The Travel Card

Travel Card applications are processed in the Concur Travel and Expense Management System. Card application Requests can be created and submitted by the requesting employee, or by their assigned Delegate in Concur.

Travel Card applicants must be approved by the department Fiscal Manager, Administrator, the employee’s HR supervisor, Dean, Director, Chair or Department Head. Applicants should work with their department to determine the appropriate authorization. Once identified, the approver should be included on the Request in Concur and the system will route the application for approval accordingly. Travel card applicants can be either an employee or an affiliate fiscal staff.

Before a new Travel Card will be issued, the applicant must complete the following Skillsoft training courses including passing the course quizzes:

• Fiscal Code of Ethics (_scorm12_cu_f00001_0001) 
  • Or, for University Officers, Fiscal Code of Ethics – Officers (_scorm12_cu_f00002_0001) 
• Travel and Travel Card Training (_scorm12_cu_u00078_0001)

These Skillsoft courses can be accessed from the Skillsoft tile in the employee portal. To expedite card processing, it is recommended these courses be successfully completed before an application is submitted in Concur.

Information provided in the application Request in Concur will be used to establish the new card account. Cardholders are expected to maintain the information associated with their account and should submit a Concur Request update form when information on their account needs to be changed or updated. Cardholders should work with their department to determine the appropriate mailing address for the cardholder’s account.

Upon issuance, the Travel Card will be mailed to the cardholder’s work address, or other appropriate address as entered on the card application. Travel Cards are generally processed within two business days of submission and arrive within 7-10 business days once fully approved. Applications should be submitted with enough time to allow for this processing window.

Travel cards are generally issued with a $3,500 credit limit. Any request exceeding $3,500 requires justification on the application Request and may require additional department, campus and/or PSC approvals. The PSC will review card Requests to ensure appropriate approvals are present before approving card accounts in excess of $3,500.

The revolving monthly credit on Travel Card accounts will reset on the 25th of the month, or on the next business day should the 25th fall on a weekend or holiday. Reconciling transactions incurred during the billing cycle does not impact the available credit on any card account.

Additional information on activating a newly issued Travel Card and details on how the card works can be found on the Commercial Card Program page.

• Activating a Commercial Card
• How the Card Works

The information provided on the original Travel Card application Request in Concur will be used to establish the new card account. Cardholders should maintain accurate account information on their Travel Card account after the account is opened, just as they would on a personal card account. Additional information on how to update Travel Card account information such as name or account address can be found in the related knowledge article.

Allowable Purchases

The Travel Card is provided as a resource for employees who travel out-of-state or abroad on official university business. The card can be used for travel and travel-related expenses while an employee is in travel status including:

• Hotels/lodging
• Ground transportation
• Train/bus fare
• Baggage fees
• Rental cars and rental car gas
• Parking

The Travel Card can also be used to cover the traveler’s conference registration fees and the incidental costs of eligible goods during the course of a university business trip.

The Travel Card can also be used to cover costs related to small, local official functions.

Traveling Abroad 

Cardholders who will be traveling overseas should notify US Bank prior to their trip to ensure that the card will not be potentially declined as part of ongoing fraud prevention efforts.

While travelling internationally, foreign currency transactions will incur a conversion fee. That fee is the responsibility of the traveling employee/the department.

Additional Insurance Coverage

The Travel Card provides limited, secondary insurance coverage for rental cars when certain terms and conditions are met. For specific questions on this coverage, contact 1.800.VISA.911.

Sales Tax Exemption

While the University of Colorado is a tax-exempt organization, expenses incurred while traveling outside of Colorado may not be exempt from tax charges, even when the Travel Card is used for payment. Please refer to the Office of the University Controller's Tax-Exempt Information for additional information on tax exemption. Travel-related expenses not eligible for sales-tax exemption can be included in the reconciliation/reimbursement request.

Non-Employee Travel Expenses

The Travel Card can be used to cover most individual non-employee travel expenses unless those expenses are related to a Scope of Work (SOW) agreement with an independent contractor (see Restrictions below).

When paying for non-employee lodging for guests visiting the university, the cardholder should inform the hotel that only lodging and related taxes/fees should be charged to the Travel Card. The hotel should be notified to collect a secondary personal card from the guest to be used for incidentals and other room charges. Room service/food charges should not be paid on the Travel Card for non-employees.

Note: Airfare for non-employees should be booked in Concur or directly with a Christopherson Business Travel agent. The cost will be charged to the Airfare Card and the transaction will then be imported to the Concur profile of the employee arranging the travel for reconciliation.  The Travel Card cannot be used to pay for non-employee airfare.

Some organizational units regularly sponsor group travel. Groups are defined as three or more employees/non-employees traveling to the same location for the same official university business.

In such cases, a designated cardholder may use the card to pay for group meals of those traveling with the group (individual per diem limits still apply) and/or to cover the costs of group ground transportation including car rentals while also in travel status with the group. The cardholder may also use the card to reserve and pay for hotel room blocks for traveling groups. All expenses related to the group travel should be claimed and submitted on the group leader’s expense report.  For non-employee group travel, these expenses should be submitted by the travel arranger on a Non-Employee report.

The cardholder who is responsible for this type of group travel arrangements may request higher-dollar limits on the Travel Card application than would otherwise be expected. The employee will need to specify the organizational unit’s special needs for group travel in the comment field on the card application or update in Concur Request.

The Travel Card is intended for use according to the guidance provided in How to Use the Travel Card section above. Improper or unauthorized use of the Travel Card may result in card suspension or cancelation, and possibly in cardholder disciplinary action up to and including employee suspension or termination. While it is not possible to list every unallowable use of the card in this handbook, the following list of restrictions are some of those most commonly encountered by cardholders.

Purchases with Associated Contracts

If there is a contract or vendor agreement associated with a Travel Card purchase, the cardholder cannot proceed with the purchase until the appropriate PSC purchasing agent has reviewed and signed the contract/agreement.

Travel Expenses for Other Individual CU Employees

Employees are prohibited from using their Travel Card to pay for the individual travel expenses of other employees. Each individual traveling on university business is expected to have their own Travel Card or to otherwise pay for their individual travel expenses and submit those expenses on their own travel reconciliation report. The only exception to this is when three or more employees are traveling as a group, as defined on the group travel page.

Independent Contractor Travel Expenses

The Travel Card cannot be used to pay for independent contractor travel expenses related to a Scope of Work (SOW). The independent contractor is responsible for covering any travel expenses related to their engagement with the university, and the SOW amount should be calculated to include those costs. Those costs can be billed to the university as part of the engagement; however they cannot be paid on the Travel Card nor directly through the managed travel program.

Airfare

The Travel Card generally cannot be used to pay for airfare. Airfare paid by the university will be charged to the Airfare Card directly when booked in Concur or with a Christopherson Business Travel agent. Charges made to the Airfare Card will be imported to the Concur profile of the traveling employee or the travel arranger (for non-employee or group bookings).

Note: The Travel Card can be used to pay for changes made to airfare bookings in cases where there is travel disruption due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather or flight cancellation.

Personal Charges and Repayment

Any personal charges paid with the Travel Card during a trip must be processed as a “Personal Expense” in the expense report in Concur, and the associated amount will either be deducted from the out-of-pocket amount claimed by the traveler or must be paid back to the university directly.

If the cardholder owes the university money (e.g. because meals purchased on the Travel Card totaled more than the amount allowed by the destination’s per diem rate), the individual must repay the university and attach the validated Cash Receipt form for the payment to the expense report prior to submitting. Individuals who need to make a payment to the university should work with their department’s finance team and/or their campus Bursar’s office.

Report Preparation and Submission

Individual cardholders are ultimately responsible for preparing and submitting their own travel expense reports. If the cardholder utilizes a Delegate in Concur, the cardholder is still responsible for ensuring timely submission of their expense reports in the system. If the cardholder is owed money due to eligible reimbursable expenses such as per diem or allowable cash/out-of-pocket submitted business expenses included on the same report, the university will process a payment to the individual once the expense report is fully approved in the system. All expense reports submitted through Concur will require the employee's acknowledgement of the university’s Expense System Certification Statements.

Because the Travel Card is a university liability card, the individual cardholders are responsible for ensuring the reconciliation of charges made on their card is done according to requirements of the university’s accountable plan. The individual cardholder is also responsible for submission of all required substantiation materials in Concur such as receipts, business purpose descriptions, etc., which are attached to or populated within the expense entries of a report. Substantiation and submission must occur within 90 days of the transaction date or within 90 days of the trip end date, if related to travel. The university’s accountable plan can be reviewed in the Finance Procedural Statement: Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications. Employees are expected to familiarize themselves with the required timelines and substantiation requirements outlined in the plan.

Approval Workflows

When Travel Card transactions are reconciled on an expense report in Concur, the system will route that expense report to the appropriate approver as determined by information populated in the report header. The employee submitting the expense report for their Travel Reconciliation will select between “HR Supervisor” which is the person to whom the employee reports in the human resources HCM system, or “SpeedType” which will route the report to one of the fiscal staff listed on the SpeedType selected for the expense reimbursement. Employees should work with their department to determine which selection is appropriate for their expense report review.

Any additional review and approval required on an expense report (for example when an alcohol expense type is used, or for certain expenses with missing receipts) will route to the appropriate approver in Concur as well. The approval workflow is determined by you to the specific information entered and the employee’s campus.

The cardholder is responsible for immediately reporting a lost or stolen Travel Card by contacting US Bank directly at 1.800.344.5696 (outside U.S., call collect 1.701.461.2010). If there were no fraudulent transactions made on the lost or stolen card, no additional actions are required in Concur or with the Commercial Card Office after the bank is notified.

The cardholder is also responsible for monitoring their Concur profile for unauthorized charges, including those related to a lost or stolen card. Any suspicious activity should be reported to the bank immediately once detected at 1.800.344.5696.

Once reported to US Bank, the cardholder will need to reconcile the fraudulent charge along with any credit/refund issued by the bank in Concur.

When a cardholder terminates employment, or otherwise no longer needs the Travel Card, their Travel Card account can be cancelled by submitting a Travel Card update Request in the Concur Travel and Expense System. This update Request can be submitted by the individual cardholder or by a delegate, supervisor, or other appropriate individual within the campus department. For terminating employees, the cardholder employee and their department should ensure that all transactions remaining in Concur have been reconciled and submitted on an expense report prior to the employee’s last date of employment.

The Airfare Card is a centrally managed card account used exclusively by the university’s travel management company, Christopherson Business Travel (CBT), to pay for airline and other common carrier tickets for university travelers.

When an employee (or their travel arranger) books an airline ticket online through Concur Travel or directly with a CBT travel agent, the airfare is charged directly to the university’s Airfare Card account.

Like Travel Card transactions, Airfare Card transactions are subsequently imported into the appropriate employee’s Concur profile for reconciliation along with any other Travel Card and/or cash/out-of-pocket (personally paid) expenses related to the trip.