UNCW Card Guidelines for Travel

The UNCW Card may only be used for legitimate pre-approved travel expenses for the cardholder.

The UNCW Card may be used only in official university business travel for:

• airfare
• baggage on airline
• lodging
• Internet in hotel
• parking
• registration fee for conferences
• rental vehicle
• fuel for rental vehicle
• tolls
• taxi/Uber/Lyft/Curb/etc.
• shuttle
• train/subway
• ferry/boat
• bus

Meals are not eligible for UNCW card transactions as they are reimbursed to the traveler as per diem after the trip's conclusion. Use of the UNCW Card is prohibited for personal purchases, even if the intent is to reimburse the university. The UNCW Card does not allow the cardholder to receive Cash Advances under any circumstances.

1. Transactions and Receipts:
   Receipts are uploaded to Cardholder’s e-Wallet and are used to document the business purpose. The cardholder or Emburse delegate reviews each transaction in the e-Wallet in Emburse for accuracy and to ensure the expense complies with state, federal, and university policies and guidelines. The traveler or delegate selects the credit card transactions to add to a Travel Expense Report and attaches the correct Travel Pre-Approval. The cardholder (traveler), budget authority, and grant officer (if grant funds are charged) must approve the Travel Expense Report for the transactions listed. The Travel Office reviews each Travel Expense Report for compliance auditing.
2. Review, Changes and Posting:
   Emburse holds all bank transactions for departments to review. Emburse enables cardholders and their Emburse delegates to review charges on their credit card on a daily basis after charges are posted from the bank. Departments can make required fund and account code changes and assign a Travel Pre-Approval to each Travel Expense Report. After the charge and Travel Expense Report have been applied to a Travel Pre-Approval, the expenses are posted to the actual Travel Pre-Approval in Emburse.
3. Timeliness of Posting to Banner
   Charges are posted to Banner after the Travel Office reviews and approves the transactions on the Travel Expense Report.

1. The UNCW Card may be issued to permanent UNCW employees, with the approval of the respective employee’s supervisor, budget authority, and UNCW Card Administrator. Temporary UNCW salaried employees (TE’s) are only eligible with approved business need.
2. Upon completion of the required training, the cardholder is issued the UNCW Card. The cardholder signs a Cardholder Agreement form agreeing to be accountable for all charges and responsible for protecting the card to the same degree as he/she would protect his/her own personal credit card. UNCW Card Training must be completed every other year.
3. The cardholder must immediately notify the bank, Emburse Delegate, and Travel Office if his/her UNCW Card is lost or stolen to prevent unauthorized charges.
4. Charges must be for legitimate official university business travel purposes and in accordance with all published guidelines for the appropriate use of the UNCW Card, including adherence to state contract terms.
5. Cardholders are responsible for understanding and using appropriate funds and accounts with the UNCW Card. Cardholders will be financially accountable for unallowable items charged to the card. All unallowable charges must be repaid to the university by the cardholder within ten days of the charge, or the amount of that charge will be deducted from his/her next payroll deposit.
6. Misuse of the UNCW Card, including but not limited to violation of this policy, applicable state law, or failure to adhere to the terms and conditions of the cardholder agreement, will result in revocation of the UNCW Card, potential disciplinary action up to termination, and possible filing of criminal charges.
7. Original receipts with required support documents are submitted for each transaction (see specific requirements under each Employee Travel expense type). It is the responsibility of the cardholder to ensure that receipts are obtained.
8. The cardholder is responsible for timely reconciliation of credit card transactions on an Expense Report and uploading receipts.
9. All refunds must be credited to the UNCW Card from which the expense was originally made.
10. The cardholder is responsible for resolving disputes with merchants and the bank. Assistance from the Travel Office is available to the cardholder, if needed. After notifying the bank of the dispute, the dispute information must be entered on the Travel Expense Report in Emburse.
11. Refunds/Credits: When you receive a refund/credit, add a comment in the Pre-Approval and Expense Report for the reason you received the refund/credit. Send documentation for the refund to your Emburse receipt gallery and attach it to the Expense Report.
12. Airline Credit Vouchers: If an airfare is canceled by the cardholder and a voucher is given by the airline to the cardholder, it must be used for future university business travel within a year

1. The budget authority is responsible for managing the program within his/her respective department for any cardholders under their authority or those who use their fund to charge expenses. Responsibilities extend to management for card use including appropriate use of the UNCW Card, card limits, sufficient budgets, proper account coding using Emburse, required documentation, and review and approval of charges within a timely manner.
2. The budget authority approves each card issued for cardholders in the department and the associated individual transaction limit and monthly card. For an individual UNCW Card, the individual transaction limit may not exceed $5,000 per transaction, and the monthly limit may not exceed $10,000 without the Chief Procurement Officer or his or her designee’s approval.
3. The Traveler or Emburse Delegate retrieves cards and notifies the Travel Office when employees terminate employment, or when cards are no longer needed. If the cardholder changes departments, the UNCW Card Maintenance and Cancellation Form must be completed and emailed to travelcard@uncw.edu. The department designates the Emburse delegate for the cardholders in their department to assist with managing the program.

1. The Emburse department delegate is designated by the traveler and monitors credit card activity.
2. Responsibilities include:
   1. Review accounting information in Emburse. Choose the appropriate fund number and type of expense for each UNCW Card charge. Select and attach the correct Travel Pre-Approval to the Travel Expense
   2. Upload all original receipts to the Travel Expense Report in Emburse for the Travel Office to review.
   3. Act as a liaison to the UNCW Card Administrator and notify him/her immediately when cards are canceled or when an employee leaves the department or the university.
   4. Assist the Travel Office, the Controller’s Office, and any other reviewers, including auditors, with examining the UNCW Card Program.

The UNCW Card Administrator is responsible for:

1. Processing new and replacement
2. Processing changes to cardholder profiles or other information.
3. Obtaining approval for exceptions of eligible cardholders and card limits.
4. Providing support and assistance, and acting as bank liaison for the cardholders. For example, when a statement is not received or when a transaction is denied.
5. Reviewing and ensuring all transactions for each month have been applied to an expense report by the deadlines.
6. Auditing support documents for completeness and accuracy of
7. Auditing transactions for compliance and appropriateness with state policies and regulations.
8. Cancellation or suspension of cards as
9. Training new program
10. Maintaining access to UNCW card
11. Reconciling university program and clearing account, auditing statement, and paying bill.
12. Annually review UNCW Card policy making revisions as needed.
13. Annually review UNCW’s list of active cardholders for policy compliance

To ensure compliance with the policies and procedures of the program, the following actions will be taken by the Travel Office when infractions are discovered during monthly audits. Depending on the infraction, employees may be subject to revocation of the UNCW Card, potential disciplinary action up to termination, and possible filing of criminal charges. Penalties are determined by the number of infractions incurred. Card Infractions are cumulative.

Infraction Classification 

Infractions are classified as either: Minor Infractions or Critical Infractions. All UNCW Card infractions/violations will be reported to the Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs, Cardholder’s Supervisor, Dean of the respective school, Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance, Internal Audit, and the Chief Procurement Officer. Should a cardholder lose card privileges, they may only receive another card with the approval of the Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs. General descriptions of Infractions and action measures are listed below:

Minor Infractions:

1. Missing or inadequate
2. Transactions not reconciled within 10 business days
3. Inappropriate Purchases (i.e.: entertainment, food, gift card/certificates, printing, insurance, upgrades, GPS, room service, online classes/webinars, virtual conferences/meeting, on campus events/conferences, etc.)
4. Unintentional personal use (be careful with Uber/Lyft/Etc.)
5. Charging travel expenses for someone other than the cardholder (Does not apply to Student/Athletic Group Travel)
6. Non-Travel related expenses.

Minor Infraction Penalties

1. 1st offense: Email to Cardholder, Emburse delegate, Budget Authority, Cardholder’s Supervisor, and Business Officer with the reason for the infraction and the action to resolve the infraction.
2. 2^nd offense: Email to cardholder, Emburse delegate, Budget Authority, Cardholder’s Supervisor, and Business Officer with the reason for the infraction and the action to resolve the infraction.
3. 3^rd offense: Card is revoked for 2 years and email sent to the Cardholder, Emburse delegate, Budget Authority, Caldholder’s Supervisor and Business Officer.

Critical infractions:

1. Intentional Personal Use or other infractions deemed as critical

Critical Infraction Penalty

1. Card is revoked, and the VCBA, Cardholder Supervisor, Dean of the respective school, AVCBA-Finance, Internal Audit, Chief Procurement Officer, and potentially University Police will be notified.