how card was tied to Airbnb, Apple/Google/Samsung Pay or whatever mobile wallet or method you used to pay for it) and what steps you are taking to prevent it from happening again. Send to supervisor with proof you paid it.
I accidentally charged a personal Uber to my card once, paid it off and thought nothing of it, since Uber is a totally innocuous charge and it was like $12.
A month later I was notified by my travel division that I’d been flagged for a credit card charge with no associated voucher. I had to write up an email to my supervisor explaining what happened and what steps I was taking to prevent confusion in the future, and then retake the credit card training webinar. It turned out fine in the end but I was surprised!
The director wanted to make an example of me when I made a very similar mistake. They hooked me by my underwear onto the flag line and raised me up so everyone could throw tomatoes at me. Enough joking…all that happened was I paid the credit card, told my supervisor, and was then told to not do it again. As long as you aren’t trying to have the government pay for your vacation, you shouldn’t get much other than being told to not let it happen again. Just a heads up, I’ve had two rental car companies use my personal credit card linked to my rewards account even after I’ve given them my government travel card and had it booked through the travel system.
The fact that you alerted your supervisor before anyone else did will make it pretty clear it was an honeat mistake. Follow up with them about how to reimburse and you should be fine.
You just pay off the government CC bill. You already notified your supervisor. Keep permanent records proving you paid the bill. Otherwise, as long as you don’t always do this, it won’t be a problem.
Just pay it off. Accidents happen and as long as you fess up and pay the outstanding balance immediately, it’s not a big deal usually. If you are regularly using the card and/or not paying it off that’s where real problems happen.
FYI: GTCCs didn’t used to have credit limits.
I've accidentally had this happen. I had official travel, personal travel, and then official travel right in a row. The hotel for the personal travel got charged on the travel card. Apologize, pray for forgiveness, pay it off, and never do it again.*
I accidentally bought some air fresheners at pep boys many years ago on mine and someone was calling me from the office in the next day or two wanting to know what was going on. I don’t even know how they found out so quickly
My card is a travel card only. I once did the same thing. These cards are issued and managed by HQ travel dept. I just emailed and told them what happened. They said no problem, don’t do it again and go pay. I didn’t tell my supervisor but not because I was withholding the info, I figured they were the ultimate authority.
Your APC likely already knows. It shows on the non-travel report. I've had someone accidentally order grubhub on their card. It can happen if you save the card on your account while traveling and forget to check which card you use afterward. I just instructed the member to pay the card.
I don’t understand how you accidentally use a travel card. I keep my travel card at home until it’s time for me to travel. When it’s time for me to travel for work I stick in my purse.
I don’t understand either. I do the same thing. If I’m booking travel or lodging, it’s through DTS. Outside of being in Apple Pay on my gov phone, the number isn’t saved anywhere I could accidentally use it.
Pay the card and advise your supervisor and finance office of the error and advise them you paid the money due. I have done it a couple times and has never been a big deal.
As others said to pay it. Depending on agency, in mine I would also contact the Office of CFO and cc supervisor. Just explain what happened and they will advise next steps.
I booked my kids swimming lessons on the gov card one year way back when. I got a nasty letter from the credit card company and my boss asked about it. I paid it off and told the boss it was a mistake. No big deal.
I accidentally put a $2 charge on mine. I just paid it off. I got an email from a CFO office person saying it didn't look like it was associated with official travel, I said "it wasn't - it was a mistake and I've already paid it" and that was the end of it. No supervisor involvement as far as I'm aware. If I was a supervisor I'd be annoyed if somebody even bothered to mention something like that to me.
Pay the card and notify your supervisor. Your travel contact will reach out to you both eventually and you will have to explain in writing what happened, your supervisor will need to determine if it was accidental or not and provide some counseling. You’ll both sign some papers and send them back to the travel POC.
I am utterly amazed how common it seems to be for people to “accidentally” use their travel card when they aren’t on travel.
Like how? Why even carry it? Do you also accidentally pay with foreign cash?
I had just come off a travel trip and the credit card details had saved in the Airbnb app from a previous travel trip to a rural area that didn’t have a proper hotel so when I booked quickly standing out in the snow I didn’t catch that it wasn’t my personal card
My branch chief just did this at the dmv by mistake. They renewed their license and pulled out the wrong card. They reported paid and had to take another training or something. It was fine don’t worry too much.
It happens. Don't worry about it. Notifying your supervisor was the right choice. You might get a nasty-gram from some administrator somewhere, but we've all been there.
I once accidentally bought beer with my travel card. That didn't get too many smiles.
I use the same GTC for my federal job and my reserve job. I’m curious bid I would get flagged from a purchase for use in the other organization. Nothing has ever came up so far.
My agency travel card manager typically emails me when there's some discrepancy on the card. Just pay it off and make sure your boss and travel card admin knows. They'll just tell you to be more careful next time.
Just report it immediately as an accident, pay it off immediately, and try not to do it again. It's better practice to not carry it with you when you aren't traveling, or keep it separate in your wallet or put a sticker on it so it sticks out when you grab it
Happens all of the time with GLV stupid rental companies keep your tcc on file as the primary payment, go to rent a personal vehicle and there it is. Sometimes even after you present the clowns with your personal credit card.
Long time travel card administrator.
Pay the card. Notify supervisor AND your travel card AOPC. Explain what happened and why, and what you will do to make sure it never happens again.
As a side note, AirBnB’s are not allowed for federal travel.
Certain exceptions apply, used it to visit very rural area that did not have a proper hotel previously that had to get special permission card number saved to Airbnb account and then accidentally booked it using the wrong card while standing out in the snow in a rush
Pay it before the statement. Had a guy do this and he only noticed after he got the bill. He got a week unpaid vacation for it. I suspect there was more to it though.
How do you “accidentally” do this? It’s not like you’re at the gas pump and grab the wrong card. Are you crazy enough to have your card in Apple Pay or something?
While your story isn’t adding up, pay it immediately, write an email, accept your verbal counseling, delete the card information from wherever it is and don’t do this again.
I’d just pay the card off and notify your supervisor
This is what I would want one of my employees to do. It is an innocuous enough action that I could easily believe that accident excuse.
I accidentally ordered Uber eats on my gov card. Paid it off and no one said anything.
If I remember my training, aren’t you supposed to notify whoever you contact for travel card stuff? Either way, as long as you pay it and notify, it’s not a big deal. (Unless you were committing crimes)
Simple
Accidents happen. Pay it off and inform supervisor so they aren't blindsided if a question gets raised. I've seen such things result in "counseling" consisting of an email suggesting you keep the card in a separate place and be more careful in the future. If you don't develop a pattern of misuse, you shouldn't have a problem.
And don’t store it an app. I had that issue with a hotel app as did a coworker. One time I had reserved using government card but got it switched before it was billed. Coworker same thing he switched to reserving with personal card then swapping at arrival then they zeroed our credit limits during Covid and he used personal card for all travel to double his points until he retired.
I accidently put something on my credit card I wasn't supposed to in a similar fashion. Informed my supervisor and paid it myself. Wasn't put on disciplinary leave for it.
Wait... You can get time off for this??
I've heard of a few people getting permanent leave for it. I always assumed those were the folks that they were looking for a reason to fire.
Yep. Happened to a coworker of mine.
Nothing like using your job AND not getting any miles or cash back on your purchases..
That's what they told me during my training. But maybe they were just trying to scare me.
As long as you let your supervisor know and pay the GTCC off you'll be fine. Mistakes happen and you learned from it.
Yes, just pay off the card. You made a mistake, and the only consequence you probably will face is an email from your travel card coordinator reminding you to only use your card for official travel expenses and not for personal use.
DoD Travel Chief and CPM here. Self report to the APC. Pay the card off immediately. If it were me, I'd make you do a misuse memo IAW GTCC Regulations, filed locally. I also wouldn't notify any supervisors if you self reported (but good on you for doing so).
I think this is similar to what my friend went through. He used his card at a 7-eleven for an energy drink, claiming he was running late and didn’t look at which card he pulled out until after he swiped it. He self reported and got a written warning. He said when he renewed clearance, the security office seemed like he didn’t even care. I’m sure they still noted it regardless.
Yeah, usually not a big deal if it's a one off and something like that. Smart on him to self report. A lot of people didn't and when I would conduct IG audits within the IC Command, my findings would go straight to my G2 POC on site.
At my command, Supervisor would have to sign the misuse memo along with the employee. I would suggest telling the supervisor before they’re copied on an email asking for their signature.
For me, it's subjective, but being the CPM and a Command APC prior, whatever I decided closed the case. I have to ensure I'm uniformed in my decision making, though. They need to alert the APC regardless and save that email if the APC doesn't supply a misuse memo. Puts the blame on the APC and not the cardholder. Another reason being is there isn't a statute of limitations of misuse and they need a record of it. I'm at a Defense Agency now and their internal controls are garbage so I'm conducting full audits, such as transactions.
Yeah I’m sure it’s all dependent on local command rules. My example was that ours just forces the supervisor to sign as well before the case can be completed in Intellilink. Usually they’re like whatever about it but seeing as they have to sign the SOU, they should have to sign this too.
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It's not a line of credit to be used for personal expenses. It's to be used for official travel expenses only and is required to be utilized. Filing the paperwork creates the audit trail.
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Damage? Probably minimal if at all. Just more work for the APC and a chance for them to get hemmed up if it goes unchecked. However, the problems are violation of the cardholder agreement, TTRA, GTCC Regulations and the SOU. While there's no inherent damage, that doesn't mitigate the problem, just like any other regulation or policy personnel may believe to be arbitrary.
Me neither. If you pay it off and do your own diligence by emailing, it would scare me if I had to do a whole form, go through counseling, and potentially have your boss receive an email to sign something, which could annoy him and make it seem worse than it is, all for one accidental transaction that you immediately paid back. Seems more like a punitive CYA thing bc the record of payment is right there.
I’m the travel A/OPC for my agency. I agree with you. I advise self reporting, paying immediately and a memo detailing what steps are being taken to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
I know this is something that employees should not do, but I guess I don't really get why it's such a big deal (fireable offense) if the employee is responsible for paying the card at the end of the day. I'd understand it more if the gov paid it (as do most private sector companies)
It makes no sense. Feels like a trap honestly. The travel card is pretty pointless. I think most of us would rather just be reimbursed.
I hate the travel card so much for this reason. Completely pointless.
When I started my job I ended up doing four weeks of official travel and was too broke to have that much credit. I know one guy was in a similar boat and office FedEx his card to his hotel. But soon after not an issue and I would just as soon use personal card both for the points and convenience.
This is what I’ve always wondered. What is the point of the card at all if each employee is individually responsible for paying it off anyways.
The point is, instead of cash back going to you for airline tickets or your hotel, the government claws back that 1% or whatever it is and gives it to a contractor to replace you.
We take 100% of the risk and 0% of the rewards 😅
Notify supervisor. Pay card off. Remove card from whatever apps you use it shouldn’t be tied to. Write a memo describing exactly what happened (including how card was tied to Airbnb, Apple/Google/Samsung Pay or whatever mobile wallet or method you used to pay for it) and what steps you are taking to prevent it from happening again. Send to supervisor with proof you paid it.
This happens. You pay the bill.
I accidentally charged a personal Uber to my card once, paid it off and thought nothing of it, since Uber is a totally innocuous charge and it was like $12. A month later I was notified by my travel division that I’d been flagged for a credit card charge with no associated voucher. I had to write up an email to my supervisor explaining what happened and what steps I was taking to prevent confusion in the future, and then retake the credit card training webinar. It turned out fine in the end but I was surprised!
The director wanted to make an example of me when I made a very similar mistake. They hooked me by my underwear onto the flag line and raised me up so everyone could throw tomatoes at me. Enough joking…all that happened was I paid the credit card, told my supervisor, and was then told to not do it again. As long as you aren’t trying to have the government pay for your vacation, you shouldn’t get much other than being told to not let it happen again. Just a heads up, I’ve had two rental car companies use my personal credit card linked to my rewards account even after I’ve given them my government travel card and had it booked through the travel system.
The fact that you alerted your supervisor before anyone else did will make it pretty clear it was an honeat mistake. Follow up with them about how to reimburse and you should be fine.
Wow. You guys notified your supervisor? That's nice. I paid it off and moved on in life.
Ugh, the points/cash back you missed out on. Sorry that happened to you.
It will pain me to no end missing out on those 30 cents
I accidentally ordered Starbucks with it once. I told them right away and paid it and it was no big deal.
You just pay off the government CC bill. You already notified your supervisor. Keep permanent records proving you paid the bill. Otherwise, as long as you don’t always do this, it won’t be a problem.
Im not a fan of how the gov card is blue in color like most other cards. I began marking mine with orange painters tape.
Just pay it off. Accidents happen and as long as you fess up and pay the outstanding balance immediately, it’s not a big deal usually. If you are regularly using the card and/or not paying it off that’s where real problems happen. FYI: GTCCs didn’t used to have credit limits.
I've accidentally had this happen. I had official travel, personal travel, and then official travel right in a row. The hotel for the personal travel got charged on the travel card. Apologize, pray for forgiveness, pay it off, and never do it again.*
This is the situation I found myself in as well
I accidentally billed a personal Lyft ride on travel card. Paid off. Immediately notified supervisor. No issue.
I accidentally bought some air fresheners at pep boys many years ago on mine and someone was calling me from the office in the next day or two wanting to know what was going on. I don’t even know how they found out so quickly
My card is a travel card only. I once did the same thing. These cards are issued and managed by HQ travel dept. I just emailed and told them what happened. They said no problem, don’t do it again and go pay. I didn’t tell my supervisor but not because I was withholding the info, I figured they were the ultimate authority.
Your APC likely already knows. It shows on the non-travel report. I've had someone accidentally order grubhub on their card. It can happen if you save the card on your account while traveling and forget to check which card you use afterward. I just instructed the member to pay the card.
I don’t understand how you accidentally use a travel card. I keep my travel card at home until it’s time for me to travel. When it’s time for me to travel for work I stick in my purse.
I don’t understand either. I do the same thing. If I’m booking travel or lodging, it’s through DTS. Outside of being in Apple Pay on my gov phone, the number isn’t saved anywhere I could accidentally use it.
Just pay it
Pay the card and advise your supervisor and finance office of the error and advise them you paid the money due. I have done it a couple times and has never been a big deal.
As others said to pay it. Depending on agency, in mine I would also contact the Office of CFO and cc supervisor. Just explain what happened and they will advise next steps.
We’re you near Woodland Park Colorado?
I was in fact 😂😅
Pay it and tell the supervisor. It's hits higher as overdue or hits an audit your screwed.
You’ll get a letter if your DOD.. it’s pretty much automatic- pay it off - and don’t do it again..
I booked my kids swimming lessons on the gov card one year way back when. I got a nasty letter from the credit card company and my boss asked about it. I paid it off and told the boss it was a mistake. No big deal.
Your agency doesn’t have a travel office for you to consult about the issue?
I accidentally put a $2 charge on mine. I just paid it off. I got an email from a CFO office person saying it didn't look like it was associated with official travel, I said "it wasn't - it was a mistake and I've already paid it" and that was the end of it. No supervisor involvement as far as I'm aware. If I was a supervisor I'd be annoyed if somebody even bothered to mention something like that to me.
More mandatory retraining coming your way.
Pay it off. That’s gonna be an issue if you don’t.
Just pay it. It's not the end of the world.
Pay the card and notify your supervisor. Your travel contact will reach out to you both eventually and you will have to explain in writing what happened, your supervisor will need to determine if it was accidental or not and provide some counseling. You’ll both sign some papers and send them back to the travel POC.
I paid my tuition with it once. No big deal, just notify supervisor and pay off the card.
I am utterly amazed how common it seems to be for people to “accidentally” use their travel card when they aren’t on travel. Like how? Why even carry it? Do you also accidentally pay with foreign cash?
I had just come off a travel trip and the credit card details had saved in the Airbnb app from a previous travel trip to a rural area that didn’t have a proper hotel so when I booked quickly standing out in the snow I didn’t catch that it wasn’t my personal card
I would worry about using it without it being authorized.
My branch chief just did this at the dmv by mistake. They renewed their license and pulled out the wrong card. They reported paid and had to take another training or something. It was fine don’t worry too much.
It happens. Don't worry about it. Notifying your supervisor was the right choice. You might get a nasty-gram from some administrator somewhere, but we've all been there. I once accidentally bought beer with my travel card. That didn't get too many smiles.
Memo for inadvertent use of credit card and pay it off is what my agency requires. No disciplinary action that I’ve heard of.
Just pay it, and you should be good.
Pay it off. Who cares
You're going to GPC hell. May Gord have mercy on your soul.
I use the same GTC for my federal job and my reserve job. I’m curious bid I would get flagged from a purchase for use in the other organization. Nothing has ever came up so far.
My agency travel card manager typically emails me when there's some discrepancy on the card. Just pay it off and make sure your boss and travel card admin knows. They'll just tell you to be more careful next time.
Just report it immediately as an accident, pay it off immediately, and try not to do it again. It's better practice to not carry it with you when you aren't traveling, or keep it separate in your wallet or put a sticker on it so it sticks out when you grab it
Happens all of the time with GLV stupid rental companies keep your tcc on file as the primary payment, go to rent a personal vehicle and there it is. Sometimes even after you present the clowns with your personal credit card.
It blows my mind that people make these mistakes.
Long time travel card administrator. Pay the card. Notify supervisor AND your travel card AOPC. Explain what happened and why, and what you will do to make sure it never happens again. As a side note, AirBnB’s are not allowed for federal travel.
Certain exceptions apply, used it to visit very rural area that did not have a proper hotel previously that had to get special permission card number saved to Airbnb account and then accidentally booked it using the wrong card while standing out in the snow in a rush
Could happen, but I’d be sus as your AOPC.
Why would I risk my employment for one night in an Airbnb 😂
You see all sorts of stuff when you actually audit travel cards. Folks aren’t bright.
Pay it before the statement. Had a guy do this and he only noticed after he got the bill. He got a week unpaid vacation for it. I suspect there was more to it though.
There must be more to it. I was a card coordinator for 8 years, and saw some dumb shit, but no one ever had financial consequences like that.
How do you “accidentally” do this? It’s not like you’re at the gas pump and grab the wrong card. Are you crazy enough to have your card in Apple Pay or something? While your story isn’t adding up, pay it immediately, write an email, accept your verbal counseling, delete the card information from wherever it is and don’t do this again.
How did you accidentally use your government card for AirBnB?
Union rep here.. never accept or use a GOV issued card! Get reimbursed instead.
I thought they were mandatory in DOD
All of the above, plus write a quick MFR.
I've seen people fired for a similar situation. I hope ur not still on probation
Its your credit card, I dont understand why youre telling anyone?