Overview
The UC Berkeley Procurement Card Program functions as a facilitator between UC Berkeley and US Bank. The Procurement Card Program's role includes administering cards, training, and education, auditing card transactions and approvals, and troubleshooting card issues.
We are also subject matter experts on how to make a purchase within policy and how to resolve misuse cases, if necessary. We are here to help!
Card Administration
We facilitate the ordering, updating, and closing of UC Berkeley procurement cards. We can assist with temporary limit increases, renewal of expired cards, and temporary MCC unblocking. If you have a question about your card or the card program in general, please email us at creditcard@berkeley.edu.
Training and Education
We offer a number of training courses, videos, guides, and best practices for assisting in all things procurement card. If you did not find the training you were looking for on the credit card Training and Help page, please email us at creditcard@berkeley.edu so that we can assist. We want to ensure that we help you, so if there is a training you feel would be helpful, please let us know.
If you need group training for your department or unit, please email us at creditcard@berkeley.edu so that we can discuss the best training method for a group setting. We will also work with you for scheduling.
Auditing
In the UC Berkeley Card Program, audit responsibilities are shared by all Card Program participants. For the program to be successful, it is critical that cardholders, departments, and the Card Program work together to ensure that transactions are being performed according to both purchasing policy and Card Program procedures.
Within individual UC Berkeley departments, Card Program participants at all levels have specific audit responsibilities:
- Authorized and delegated signers ensure appropriate procedures are established and followed and periodically review both transactions and the General Ledger to determine the appropriateness of purchases made with the funds
- Cardholders ensure that all purchases are authorized prior to the card being used and are made in accordance with purchasing policy
- Reconcilers, preparers, and proxies ensure that documentation for each transaction fully describes what was purchased and matches vendor receipts and invoices
- Approvers ensure that transactions are documented properly and reconciled within BFS prior to their due dates
The UC Berkeley Card Program reviews available system documentation regularly for appropriateness and conducts both structured and random post-transaction reviews of documentation. Transactions are audited for both policy and procedural compliance.
Lastly, Audit and Advisory Services conducts periodic post-transaction audit of transaction documentation, and may take enforcement action, if necessary.
Troubleshooting Card Issues
If your card does not work, please do not panic. There are a number of factors that may impact the functioning of your card, including: vendor MCCs, duplicate charge risk, and POS terminal malfunction. Please follow these action steps:
- Ask the vendor to try again (perhaps using a different method than originally attempted, such as booking over the phone instead of on a hotel website).
- Email the Card Program at creditcard@berkeley.edu. We can access the same information that the bank can and can fix most issues. If you will need to contact US Bank, the Card Program will provide direction on who to call and what information they will need.
- If the purchase must be made urgently, please reach out to your home department and ask if the purchase can be made by someone else in your office instead. They may be able to make the purchase with their bluCard or using a PO.
- If the issue occurs after hours and is urgent, please call the number on the back of your card, and US Bank will assist you in resolving the issue.
Policy
We are here to help you understand policy and procedural compliance. When making a purchase on a procurement card, due to policy restrictions, it is imperative to review policy and ensure your transaction is allowed prior to making a purchase. Please visit the Purchasing and Payment Method Matrix page. This resource outlines what is and is not allowed for each different purchasing method, and provides links to campus resources that describe the process and policy that limit which payment methods can be used for different activity types.
Fraud and Fraud Prevention
We are here to support you in fraud response and prevention. Please visit the Loss, Theft, Fraud, and Disputes page if you believe your card has fraudulent transactions. The best way to avoid fraudulent activity is to actively safeguard your card and consider the ways that modern criminals will try to capture your information.