Financial Services would like to announce the selection of GE Corporate Payment Services as the College’s new service provider for its credit card program.
As most of you may remember, in October 2006, Ithaca College was required to perform a mass re-issuance of all procurement and travel cards outstanding. This was the result of a decision made by the College’s longtime service provider to sell its credit card portfolio to a third-party vendor, Elan Financial Services. In November 2006, the College was notified by Elan Financial Services that the type of account our credit card program was transferred into was not a corporate account, therefore another mass re-issuance of all credit cards was going to be necessary.
It was at this time that the College asked Elan Financial Services to hold off on this re-issuance so we could review the current level of service being provided. In January 2007, a total of six financial institutions from across the country were sent requests for proposals (RFPs) asking them to bid on the opportunity to serve as the College’s credit card provider. Throughout this search process Financial Services came to realize that there were a number of services available to the College pertaining to its credit card program that were not currently being offered. With this in mind, after a careful review of the College’s plans in the future to implement Oracle’s Internet Expenses, GE Corporate Payment Services became the logical choice.
This process also provided Financial Services with a better understanding of the importance of having the procurement card program separate from the travel card program. This became clear from both an audit standpoint, as well as our future plans to enhance the travel card program in particular.
We will begin working with GE Corporate Payment Services this summer to begin the conversion of our current credit card program. The conversion will be completed by October 2007. During this process a complete review will be done on all outstanding cards in an effort to reduce the number of actual cards issued. We will, however, be issuing two separate cards (one for procurement purposes and one for travel purposes). Each card will be designed for easy recognition as an Ithaca College card, and the Tax ID number will be hot stamped on the front of each card as well. We are confident that GE’s credit card solution will provide the added features and benefits the College has been looking for.
