Frequently Asked Questions

Employees who are responsible for purchasing supplies for their department and/or those who will be frequently traveling on university business, with supervisor and Director/Chair/Dean approval, may apply for a University Purchasing Card.

You must have a true business purpose to have a card. Frequent university travel and/or frequent supply orders required for classes, labs, or research are some examples of a true business purpose. If you have infrequent need for the card, consider asking your department coordinator, or Purchasing, to make the purchase on your behalf.

Applicants need to review and complete the Purchasing Card Agreement and email to pcard@mtu.edu.

All cardholders will be contacted to schedule a Zoom PCard training which must be completed prior to receiving your card.

Once your application has been submitted for processing to the bank, your card will arrive in 10 business days to your office address or to the PCard Administrator.

Notify pcard@mtu.edu

To report a lost or stolen card, you should immediately contact Bank of America’s Customer Service (888) 449-2273 (24 hours/day, 7 days/week).

Suspicious Activity alerts will be automatically sent to cardholders’ mobile numbers (if on file) in addition to email and phone call. This notification can help quickly identify when a transaction should or should not be flagged as fraudulent. As a best practice, we suggest that all cardholders include a mobile number in their Global Card Access profile for the fastest receipt of suspicious activity alerts.

Notify pcard@mtu.edu. Please return the card to Purchasing. Also, return any tax exempt cards you may have on behalf of the University (i.e. Walmart, Lowe’s, etc.). Ensure all transactions have been allocated and submitted on a Concur report.

The University Purchasing Card should be used to purchase low-dollar, low-risk goods and services and travel expenses directly from a supplier.

Prohibited items cannot be purchased because of issues related to safety, legal, liability, budget control, or potential abuse of the card.

Typical limits are below. However, limits may vary by department or cardholder.

• Monthly purchase limit of $5,000
• Single purchase limit of $4,999
• Charges may not be split to avoid the single purchase limit

PCard monthly limit increases may be requested by completing the Purchasing Card Exception Request Form and emailing to pcard@mtu.edu.

An exception to the prohibited items may be requested by completing the Purchasing Card Exception Request Form and emailing to pcard@mtu.edu.

To dispute or report a fraudulent transaction, you should immediately contact Bank of America’s Customer Service (888) 449-2273 (24 hours/day, 7 days/week).

Personal purchases are prohibited. Email pcard@mtu.edu to report the personal transaction. In Concur, allocate the expense to A127C-Personal Expense. The Cardholder will be invoiced for the amount. Upon receipt of the invoice, please take it to the Cashier for payment (no deposit slip necessary), or use the online non-student payment portal.

You must first attempt to resolve the issue directly with the merchant. If you are unable to reach an agreement with the merchant for erroneous sales tax charges, please include all steps taken to resolve the issue in the Concur report Comment section of the expense detail.

PCard detailed receipts must be kept for 3 years. For grants and contracts, detailed receipts must be kept for three years plus three months after the final close of the project. Ensure your uploaded receipt into Concur is legible.

The Substantiation for Lost or Unobtainable Receipts Form should be completed and attached in SAP Concur if you are unable to obtain a receipt from the supplier. This should be rare.

Travel Expenses &/or Business Meal Expenses (cardholders with exceptions): A Concur Travel &/or Business Meal Report must be submitted within two weeks after the end date.

Supplies and Services (your non-travel expenses): A Concur Purchasing Card Report must be submitted once per month. It is recommended to submit your report around the 23rd of each month to ensure time for approvals and expenses to integrate with Banner. DO NOT submit a report for each card transaction.

Once you receive your new Bank of America credit card, register for access to Global Card Access, BofAML.com/globalcardaccess. You can activate your card on Global Card Access or call the toll-free number on the sticker. Be prepared to provide the following:

• 16-digit account number (the number on your credit card)
• Verification ID (please be familiar with this # prior to calling)
  • This verification ID is your Michigan Tech M#, including the M. (Example: M11112222 would be entered as 611112222.
  • Note that you can customize your PIN as part of the activation process.

Yes. Your PIN is customizable. Please note the first time use after customization, you may need to enter your PIN multiple times. It is highly recommended that you register your PIN with the online PIN service which allows you to check your PIN at any time. Bank of America’s website is BofAML/globalcardaccess. Login requires the Accountholder to authenticate themselves. Key information to know as it may be part of the enrollment process include:

• 6-digit credit card number
• The exact name as it appears on the card (including spaces or other characters)
• Expiration date
• Zip code (of the address the PIN was mailed to)
• Security code (CVV/3-digit code on back of card)
• Verification ID

PINs are inactivated when the Accountholder uses the PIN wrong three (3) times. As a best practice, please go to the online PIN check site to view your PIN rather than attempting a third time which will lock the PIN feature on the card. Call the number on the back of the card to unlock your PIN. You can also call the number on the back of the card and choose the appropriate VRU option to create/re-set a custom PIN.

Yes, but only at terminals that do not have the chip and PIN technology.

This is good news for those Accountholders who travel internationally as the Chip and PIN cards are now accepted in over 80 countries. The International Transaction Fee is 2% of USD amount.

The Chip and PIN technology is rather new in the US. Merchants will continue to adopt this new technology over the next few years. If the merchant is equipped with a Chip and PIN terminal, the chip functionality will be used which means the Accountholder must know and use their PIN. If the terminal is not chip and PIN enabled, then the magnetic strip/signature functionality will be used.

If you do not receive your card within 15 business days of being issued, please report your card as lost/stolen to Bank of America customer service. You must contact pcard@mtu.edu first so they can provide you with your 16-digit card number.

Your official billing address associated with the new credit card will be whatever address is set on your card (Ask your Administrator if you are unsure). You will use this billing address if prompted to enter the billing zip code at a terminal. Please pay special attention to the format of your address (e.g. What appears on Line 1)

Yes. 3 to 4 days after your card transaction posts to Bank of America, the transaction will flow into Concur which will prompt an email notification. Your email must be verified in your Concur Profile to receive notifications.

Yes. Cardholders must follow the University Purchasing Card Allocation Deadlines.

Yes. Bank of America offers Alerts. To register for this functionality please enroll at http://www.bofaml.com/globalcardaccess.

• Note that enrolling for Alerts also allows you to access your PIN should you forget it.
• If you previously registered your corporate credit card to check your PIN online, you can use the same User ID and Password.
• If you are registering for the first time, follow the prompts and reference the Frequently Asked Questions if needed.
• You will need to know your Verification ID during the one-time registration process.
• Choose the Alerts tab, and then simply follow the steps under Settings
  • Identify the delivery method(s) for your alerts (phone call, email, text).
  • Select from the menu of available alerts, specifying dollar amounts or frequencies based on the alert.
  • Define communication windows in which you prefer to receive notifications.

If the vendor delivered the service (e.g. newspaper subscription) then they have the right to charge the card (including a forced charge), even if the card is closed.

• Once the vendor is notified, from that point forward, any future charges can be disputed but this might include proof of notification.
• Initial charge cannot be disputed. Fraud will advise the Program Administrator or Cardholder that they need to work with the vendor to cancel the service which should stop the charge.