CitiBank Travel Card
Program
March 2011
CitiBank Travel Card Program
• State of Texas Comptroller has awarded a
contract for Procurement and Corporate
Travel Charge Card services to Citibank.
• The initial term of contract is through
August 31, 2013, with three one-year
renewal options.
CitiBank Travel Card Program
• This program provides a convenient means
of charging travel-related expenses
incurred while conducting official
University business.
• Recommended changes have been
approved by CMO
CitiBank Travel Card Program
• Travel “Credit” Card Types:
– Individual Billed Account (IBA)
– Central Bill Account (CBA)
– Corporate Liability Individual Billed Account
(CLIBA)
Note: Currently, the UTSA Procurement card (ProCard)
program is separate from the Travel card program.
Individual Billed Account (IBA)
• Cardholder responsible for protection &
proper use of the card & timely payment.
• The employee bears responsibility for
account repayment in full.
– Card is issued with the expectation it is used for official
business travel only
– Issuance is based on individual’s personal credit history
– Not a revolving credit card; any amounts not paid within
60 days are suspended and subject to finance charges
Individual Billed Account (IBA)
• 319 UTSA employees have IBA cards issued
from JP Morgan Chase Bank
• Recommendation: that UTSA no longer
administer this program
– There is limited value-added to UTSA
• Many universities that issue these cards do so
because they do not provide travel advances.
Individual Billed Account (IBA)
• We will notify affected employees of the
date when the current Chase IBA card will
no longer be valid.
– After August 31, 2011, all cards will be deactivated
Central Bill Account (CBA)
• Payment is guaranteed by UTSA and
issued in the name of a department
– Card issuance was done without establishing
explicit responsibilities, e.g. on time
payment in full
• A central bill account administered by
DTS was also established for
departments who did not have a CBA.
Central Bill Account (CBA)
• This program has many problems:
– Originally implemented for airfare only; some
cards were later opened up for other charges
• Since 2003 when the program began, we have
significantly increased the number of cards
– unpaid charges have also increased significantly
– Bank considers all CBA’s issued to UTSA
departments to be one account
• Reporting is limited
• All data is consolidated
• Standard reports for monitoring activity such as
‘aging’ or ‘spending history’ are unavailable
Central Bill Account (CBA)
• This program has many problems:
– Difficult to reconcile:
• Charges are consolidated on one single statement
for the entire university and not tied to authorized
travelers
• Memo statements are provided to department with
only current charges.
– Doesn’t show total amount outstanding
• Manual process
• Full payment is frequently late because of
departmental delays for many reasons
Central Bill Account (CBA)
• Recommendation:
Discontinue all CBA cards and issue
CLIBA cards upon receipt of authorized
application packets
Corporate Liability Individual
Billed Account (CLIBA)
• Payment is guaranteed by UTSA but
issued in the name of an individual, not
department
• Credit limit will be based on estimated
monthly requirements as approved by
Financial Affairs
Corporate Liability Individual
Billed Account (CLIBA)
• Department can have one or many CLIBA
cards but an individual (typically the
department head) will be responsible and
required to sign a cardholder agreement:
– Individual will agree that each month’s charges will be
paid in full unless formally disputed through vendor
established process
– Account on file for the card will be charged for
amount due to assure timely payment
Corporate Liability Individual Billed
Accounts (CLIBA)
• Benefits:
– Individual will receive separate monthly statement
• Allows future opportunity to automate payment process
– Similar to CBA, university guarantees payment and
assumes liability
– Eliminates reconciliation issues experienced with
CBA
– Individual can contact Citibank directly while
traveling
• Declined card
• Disputed amounts
Currently issues must be
resolved through DTS!
Proposed Features of UTSA
CLIBA Program
• General CLIBA Card –used for Hotel, Airfare,
Transportation, and Conference Registration
CLIBA Implementation Activities
• Timeline is in flux
– CitiBank is inundated with other agencies
– Have just been learning details – not all are well
understood
– State wanted the transition to be completed by
2/28/2011
• Due to delays by CitiBank, we have more time to
implement. Extended to 8/31/11 but we will convert
before that time.
CLIBA Implementation Activities
We will:
• Complete Cardholder agreement form,
internal application, guideline, FAQ
documents
• Schedule a launch meeting & begin
transitioning from JP Morgan/Chase to
Citibank
• Develop a training class on payment
requirements & online access to Citibank
Travel Advances
• Processing checks is costly and inefficient
– Discussion that the state will mandate ACH and
direct deposit for all employee transactions
• It is recommended (CMO approved) that
in the future all travel advances be issued
only as:
– Direct Deposit to the employee’s bank
account, or
– CitiBank Travel Advance Debit Card
CitiBank Travel
Advance Card
• Features:
– Card is activated with credit limit established
from an approved travel advance form
– Issued in traveler’s name with a fixed activity
length and appropriate MCC codes
– Statement is received, reconciled and paid
– Card can be refreshed for additional future
authorized travel for an individual
CitiBank Travel
Advance Card
• Benefits:
– Traveler will not have to bear out of pocket
expense
– Alternative to CLIBA Card for employee who
does not frequently travel and or does not
want to use his/her own credit card
– Increased efficiency and control
Travel Advances
Recommendation:
After reasonable notification and direct
deposit set-up campaign, we will:
1. Transition to Travel Advance Cards as the
preferred method of providing travel advances
(when practical)
•
Requires guideline, training class and form changes
2. No longer issue checks for travel advances
•
•
will allow direct deposit to employee’s bank account
when travel advance card is impractical
Exceptions for hardship or unique circumstances