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University Credit Cards

Employee Issued Cards

The university credit card program offers the following credit card options for university employees. Employees through consultation with their controller should select the card option that best suits their job responsibilities. Employees are only eligible to have one of the following three card options.

  • Travel – Recommended for university employees that travel at least once a year. Travel cards are open for use with airlines, car rental companies, hotels, restaurants, and conference fees. Travel cards can be used at local restaurants and hotels for hosting university guests. Travel cards can also be used to make small-dollar purchases (i.e. book stores, grocery and department stores, etc.) while in travel status.
  • Purchasing - Issued to university employees that have the need for purchasing commodities for their department on a regular basis. Purchasing cards are not accepted with airlines, car rental companies, or hotels. These purchases need to be conducted on a travel card.
  • Corporate - Issued to university employees that both travel and have a need to purchase commodities for their department on a regular basis. The corporate card is open to both travel-related and non-travel related merchants.

Department Issued Cards

The following card options are issued to a custodian to manage the process of checking out the card to department employees and students to conduct necessary purchases for the department. Receipts must be provided back to the custodian when the card is returned. Controllers should determine the proper number of cards to be held in a department for check out purposes.

  • Department Purchasing - Issued to a custodian that checks out the card to employees or students that need to purchase a commodity for their department. The custodian should maintain a checkout log to manage the card. Vendor acceptance rules are the same as the purchasing card. Persons checking out the department purchasing card are authorized to only make purchases while the card is in their possession. The card should not be stored in the user profiles of online websites.
  • Fleet Cards - Issued to a custodian and assigned to a university vehicle. Gasoline purchases for that university vehicle should be made on the fleet card.

Employees that have need of any card product should complete designated Y-Train modules listed on the credit card application. Once completed the application should be approved by their campus controller and then submitted to Purchasing and Travel. Employees of the university can only have one of the following card products assigned to them: Travel, Purchasing, or Corporate. It generally takes 7-10 days to receive a credit card once the application is submitted. Rush processing is available for a fee of $25 billed to the card.

All credit card transactions are loaded into Chrome River for cardholders or their delegates to complete expense reports, attach electronic copies of receipts and submit to their designated approver(s) for review and approval. Receipts are required for all purchasing card transactions regardless of the amount. Receipts should contain vendor name, purchase date, detailed description of items purchased, the amount paid, and the form of payment. For reoccurring subscription services documentation of the amount of the monthly subscription fee received at the time of enrollment should be attached to each monthly transaction charge.

Y-Marketplace catalog orders are the preferred method for purchasing commodities as these items are available at negotiated university discounted rates. Purchasing or Corporate Cards are the preferred methods of payment for purchases and payments under $3,500 for commodities that are not available in the Y-Marketplace catalog.

The purchasing card is to be used only for valid, authorized, and necessary university expenditures. Use of the purchasing card for the following items is prohibited:

  • Personal purchases--Any employee misuse or embezzlement of items purchased with the card may result in disciplinary actions and personal liability for the offender and may be grounds for termination or possible criminal prosecution.
  • Gift cards, gift certificates or any other cash equivalent
  • Transactions exceeding the authorized transaction limit. You should never split the cost of a single transaction between two or more sales receipts in order to avoid authorization limits.
  • Independent contractor payments or wages
  • Hazardous materials
  • International purchases of software, copyrights, licenses, subscriptions, or royalties. For additional information visit Financial Services website.

All university credit cards are restricted for use at high-risk vendors which include vendors registered as precious stones/jewelry stores, coin-stores, pawnshops, and cash product vendors (for example Western Union).

University credit cards are paid in full at the end of each month. Cardholders are responsible to have expenses reported in a Chrome River Expense Report within 30 calendar days of return from trip or transaction date whichever is later. If an employee does not account for expenses within 60 days or trip return date, the University may suspend card privileges and report the expenses as taxable income to the employee. Suspended cards can only be reactivated after approval is received from the campus controller over the employee's department.

University employees should not use their university-issued credit cards for personal purchases. They must surrender their card upon terminating employment. If the card becomes lost or stolen, the cardholder should contact Purchasing and Travel at 801-422-3872 or JPMorgan at 1-800-270-7760 to report the incident.

Employees not assigned a university credit card should check out a department purchasing or campus card. It is not appropriate for employees to use personal funds (including credit cards) to make purchases on behalf of the university. In the rare case that there are extenuating circumstances in which an employee was unable to obtain a university credit card to make a purchase, they should provide an explanation in their Chrome River reimbursement request describing why a university credit card was not available. Any lack of explanation on these expense reports will be reported to their controller.

Chrome River training is available, see the current options on our Welcome to Chrome River website. Specific questions may also be addressed to the Help Desk at 801-422-5644.

Last updated: March 27, 2020
department_card_application.pdf
corporate_card_application.pdf