Frequently Asked Questions

Checks which are at least 180 days old (6 months) are considered stale. Tellers in banks will sometimes reject a check if the date is over that limit. This does not prevent a check from clearing the bank when deposited through other means than a teller.

For more information, review the Stale date webpage here.

If you fear your check has been lost or stolen, please contact Procurement Customer Service at 206-543-4500 or email them at pcshelp@uw.edu. They will review the situation with you and get the process started for reissue.

The front desk at Mailing Services is where checks can be picked up. People should only come to pick up a check after receiving a call that the check is ready. Please note, suppliers are not allowed to pick up checks. Only University of Washington employees or students working for departments may pick up checks.

Spend categories can be researched in two reports:

• “Find Spend Categories” report in Workday
• “Workday Spend Category Guidance” report in the UW Connect Finance Portal

The reports will show the taxability and what kind of transactions each category is available for.

To understand the taxability of goods and services, visit the Tax Office Taxability Grid: https://finance.uw.edu/tax/netid/taxability

If there is an issue with a spend category or a new one is needed, please use the “Foundational Data Model (FDM) Data Element Management Request form to submit a ticket for review. https://uwconnect.uw.edu/finance?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=85d6be2adb72c5d06ccf6a9ed3961995

Meals are held to the state required per diem rate. If there are any additional charges, they can be charged to a discretionary funding source only when approved by a Dean or Vice President. Keep a record of the number of attendees of the event. If the cost goes over the per diem rate, also keep a justification of why that supplier was chosen. 

Visit our Contracts page for guidance on how to get Contracts reviewed by Purchasing. 

For travel reimbursement, card holders file an Expense Report through the UW Travel Office:

• http://finance.uw.edu/travel/er

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Applying for a UW Travel Card is optional. Yes, you can use your own personal credit cards to pay for your travel expenses and then seek for reimbursement.

Approximately 2 weeks after you receive your UW Travel Card account, your online access will be set up. You may login with your UW NetID and password to access to the JPMC Travel PaymentNet.

CTA is a “card-less account” type of account. There is no actual plastic issued.

• UW Students. 
• NON-UW travelers. 
• Five (5) or more UW travelers attending a conference/group event in the U.S. or British Columbia, Canada where the UW is reserving and paying for the block of rooms and prior written approval has been obtained from the ProCard office (procard@uw.edu). 

Yes! Please always use a CTA account to pay for graduate students’ airfare and hotel lodging (room and sales tax only) whenever possible.

Your department’s CTA account will be automatically renewed by JPMC. The account number will remain the same, but the expiration date and 3 digits security code will change. Corporate Travel Services will send you an e-mail along with the new information a month in advance before the old expiration date expires.

You must pay the full balance on the card by the next billing statement.

The UW Travel Card is issued by JPMorgan Chase directly to the user. As such, it is governed by a contract that is solely between JPMorgan Chase and the cardholder. Cardholders are personally responsible for paying all charges on the UW Travel Card.

The contract between the cardholder and the bank requires full payment of the balance by the next billing statement, and if the cardholder fails to do so, late fees begin to incur at 60 days past due and the card is suspended.

Upon receipt of complete and proper documentation, the UW Travel Office reimburses official UW travel expenses in a timely manner through the online eTravel system. As a condition of accepting reimbursement from the UW, cardholders agree to use all of the reimbursement money to pay the charges in full on the UW Travel Card.

If there is a balance on the UW Travel Card, and the reimbursement money is not used to pay the balance in full, the cardholder will be subject to corrective actions for violating the terms of this policy, and will be subject to proceedings under the State Ethics Act. Using travel reimbursements for anything other than paying the corresponding travel charges constitutes fraud and will lead to corrective actions which may also include dismissal.

The contract between the cardholder and JPMorgan Chase permits communication between the bank and UW about the status of payments to the bank, including when cardholders do not honor the obligation to pay the statement balance in full by the due date. If the UW receives notice that a statement balance has not been paid in full by the due date, UW Corporate Travel Services will contact the cardholder and the department administrator to facilitate payment. 

• An account becomes 60/90 days past due. 
• Two (2) dishonored checks issued to JPMorgan Chase or reversal of two electronic payments routed to the bank. 
• An account is repeatedly delinquent. 
• Travel reimbursement is not used to pay all corresponding charges on the account. 
• Using the card for personal charges. 
• Individual is no longer on the University payroll (e.g. resignation, leave of absence without pay, etc.). 
• Eighteen months with no account activity. 
• Failure to comply with UW and State of Washington travel regulations.

If your account is terminated for delinquency, non-payments, improper use of reimbursements, or using the card for personal charges, the account cannot be reinstated.

Only UW faculty and staff are qualified for a card.

UW Travel Card is to be used for individual’s travel expenses only. Sharing a card is not recommended.

This is actually a question the vendor can take to their merchant bank. The vendor would be set up for merchant services with a Merchant (acquiring) Bank so they can accept credit cards. That Merchant Bank would have provided them to set up some kind of terminal for them to accept credit card transactions (either swipe a card (in person) or key in the account number. As we know from being consumers, there are may different kinds of terminals out there. Their Merchant Bank would have provided them with instructions on how to key in card transactions on their terminal. The Merchant Bank would also have already provided instructions or established some kind of process to the vendor they represent on how to transmit a payment file for settlement. Their Merchant Bank would then deposit the card funds to the account your vendor has set up with their Merchant Bank to receive the funds. Recommendation: Refer to your internal business partners who manage the merchant services for support with ow to process card transactions on the terminals and how to actually receive the funds.

The University of Washington will not impose any direct fees as a part of the ePayables process. Payments will be processed as credit card transactions, so your standard merchant bank fees will apply.

It should also be noted that the University of Washington does not accept miscellaneous fees or charges which are not included in the supplier's quote, proposal or contract with the University, including but not limited to merchant bank fees, in accordance with the UW Terms & Conditions.

After the spend down is submitted, funds that remain on the per diem debit card, cash or check are to be returned. 

The Requested – Total Submitted – Total Posted = Amount Remaining (ALL returned funds)      

If there are remaining funds on the per diem debit card, the field advance desk will remove from the card. 

If returning cash/check, please contact the field advance desk. 

Please log in to the field advance dashboard to review the status of a field advance you have requested or approved. Check the appropriate box in the left-hand corner of the screen to view the field advances on the dashboard.

To determine the status, locate “Status Description” on the dashboard.  Below it defines what each status represents:

In Process – The request has not been submitted for departmental approval; the custodian can still edit the request

Departmental Approval Required – The request is pending departmental approval; the custodian should contact the approver to approve the request

Central Office Approval and Processing – The field advance desk received request and it is pending their review

Waiting Funding – The field advance desk has approved the request and the funding is in pending/in progress

Current – Field advance processed and funded

Yes, a field advance can be requested on behalf of a student or faculty member.  The custodian must be a permanent UW employee and not have any past due field advances.

Yes, the UW per diem debit card is reloadable.  The cardholder should keep the card until the card expires for faster funding of future field advances.

Yes, a Custodian can have multiple field advances as long as they are not past due. Please make sure to keep track of your receipts by field advance, as receipts submitted that do not fit the timeframe of the advanced funds will not be accepted.

Field Advance = Receipts (Receipts/Invoices Show Paid) + Remaining Funds Not Spent (To be Returned)

To help you balance your field advance before submitting the reconciliation online, you can use our Balancing Spreadsheet to help determine if the field advance reconciliation is in balance.  Field advances must balance to zero, so if you are off by a few pennies, round those line items to balance.