First five months reveals lessons learned Published May 6, 2011 By 1st Lt. Justen Pettigrew 56th Comptroller Squadron LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- Like any new program, there are always hiccups and difficulties as the move is made from the old to the new. Moving from the government travel card to the controlled spend account is no different. The first and foremost thing to remember is the CSA is not a cash card -- it's a variable limit credit card. In other words, while the GTC had a fixed limit of either $4,000 or $7,500, the CSA has a credit limit that increases from the standard limit to a limit based upon the calculated value of the service member's orders. The reason the Air Force went to this model was to help protect Airmen from fraud and theft since when the member is not traveling there is no available limit on the travel card. A great majority of the potential problems, however, can be minimized by using the controlled spend account cardholder checklist. This checklist will walk members through everything needed to be done with the CSA from the point of receiving it in the mail to filing a voucher upon returning from a trip. This is an extremely helpful tool. Because the CSA is a variable limit credit card, the same rules that applied to the GTC also apply to the CSA. Therefore, accrual vouchers still need to be filed when a temporary duty assignment is greater than 45 days and any residual charges on a card will be the user's responsibility to pay as well. The billing cycle will run the same as it did for the GTC. From the moment a charge is placed on a CSA that charge will show up on the next billing statement and will be reflected as an amount due. One of the most common issues that have been seen with the CSA is not having available funding when the travel management office tries to bill airfare. There are several things the cardholder can do to alleviate this. First, it is important to create orders as far in advance as possible. It takes approximately 48 hours from the time orders are finalized in the defense travel system for that credit limit to appear on a CSA. Second, if a member must leave on short notice, he or she can either have finance input onto the card a temporary spending limit or the member can call Citibank at (866) 670-6462, opt. 2, to place a TSL on the account in order to get the member out the door. The TSL is good for five business days to provide time for orders to post to Citibank and can be extended every five business days thereafter. Finally, when it comes to settling a voucher and making a payment to the CSA, the member must ensure 100 percent split disbursement of the voucher to the member's card. Until there is a software change with DTS, members will need to manually complete this process when finalizing vouchers. This will close out the credit limit increase, settle the bill, and provide the members with any remaining funds. In the event there are excess funds on the CSA the member can have them transferred to a personal account, be sent a check or the CSA can be used like a preloaded gift or cash card. There is no longer any inappropriate use of a CSA at this point.