What is right with the Air Force

[17D_guy]

Good dude, good spot, good for all of us.

 

https://www.acc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1608612/senate-confirms-new-acc-deputy-commander/

[spaceman]

If you really want your rewards points and are worried about getting screamed at for not using your GTC, and you can afford to wait a little longer to get you money, just do this. Use your own card for everything, but have DTS pay all your expenses to your GTC. When your voucher gets paid, log onto your Citibank account and your card will have a negative balance; just click on request a refund and a couple days later the same amount of money will get deposited in your bank account.

If finance is looking beyond your voucher at your actual Citibank card activity then maybe you're out of luck!

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[HarleyQuinn]

2 hours ago, spaceman said:

If you really want your rewards points and are worried about getting screamed at for not using your GTC, and you can afford to wait a little longer to get you money, just do this. Use your own card for everything, but have DTS pay all your expenses to your GTC. When your voucher gets paid, log onto your Citibank account and your card will have a negative balance; just click on request a refund and a couple days later the same amount of money will get deposited in your bank account.

If finance is looking beyond your voucher at your actual Citibank card activity then maybe you're out of luck!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

I only use the GTC for airfare because it is required of us. Only if the AF would allow us to opt out of the GTC program at a certain rank. I have a debit card and two credit cards, so essentially three credit cards. I don't need or want a GTC. You accidentally pay for something with the wrong card and all hell breaks loose. 

I remember the shirt telling me about A1C Matthis and his PCS. He paid for cleaning services for his home with his GTC. I thought for a second and put myself in the A1C shoes. I've never thought about using my GTC for something along those lines, but I can see why an A1C would use their GTC. The A1C received a pat on the butt and was told not to do it again. Which was the right call. Unlike Lt ### who paid for lap dances with his GTC. The worst part wasn't even the CC's punishment, it was when the Lt's wife found out. So you charged your dances to the GTC and thought I wouldn't find out!!!

 

Edited August 23, 2018 by HarleyQuinn

[Homestar]

2 hours ago, spaceman said:

If finance is looking beyond your voucher at your actual Citibank card activity then maybe you're out of luck!

Doesn’t matter if your hotel receipt has you personal card number as the payment method. Most of the zealous approvers out there are looking there for compliance. 

[spaceman]

Doesn’t matter if your hotel receipt has you personal card number as the payment method. Most of the zealous approvers out there are looking there for compliance. 

Fair enough. I've yet to encounter finance sharp enough to catch that. I actually figured this out by accident, on a long TDY my partial payments got screwed up and I quickly maxed out my GTC on my hotel, so I had to start using my own card with a good excuse as far as I cared. Later I realized DTS wouldn't let me direct lodging $ anywhere but my GTC, so by the time I got paid I had like negative $6000 on my GTC.

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[SocialD]

5 minutes ago, spaceman said:

on a long TDY my partial payments got screwed up and I quickly maxed out my GTC on my hotel, so I had to start using my own card with a good excuse as far as I cared.

Same happened to a random smattering of our big group.  They required us to put our hotels on the GTC, and much to my shock and surprise,  they jacked up the partial payments.  A while later we receive a nastygram from our FM about why we're using out personal cards and how it's in violation of blah blah blah.  Apparently, he didn't like our responses because we were told by the boss that we're no longer allowed to reply directly to him.  LOL.    

[ThreeHoler]

Or you just reduce the split disbursement.

[spaceman]

Or you just reduce the split disbursement.

Oh yeah that would work too, I'm not a DTS expert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express for the last 69 nights and collected a bunch of Amex points while I was at it

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[Guest]

Doesn’t matter if your hotel receipt has you personal card number as the payment method. Most of the zealous approvers out there are looking there for compliance. 

So...get your bank to issue you a card with the same last 4. Profit!


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[jazzdude]

I remember the shirt telling me about A1C Matthis and his PCS. He paid for cleaning services for his home with his GTC.

Your shirt was wrong. You can use GTC for many PCS expenses, basically anything travel related or what DLA is for (such as cleaning expenses...) Actually directed to, but nobody checks.

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[Sua Sponte]

43 minutes ago, jazzdude said:

 

 

Your shirt was wrong. You can use GTC for many PCS expenses, basically anything travel related or what DLA is for (such as cleaning expenses...) Actually directed to, but nobody checks.

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Bullshit. I've seen a person Art 15'd for a questionable GTC expense from 2-3 years previous. Commanders have the ability to pull audits of anyone's GTC at anytime. I mean, a majority of them are more focused on that stuff than actual flying, so that makes sense.

[jazzdude]

Bullshit. I've seen a person Art 15'd for a questionable GTC expense from 2-3 years previous. Commanders have the ability to pull audits of anyone's GTC at anytime. I mean, a majority of them are more focused on that stuff than actual flying, so that makes sense.

 

Yeah they can audit. And youcan't fix stupid, overzealous commanders. But you are still supposed to use the GTC for PCS expenses. It's why you can't get a DLA advance anymore to handle things like moving out of a place, or service termination fees,; you know, the stuff DLA pays for. My last 2 PCS briefs included using the GTC for all PCS related expenses. An A1C might not have the money in the bank to float the costs of moving, which is part of the reason why GTC was approved/mandated for PCS. (The other half being the kickback the government gets from citibank).

 

Don't use it at a strip club. Probably not a good idea to purchase a TV with it. But cleaning fees, storage fees, utility fees, hotels, gas, pet fees, uhaul/shipping fees, etc are all fair game in conjunction with a PCS since travel advances are no longer a thing.

 

Hell, for TDYs you're supposed to also use it to pay for food and incidentals. I'm sure that'll make it fun for an audit, even with legit charges for food. I'd be willing to bet more than one AO or CC would throw a fit if someone actually used their card for 3 meals a day at restaurants, much less things like laundry, haircuts, or incidentals purchased at a store.

[osulax05]

5 hours ago, jazzdude said:

It's why you can't get a DLA advance anymore  

This was true for a while but not anymore.  I was offered and received a DLA advance for my PCS in June. YMMV though as each CPTS seems to make up their own rules.

[Champ Kind]

I’ve used DLA advances my last two PCSes


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[HarleyQuinn]

17 hours ago, jazzdude said:

Your shirt was wrong. You can use GTC for many PCS expenses, basically anything travel related or what DLA is for (such as cleaning expenses...) Actually directed to, but nobody checks.

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Not sure how the shirt was notified. But someone who knows the rules must have told the shirt. Is there anyone with insight on how the chain of command is tipped off when you purchase something you shouldn't with your GTC? Does the credit card company, Finance, or GTC program manager tip them off? 

So you are saying you can have your home professionally cleaned prior to your PCS and charge it to your GTC? As I'm driving to my new PCS location you think me stopping every other day for car washes and charging them to my GTC is cool too? 

My CC's name appeared on the slide for hasn't made payment to GTC yet. We all chuckled and the CSS told him that the Gp/CC (his boss) will be informed... LoL

Edited August 24, 2018 by HarleyQuinn

[ThreeHoler]

All charges are viewable by the RA. Declined charges are also viewable and people have gotten in trouble for trying to use their card somewhere verboten.

[HossHarris]

Having your card show up on someone’s slide as unpaid is the best way to get someone to kick finance in the ass to pay your voucher ...

[Kenny Powers]

1 hour ago, HossHarris said:

Having your card show up on someone’s slide as unpaid is the best way to get someone to kick finance in the ass to pay your voucher ...

Or not having the funds to go on the next TDY because your card has lot been paid off from the last.

[Kenny Powers]

I should preface that by saying I only use my GTC to pay for the airline ticket.

[Sprkt69]

I love when finance holds up operations when they didn’t do their job. I’ve been on back-to-back TDYs with a small interval in between being told I would not have the funds released for the second TDY since my first travel voucher was not paid yet. I asked hold long it takes finance to do that and was told 2-3 months. After mentioning that they will have to explain why I would not be leaving on the next TDY to the Grp/CC, magically the funds were freed up. Still took two more months for the  first travel voucher to be paid though.

[Swizzle]

9 hours ago, HarleyQuinn said:

... Is there anyone with insight on how the chain of command is tipped off when you purchase something you shouldn't with your GTC? Does the credit card company, Finance, or GTC program manager tip them off? 

...

Just like a personal credit card, every transaction is coded behind the scenes by Citibank and paired/labelled to a category (ex. Dining, fine dining, entertainment, club, ___-merchandise). Ever seen a USAA spending breakdown?

Automatically Citibank flags certain codes (certain establishments) and categories and can provide the report to Finance at some level for manual screening. From there...who knows and who knows IF it gets screened/caught. I know for sure certain establishment's vendor codes throw a HUGE visible red flag, categories not so much accuracy. Some savvy business aren't labelled by credit card companies by what they actually do!

Edited August 25, 2018 by Swizzle
Shorten quote

[BADFNZ]

If the hot topic in the "What is right with the AF" thread is the GTC and DTS, we are proper fucked.

[Adamw412]

2 minutes ago, BADFNZ said:

If the hot topic in the "What is right with the AF" thread is the GTC and DTS, we are proper ed.

I am going to double down on this statement. That's all we got?

[BroncoEN]

The past five minutes I’ve been trying to provide value-added ‘what is right’ input.

Minus a couple of Sq/CC’s I’ve had... who are now both out and had little to no real authority... I’ve got nothing. 

[17D_guy]

Wasn't that DTS/GTC born off the good per diem change?  I don't care to check back through the pages, find a 2Lt to do it.