Frequently Asked Questions

Military personnel, employees, contractors and others at government sites.

Where available, the cards are used as payment in post exchanges and post offices, ships stores, and vending machines, and for benefits and recreation.

Uses are on Army and Air Force bases in the United States wherever a basic training operation exists, certain officer training facilities, overseas at several bases with deployed troops, and on ships at sea.

Clients include the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.

It varies by function. In some cases cards are pre-loaded with a fixed amount of money that can be used to purchase goods and services up to the amount on the card. The SVC and the back-end processor automatically track the card balance until all value has been exhausted, at which time the card can be discarded.

Other uses allow the cardholder to control how much money to place on a card and refill it as needed. Some cards also can serve as a debit card and allow cardholder access to Automated Teller Machines (ATM) around the world.

One of the card's great advantages is security.

The cards use multilayered integrated chip circuitry to control access to funds. It's more secure than the magnetic-stripe technology used to verify credit and debit cards.

Both the card and the user can be validated using a combination of encrypted security keys and user PINs.