topic Re: Chase credit balance refund in Credit Cards

Chase credit balance refund

IsFiveCardsEnough — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:16:32 GMT

I received an email from Chase this morning that they issued a refund on a credit balance. At first I thought it was a phishing attempt, so I logged into Chase and looked and they did issue a refund on a credit balance on my CFU.

If I go into the site linked in the email (which goes to a jpmorgan rather than Chase.com site) it asks for the last 4 digits of the card number and then it lets me enter bank account info to deposit the refund. I assume if I don't do this by the 10/6 deadline they'll mail me a check?

My real question is what triggered this? I often overpay my cards that I want to report a zero balance in case a charge hits before the statement closes, and they don't usually just issue a refund like this. This is a card I use all the time so it's not like it's been sitting with a credit balance for months. Maybe a few days at most. Of course I used the card last night so now it's going to report non-zero.

Maybe it was because the credit was over a certain amount (it was like $45... I usually round up my payment to some multiple of $100 based on how much I anticipate putting on the card after paying it). Or maybe because several statements have cut with credit balances even though I've "used it up" and put charges on the card, paying them off before the next statement cut.

I would prefer if they'd just leave the credit balance there, as I will use it for purchases, and I do try to stick to AZEO or something close to it as much as possible. If I didn't, I'd be non-zero on most/all cards most months. I could just let the balance report and then pay it to zero and take advantage of Chase's mid-cycle zero reporting too, but it's easier to just pay before the due date/statement cut, regardless of a payment is actually due or not.

Thanks...

Re: Chase credit balance refund

Kforce — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 19:04:00 GMT

I believe they are required to refund an overbalance/credit if it sits for a period of time.

Don't remember if it is 60 or 90 days, etc.

If the credit is changing every month, they tend to leave it be.

When I was playing with Azeo, I overpaid a few accounts every month.

-52 one month -124 next, this never forced them to send a check.

My guess that the same credit has posted for a few months.

Re: Chase credit balance refund

IsFiveCardsEnough — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 00:53:00 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
If the credit is changing every month, they tend to leave it be.
...
My guess that the same credit has posted for a few months.

I'm pretty sure it was different each month, as this card is one of my daily drivers. So even though a credit balance may have posted over a few months, it was most likely always a different credit balance. I'll have to check my past several months of statements to see what the credit balances were, and the last time I let an actual balance post on this card.

Oddly, the refund wasn't triggered by a credit statement balance as the statement hasn't cut yet (due date is the 1st so statement generally closes the 3rd). I paid the card to a credit balance on 9/27, used it to buy gas on the 28th (which didn't use up the credit balance), then on the 1st the refund was issued. I don't know if it's a "first of the month" thing or a "credit balance on the due date" thing, but I always have paid this card ahead of the due date and usually to a credit balance.

So what triggered this refund is a mystery.

Some time ago I'd booked a trip or a hotel or something on my CSP and then cancelled it after paying the card off so I ended up with a much larger credit balance on that card (which I rarely use), and that card didn't issue a refund. I think I made a point to use that card to use up the credit the following statement period.

Re: Chase credit balance refund

IsFiveCardsEnough — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 01:08:11 GMT

Just went thru a bunch of statements. Last time I had a non-credit statement balance on the CFU was in May, 5 months ago. That might be what triggered the refund. I've never posted 5 consecutive months of credit balances on a Chase card before, at least not in the past year or two. I often paid the card to exactly zero and avoided using it until the statement cut, but recently I've been lazy and overpaying the card instead.

I guess the moral of the story is to post a positive or zero balance at least one every 3 months or so to avoid getting a refund.

Re: Chase credit balance refund

IsFiveCardsEnough — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 14:15:10 GMT

Now they're emailing me that the refund will "expire" soon if I don't act.

Will it just "expire" and disappear? Or will they mail me a check? I don't want to have them "eat" it and make some unearned profit, but I didn't want to give them my bank account info either. There was no option to put it back on the card as a statement credit (that would be the no brainer option).

Thoughts? Has anyone else gone through this and did they mail a check after the refund "expired"?