When I joined the Army a couple of years ago (silence! from the peanut gallery), official military travel was much easier. When we had to travel, we went to finance with our travel orders and submit vouchers or getting cash advances to pay for all travel expenses (airfare, hotel, rental car, etc). At the end of the travel, Soldiers were required to file their travel voucher to “clear” their advances within five days. If the advances exceeded the total cost of the travel, the servicemember had to pay back the difference. If there was money left over after the vouchers were cleared, the money was deposited in the servicemembers bank account.

However, about 10 years ago or so the military changed travel claim procedures and the card carrier of choice switched from American Express to Bank of America. This is when things got bad and Soldiers began getting screwed by the system.

Within the first four years of using this new system, the military had racked up over $60 million in delinquent bills. Soldier were no longer able to take advances to pay for their travel and were forced to use the card for major purchases. Some of these delinquencies were legitimate issues where Soldiers didn’t pay their bills or misused their cards. But, not all of them. The military is very good at prosecuting Soldiers who violate their travel card restrictions.

The cards are only supposed to be used to pay for legitimate, official travel. They can be used to pay for rental cars, plane tickets, hotels, food, gas, official phone calls, conference expenses when applicable, and other official purchases. They are not to be used to pay for lap dances, movies, CD’s, electronics, privately owned car payments, clothes, etc.

When Soldiers are issued their Bank of America cards, they are required to sign a memorandum of agreement. The agreement states that the Soldier is responsible for the payment of his debt, regardless of whether or not the government has reimbursed him for the travel. What does this mean? Let’s use my latest TDY (to the First Sergeant Course) as an example.

My TDY was three weeks long. I was allowed $41 per day for food and $87 per day hotel costs. I didn’t have to pay for my room since the Sergeants Major Academy paid for our lodging, but for the purposes of this demonstration, let’s pretend I did. My hotel alone would have cost me over $1,800. My rental car ran about $500 and my plane ticket was almost $700 round trip. With just those three expenses I owe over $3000. Because I am not allowed to take advances on approved travel any longer, that $3,000 is on my BOA card. Now, add in food and gas. Even if I only used half of my per diem to eat on each day, I charged another $400 in food to my card.

I was in school for three weeks. Remember that credit cards work in cycles. Depending on where in the cycle I started my TDY, I could feasibly have a balance due before I even complete my travel. Generally, we are allowed to file supplemental vouchers if our TDY is longer than 30 days. At that point, we are required to file a voucher every 30 days and then a final voucher at the completion. Since mine was only three weeks, I can’t file a voucher to pay the one week’s worth of charges until I complete the TDY. When I got back, I submitted my voucher within the required 5 days. This was back on November 12th (actually only three business days after travel). Last week my card went over 60 days past due because until TODAY I had not been paid. Of course, I called BOA and there is still no payment posted to my card, even though I got a deposit in my bank account.

At the 60 day mark, it is BOA policy to suspend the card. It is military policy that any cardholders going over 60 days past due get a mandatory counseling from their commander – regardless of the reasons for the delinquency. At the 90 day mark, the Battalion Commander gets involved and the card is actually canceled. The Soldier then has to reapply for a card. BOA may or may not approve it – and the Soldier’s credit could be affected.

Reimbursements often come late, according to a recent report issued by the General Accounting Office, which means the GTC bills aren’t always paid on time and servicepeople are getting branded as “delinquents.” The GAO found “substantial” delays in reimbursements; in one command unit, for example, the California National Guard failed to pay its personnel within a month 61 percent of the time, and of those payments, 42 percent were inaccurate.

If I absolutely have to, I could pay the $2,500 past due amount on my card, but it would hurt my family substantially. We would have to dig deep into our meager savings. Imagine a junior enlisted Soldier having to carry this burden!! It’s obscene to think that Soldiers should have to bear the burden of official government travel when the system has failed them. Our Soldiers do not have that kind of money to go around begging, borrowing, or…finding alternate means to pay their travel card bills. Yet, this is what the military wants them to do. As a First Sergeant, I am required to counsel my Soldiers on this very fact. However, if they have done everything correctly and timely, I also counsel them to immediately file an IG complaint to get the system fixed. I filed mine just last week!

“It’s totally unbelievable,” says Ed Mierzwinski, consumer banking advocate at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “The notion that you’re forced into a contract–one where you can’t pay your bills on time–and the Pentagon takes it out of your paycheck is outrageous.” Military personnel have even less cushion than civilians: Annual pay for an E-2 private is between $11,000 and $14,000.

By putting the burden of bookkeeping on its servicepeople and the bank, the Bank of America claims that the Pentagon has saved anywhere from $100 million to $450 million a year in administrative costs. Meanwhile, Bank of America has acquired an entire new fleet of captive consumers: more than 1.4 million servicemen and servicewomen ordered by law to use the card for every travel expense.

Forcing military personnel to personally front the government money for travel expenses and subject their personal “creditworthiness” to the whims of the Pentagon’s sluggish accounting system could potentially violate private property rights, which are protected–even for servicepeople–under the Fifth Amendment. All employees of the executive branch are required to apply for them; all servicepeople are ordered to do it. But using a military order to force a serviceman or servicewoman into a private contract–against his or her will–is a clear violation of basic contract law, according to handful of military and constitutional legal scholars.

The system needs to be changed and it needs to be changed quickly. The only we can do that is by holding our employer responsible. If you are affected by this issue, I strongly urge each servicemember to go to IG immediately and file a formal complaint.