Do refunds reduce the balance to pay on a statement?

Tracyk_2

I always pay off my balance each month - but last month I had bought loads of stuff to try on for holidays. My returns crossed over after the statement was produced. The final balance is fairly hefty and I am struggling to pay it all.
Can I reduce my payment by the amount of refunds that have been processed after the statement production but before the payment date?

dazza.mk

Normally not (unless the refunds bought the balance to zero),

lovinituk

dazza.mk wrote: »

Normally not (unless the refunds bought the balance to zero),

Why not? Its money credited back in to the account just as if you paid money off the balance yourself.

OP, from my experience it will be fine but just to be 100% sure why not phone your cc company and ask.

Tracyk_2

I thought yes - but not sure if they have - say - different categories of transactions. If the end balance was £100 - they would want to see a payment of £100 as opposed to a payment of £50 and a refund of £50.
I don't want to pay interest if I can help it.....

Auntie-Dolly

If the debit & credit are in different billing cycles it won't reduce the amount due.

lovinituk

Auntie-Dolly wrote: »

If the debit & credit are in different billing cycles it won't reduce the amount due.

Again, why not? Statement comes in and says £100 is due by 31st. Refund of £50 credits account on 20th account so balance reduces to £50. Thats how its always seemed to work with my account or am I missing something?

lovinituk

Tracyk wrote: »

I thought yes - but not sure if they have - say - different categories of transactions. If the end balance was £100 - they would want to see a payment of £100 as opposed to a payment of £50 and a refund of £50.
I don't want to pay interest if I can help it.....

I've not always paid the exact amount owed in one payment. I sometimes pay a bit from one bank account and a bit from another. I'm pretty certain that I have included refunds in that in the past.

Phone the cc company and ask them and then come back here and let us know.

lovinituk

Just did a quick google on it and there is conflicting info all over the place. It looks like it may depend on your banks rules. One thread I found says that Barclays do count it as reducing your balance and that tallies with my own experience with Barclaycard. The same thread says that Lloyds don't count it as a payment.

Best to get on the phone OP!!

cse

Couple of things on this:
- Refunds definitely do not count towards your minimum payment. If your min pay is £5 and you take £100 worth of stuff back to a shop, you will still need to make a payment of £5 to avoid late charges. This is pretty consistent across all lenders
- If you're trying to pay your statemented balance in full, which it sounds like you are, it's more of a minefield. Depends very much on the lender's own policies, and in some cases the IT systems they use. As mentioned above, it's best to call up and be sure (though there's a chance that they won't know either)

Do you have a direct debit set up? If so you'd expect the amount due to auto-adjust for any refunds and additional payments, but again that's something that varies between lenders

guesswho2000

Check with your card issuer, but most specifically state that refunds will not reduce the amount due under the minimum payment unless the value of the refunds reduces the account balance to zero. That's certainly been the case with every credit card I've ever had.

lovinituk

guesswho2000 wrote: »

Check with your card issuer, but most specifically state that refunds will not reduce the amount due under the minimum payment unless the value of the refunds reduces the account balance to zero. That's certainly been the case with every credit card I've ever had.

Perhaps thats what I'm thinking of then (which is also what I think the OP was getting at) as I always pay mine off in full but take into account any refunds before paying the remaining balance.