Travel Advances	Q:   Can excess lodging be claimed in an Advance? A:   Yes.   Q:   Is there a way to see if an Advance or reimbursement check has been issued? A:   There are 2 ways: In eTravel, once Disbursing “releases” the document, the payment (advance or reimbursement) will be generated in the next check run which occurs every Mon/Wed/Fri and the last day of the month. So if a travel document was released in eTravel on Tuesday, the next run is Wednesday and the check may be ready for pick-up Thursday afternoon. If you have signed up for direct deposit via ePayment, the traveler would receive an email notification on Thursday of the impending payment and payment should be posted to the traveler's bank account within three (3) business days. Through your Business or Fiscal Office via FMIS.   Q:   What happens if the Advance was over-estimated? A:   If the Advance was over-estimated, the Traveler owes the University the difference between the amount of the Advance and the amount of Actual Expenses. Note: At time of Travel Request, all expenses are estimated. Advance amounts may be over- or under-estimated compared to the actual cost upon completion.   Q:   What is the latest an Advance can be submitted to receive money? A:   The travel document must be received by the Disbursing Office at least 10 working days prior to the departure date. Note: In eTravel, the user will receive a warning if they click Submit or Approve on the Advance document and there’s fewer than 10 working days from the traveler’s departure date.   Q:   Can I get an advance even though the trip is fewer than 4 days? A:   It's possible to receive an advance for inter-island travel less than 4 days, however this is an exception to the travel APM and must be authorized by the Director of Disbursing.
	EFT	Q:   What is EFT? A:   It stands for Electronic Funds Transfer, and Travelers may sign up for EFT via the ePayment application. The primary benefit is that the Traveler receives their travel advances and reimbursements faster via direct deposit to their bank account, and saves a trip to the bank to deposit checks.   Q:   Am I required to sign up for EFT? A:   No, it is not required at this time. However, in addition to the traveler's benefits, there are significant benefits to the University so employees are encouraged to sign up. Overall, it reduces manual work involved with check printing, pick up, and distribution. There's also tremendous cost savings with electronic processing and not having to mail checks to off-campus locations (such as to employees on the outer islands).   Q:   How will I know when a deposit for travel advances or reimbursements have occurred? A:   If you sign up via ePayment, you will receive email notifications of upcoming deposits. The email will include the travel document number(s) and the amount being deposited.   Q:   If I was overpaid on the advance and owe the University money, will they deduct it from my bank account? A:   No, EFT/ePayment is strictly for deposits, the University will never deduct money from your bank account. If you owe the University money, you must write a check and submit it with your Travel Completion.   Q:   Can I sign up for ePayment if my bank account is with a non-local financial institution? A:   Yes. ePayment interfaces with Bank of Hawaii, who supplies a lookup table of financial institutions and their bank routing numbers. That table includes both local and non-local financial institutions.