ADT per diem

[atlantastudent]

Hi guys,

I'm unfamiliar with military finances, and some insight will be much appreciated. I'm scheduled for ADT at BAMC and Walter Reed pretty soon. How does paying for loding and food work? Is it a re-imbursement system or does the lodging bill directly to the military? What does "per diem" mean? Is there a limit to how much the gov will pay for loding and food?

Thanks for your replies,

-Jen

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[frmrgs2doc]

Hi guys,

I'm unfamiliar with military finances, and some insight will be much appreciated. I'm scheduled for ADT at BAMC and Walter Reed pretty soon. How does paying for loding and food work? Is it a re-imbursement system or does the lodging bill directly to the military? What does "per diem" mean? Is there a limit to how much the gov will pay for loding and food?

Thanks for your replies,

-Jen

Get familiar with this site:

http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/perdiemrates.html

That site will give you all you need to know about per diem for every location you will travel to in the military.

As far as how lodging and food works...well your lodging per day cannot exceed the per diem rate for the location or you run the risk of owing money to your Government credit card (or personal credit card or whatever you used to pay for lodging). FYI You need to keep receipts for your lodging in order to show proof of the amount you paid.

Food is reimbursed differently. As there is a set amount of money allotted for meals, incidentals, and expenses each day. You pay for these things during your trip (food, atm fees, etc.). You will get a set amount reimbursed automatically based on the number of days that you are TAD/TDY. If you go over that amount, that's your loss. If you were under that amount, that's money you've gained during that trip.

Hope this helps.

 

[atlantastudent]

How is the lodging paid when doing ADT for HPSP? Is it a re-imbursement process or something else?

THanks for that great link!

 

[NavyFP]

How is the lodging paid when doing ADT for HPSP? Is it a re-imbursement process or something else?

THanks for that great link!

Reimbursement.

 

[MaximusD]

Reimbursement.

Even if we do on-base billeting?

Blah, my credit card balance is going to give someone at BoA a thrill.

 

[atlantastudent]

My cc company is going to be so happy... So how fast are the re-imbursements? I'm doing 2 aways back to back, which means over $6000 going on my card. Gulp. Would really like to know how long that'll sit on my card. Thanks!

 

[glamqueen]

My cc company is going to be so happy... So how fast are the re-imbursements? I'm doing 2 aways back to back, which means over $6000 going on my card. Gulp. Would really like to know how long that'll sit on my card. Thanks!

Not sure what branch you are, but the priors in with me at COT last year were actually telling stories of messed up pay back situations and long, wait times for reimbursements. Both the priors I'm thinking about told stories about how much of a pain the reimbursement system is in that respect. I.e. plan on paying interest on that on your credit card or get a new one with a 0% rate specifically for this situation. I think that's what I'm going to do when I get to rotations.

 

[dwb8p]

Not sure what branch you are, but the priors in with me at COT last year were actually telling stories of messed up pay back situations and long, wait times for reimbursements. Both the priors I'm thinking about told stories about how much of a pain the reimbursement system is in that respect. I.e. plan on paying interest on that on your credit card or get a new one with a 0% rate specifically for this situation. I think that's what I'm going to do when I get to rotations.

....or perhaps you can plan ahead and build an emergency fund for situations like this so you don't have to go into debt.

 

[glamqueen]

....or perhaps you can plan ahead and build an emergency fund for situations like this so you don't have to go into debt.

Sadly, at that point, I won't have any extra money for an emergency fund of that size due to family finances being what they are.

However, if others are like me - I do plan on dedicating a specific credit card for this. The priors in my COT flight also recommended to keep this kind of thing on its own credit card dedicated to military expenses, so you didn't have to itemize out what you spent per the ADT vs. buying milk at the store. This is how they did it, and in light of the fact that I don't have the resources to stockpile a load of cash for this purpose - I'm probably going to do it the same way.

 

[BrickHouseMD]

Just to point out the obvious, make sure if you use a credit card, whatever card you use is working for you as much as possible. Either via cash-back, or points for travel, or whatever else you can find. My AM-EX blue sky or whatever it's called builds points pretty fast for travel. I usually have enough for a free hotel night about every year. Just make sure you're paying off that balance every month.

 

[atlantastudent]

So beating this topic to death, but more questions on lodging:
1. So max lodging at DC is 229/day. Is I stayed at a place less than that, will I receive the difference?
2. If we stay at a hotel, must we get the government price? I think I read somewhere that this is what the military requires, but not too sure... Which doesn't make sense since places seem to charge more if they know you're government.
3. Is it possible to rent from someone instead? If so, what kind of paper work would the finance department like?

Muchos thank you,

-Jen

 

[Roshario]

I'll be doing an ADT rotation at NMCSD next month, would also like to know if we can get reimbursed for private rental properties. There are lots of nice downtown and beach properties that I'd prefer to rent for the month instead of the standard hotel that would be within the daily lodging limit. Thanks!

 

[EMDoc0411]

Make sure you sign up for all the loyalty programs you can for your hotel, car rental, airline, etc. Get as much out of this as you can. When I was a fourth year med student I spent a month at Bethesda. I stayed at the Residence Inn and had a nice suite. When it was all said and done I had enough points to put my family up in the Marriott for free during my graduation weekend. Let me know if you have any questions about loyalty programs.