Travel Payment Services

Central Travel Account (CTA)

CTAs are nonphysical cards used as the agency's primary form of payment for airline, rail, car rental and travel agency fees through the state’s contracted Travel Management Services provider.

Each agency will have two CTA numbers:  a centrally billed card and a centrally billed account.  The card account is where the transactions are processed. These card transactions roll into the account, which is used for accepting payments.

Virtual Card Account (VCA)

VCAs, or virtual payments, are one-time use credit card numbers used to pay for hotel room, tax, resort fees (if applicable) and self-parking. Virtual payments are authorized for a specific transaction amount, a specific merchant, and a set time period. The unique number is generated digitally during the reservation process (through the state’s Travel Management Services provider) and transmitted to the hotel through a virtual process by issuing a credit card authorization form via secured fax or email to the hotel. Once the transaction is complete, the card is inactive/disabled. 

For more information on the VCA program, please navigate to the VCA Resources page.

Meeting Card (MTG)

MTG accounts are centrally billed physical cards for payment of state-conducted meetings, conferences, and events. See the State Administrative Manual, Section 4117.5 and State Administrative Manual, Section 4117.6 for more information.

Individually Billed Travel (IBT)

IBT accounts are individual liability travel cards used by frequent travelers for payment of business-related travel expenses. IBT cards have a $5,000 monthly spend limit which includes a $500 monthly retail limit. Business meals, parking, gasoline, and other business-related expenses are considered authorized transactions. ATM use and cashback are not authorized. Please see Travel Bulletin 23-06 / Restatement of Established Individual-Billed Government Travel Card Requirements for more information.

Account Statements

Program Administrators (PA) are assigned access to the online account management system. This allows verification of account information, transaction reconciliation, and statement download for each program type. Account statements can be accessed/downloaded online, 24-hours after the cycle cut date or the 26th day of the month. For training guides and video tutorials, please visit the Travel Payment Services Training page.

ACH Payments

Agencies may pay their TPS accounts by using the ACH CCD or ACH CCD+ formats. Both formats are to be used for one (1) payment per billing account. If an agency has three (3) billing accounts, then three (3) separate payments should be made. Refer to the "U.S. Bank Mailing Addresses/ACH Payment Instructions" in the "Resources" section below for ACH instructions.

Check Payment Instructions

(Payment Instructions made outside of FI$Cal)

IMPORTANT - INCLUDE FULL BILLING ACCOUNT NUMBER ON CHECK FRONT

Payments must include the full 16-digit billing account number on the check. Including the payment stub with your check also helps to facilitate posting. The stub is located at the top of the first page of the account statement.

Checks submitted without the full 16-digit billing account number are considered unidentified and could delay posting to the account.

Checks should not be remitted in check and list format (i.e., one check to pay several accounts). This will cause the payment to be misapplied, returned, or delay in posting to the account.

Refer to the "U.S. Bank Mailing Addresses/ACH Payment Instructions" in the "Resources" section below for mailing instructions.

Prompt Payment Rebate

Agencies may be eligible to receive prompt payment rebates for centrally billed accounts based on the average of their annual payment history. Prompt Payment Incentives will be calculated annually based on the average speed of pay in a twelve (12) month period. The speed of pay is the number of days from the monthly statement date to the time the payment is received.

The rebates will be payable retrospectively on an annual basis within 90 days of the contract's start date (November 1). The prompt payment rebate will be paid directly to participating agencies. Rebates can be issued by check, however the preferred method for issuing rebates is ACH.

STP and U.S. Bank have collaborated to provide online training workshops and videos for participating agencies. Available training (provided by the TPS provider) can be found at the Travel Payment Services Training page.

Access Online also provides interactive eLearning lessons, videos, recorded classes, user guides and quick reference guides explaining how to use Access Online. In Access Online, click on the “Training” link on the left navigation menu.

What is a Central Travel Account?

A Central Travel Account (CTA) is a direct-bill, cardless charge account, also referred to as a “ghost card.” This card is issued in an agency’s name and is used in the agency’s respective Concur site to charge business travel expenses such as airfare, car rentals, rail tickets, and travel agency transaction fees. The CTA can also be used for agent-assisted reservations on file with the contracted travel agency.

Will this system tie into State Controller’s Office CalATERS (the California Automated Travel Expense Reimbursement System)? (Applies to Executive Branch agencies only)

No, not at this time. 

Can there be more than one program administrator or person who receives statements for our agency? 

Yes, each agency may have multiple program administrators set up.  

If your agency participates in card programs other than the Central Travel Account, such as the Meeting Card Account (MTG) program, the Individual Billed Travel (IBT) card, or the Virtual Card Number (VCN) program, the program administrator(s) need to access each account individually to download the managing account statement.

To update your program administrator with U.S. Bank, contact the U.S. Bank Client Services support at:

Phone: 877-846-9302; Option 3 

Why do I keep receiving an error message when attempting to log into Access online, but I was able to log in before?  

The program administrator’s profile may have become deactivated due to inactivity.  If your agency has another program administrator with the same level of access (or higher), they can assist by accessing the online reporting portal and reactivating the user profile.  The U.S. Bank Client Services team can also help. To contact the U.S. Bank Client Services team, reach out to:

Phone: 877-846-9302; Option 3 

How can an agency request a credit limit increase?

Temporary Increase: The program administrator can call U.S. Bank’s Client Services and request an increase. This request usually takes a few hours for Client Services to complete.

Phone: 877-846-9302; Option 3

What is a ghost card? 

A ghost card is a credit account, minus the physical plastic card. The Central Travel Account and Virtual Card Account are both ghost card accounts.

Is the Travel / Meeting Card Account a ghost card? 

No. The Travel / Meeting Card Account is a physical plastic card.

If the Travel / Meeting Card Account is a physical card, who’s name do I put on the card?

This is up to the agency/department. Statewide Travel Program suggests not putting a person’s name, but possibly in the name of the unit the card is for. Example: Travel Unit, Accounting Unit, Travel Card.

Why does my statement list transactions (activity), but shows a zero dollar amount due? 

Two statements are issued for each billing cycle. One is a card statement that lists all charge transactions. The card statement will have a message at the top right corner “Memo Statement Only Do Not Remit Payment” because payments are not processed to this card statement. 

The second statement is for the billing account, which lists all payment and credit transactions occurring in the cycle. The full billing account number is provided at the top of the statement and since this account accepts payments, the full amount due is referenced. For reconciliation purposes, the billing account statement also lists the card transactions on supplemental statement pages. 

How do I report fraudulent transactions with U.S. Bank?

To report any transactions as fraudulent, contact the Fraud department at the phone number below:

Fraud Department:                      1 (800) 523-9078

Existing Case follow up:             1 (800) 815-1405        

Fax:                                                     1 (866) 229-9625

To manage fraud information through Access Online, run the following report:

1. Click "Reporting."
2. Click "Program Management."
3. Click "Account List."
   1. In the “Account Information” section under “Account Status,” select "FR-Referral."
   2. In the “Additional Detail” section, check "Account Information."
   3. In the “Report Output” section under “Output Type,” select "Excel."
4. Click "Create Scheduled Report."
   1. In the “Report Name” section, enter your desired name in the “Output Filename” box.
   2. In the “Schedule” section under “Report Frequency,” select "Daily" and choose a “Start Date” and “End Date.”
   3. In the “Recipients” section, check "Include Me."
5. Click "Submit."

By following the above steps, an Excel export of cardholders with fraud referrals will be delivered daily to your Data Exchange (within Access Online) mailbox for the time period specified.

Please Note: All claims must be submitted within 60 days of the statement date on which the transaction appears.  

Why is my payment declining?

If a credit card or virtual card transaction is declined, the decline reason can be viewed in Access Online via the “Account Management” screen → Account Information → Cardholder Account Profile → Account Authorizations.

If you need clarification on the decline reason and how to resolve it, contact U.S. Bank Client Services Support.

Phone: 1 (877) 846-9302; Option 3 

We were told that a credit would be given to our agency account, but we don't see it on the statement. Why is that?

The billing cycle for U.S. Bank is the 26th - 25th of each month. If you are due a credit, it might be on the upcoming billing cycle.