MARINE FORCES RESERVE, New Orleans -- Government Credit Card Program personnel here are making sure there are no delinquent payments to Bank of America, the organization that facilitates these transactions.
The GCCP is a tool that allows official travelers to pay expenses associated with government travel. Since the inception of the program, Bank of America has reported many delinquent payments.
Marines must be aware that they are responsible for settling these accounts. Not only will delinquent payments cause financial trouble and unfavorable marks on their credit card reports -- it's also punishable by the Uniformed Code of Military Justice under article 134, according to MCO 4600.40.
Many Marines' accounts were outstanding for a 60-day period within MarForRes, but, after a few short months of perseverance and dedication by the four Marines from the contracting office, here, who handle reserve unit accounts nationwide -- only two accounts were past due.
"We made an incredible turnaround here," said Capt. A.J. Rego, contracting officer, MarForRes.
When Marines are lacking in an area, they acknowledge it then plan an attack to remedy the situation.
"Before there was only one person handling the GCCP," Rego said. "We brought in a couple of Marines, and gave them each a specific place to handle."
The three areas they tackled were 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, 4th Force Service Support Group, and 4th Division. This allowed an effective communication between the Major Subordinate Commands, and their Activity Program Coordinator representative, Rego said.
"We broke everything down to the basics -- and realized communication was the most important factor," Rego said.
The MSC representatives were an instrumental part of the turn around. They brought the concerns of Marines to their APC -- and problems were rectified as expediently as possible, Rego said.
"We have a great system going on now -- everyone knows their job," said Sgt. Will W. Watts, level 4 APC representative, MarForRes.
These Marines aren't going to stop their efforts quite yet -- the goal is zero percent delinquencies across the board, Rego said.
These hard chargers made an incredible leap in the past few months -- moving this command nearly to the top -- but won't stop until perfection is obtained.