Misuse and Abuse

Intentional use of a government charge card for other than official government business constitutes misuse, and depending on the situation, may constitute fraud. Each agency develops and implements policies related to employee misuse of charge cards. Examples of misuse include:

• Purchases that exceed the cardholder's limit;
• Purchases that are not authorized by the agency;
• Purchases for which there is no funding;
• Purchases for personal consumption, and
• Purchases that do not comply with the policies that govern each particular card type.

Potential consequences for the cardholder may include: counseling, cancellation of the card, a written warning, notation in employee performance evaluation, reprimand, and/or suspension or termination of employment.

In the case of purchase card or centrally billed accounts (CBA) travel card misuse, the employee may be held personally liable to the government for the amount of any unauthorized transactions. Depending on the agency and the circumstances, there are a number of applicable laws that can result in fines or imprisonment.

Additionally, in certain cases, the program’s charge card vendors are authorized to take certain actions against cardholders whose accounts are cancelled for delinquency, such as:

• Assessing late fees;
• Utilizing collection agencies to recover the delinquent balance;
• Reporting the delinquency to national credit bureaus, and
• Salary offset.