Credit card positive balance

dezza

I recently paid off my credit card bill, however following the return of a couple of items bought last month which have been recently refunded, my credit card will have a positive balance of £50 on it in a couple of days.

I was wondering of the best way of getting this money back (if that makes sense?)... if I ask them to transfer it into a bank account (assuming it's possible), would I be charged some sort of advance fee or interest?

Thanks for any help

Own_My_Own

No they woundn't charge you. Just give them a ring, and they will pay the money back to your debit account.

dezza

Thanks for your answer - sounds straightforward enough.

The_Boss

Own_My_Own wrote: »

No they woundn't charge you. Just give them a ring, and they will pay the money back to your debit account.

So could you balance transfer say £1000 to an empty card and then call the provider of the card and ask for that to be transferred to your account fee free?

thenudeone

No. You can't do that. It is against the terms of any CREDIT card (the clue is in the name) to make a payment which puts the card into a positive balance.
A credit balance (particularly a fairly small balance) resulting from a retailer refund won't cause a problem, but a large over-payment will.

The card companies don't have a deposit-taker's licence and you could be suspected of money-laundering.

lisyloo

It's against the terms and condition of your credit card to go into credit (plus the money may not be insured against fraud).
It's likely that large amount will trigger money laundering checks and may not but could result in your card being closed.

Small amounts are unlikely to raise an eyebrow and I'm unsure how you are meant to avoid it for refunds.

I'd say for small amounts the easiest way is to spend the money.
Some companies may not have good phone service and are not efficient at doing refunds. Most people could spend £50 on food/petrol quite easily and possibly quicker than asking for a refund but it depends on what they CS is like and how slow they are at doing refunds.

The_Boss

thenudeone wrote: »

No. You can't do that. It is against the terms of any CREDIT card (the clue is in the name) to make a payment which puts the card into a positive balance.
A credit balance (particularly a fairly small balance) resulting from a retailer refund won't cause a problem, but a large over-payment will.

The card companies don't have a deposit-taker's licence and you could be suspected of money-laundering.

Well I did assume this would be the answer but wanted to clarify.

geet

I have a Barclay world mastercard (formerly egg money), that i have never used after the transfer, that has a £85 positive balance from egg days. I was going to close the card when I read that many were retaining it for the 1% cash back incentive. Now, how do I do that? Earlier egg allowed a positive balance so i could pay with that card and get the 1% without incurring any interest payment? But how do I do it now if I cannot make positive payments into it? Sorry, if this is a basic question. I have never used credit cards - i use my current account debit card which is also barclays for all payments. Thanks for any advice.

izools

Whilst it is against the terms and conditions there can be some fexibility, but as always, your mileage may vary.

If you do a BT to a credit card with a £NIL balance putting it thousands of pounds in to credit and just leave it there for a while, chances are they'll send the payment back to where it came from or put a block on the account until you provide proof of the source of the funds.

If you call them up as soon as the credit appears and give them some bull about "Oopsie, paid the wrong card my bad, can you pop it in my bank account or send me a cheque?" chances are they'll be cool with it.

OH recently managed to get Nationwide to move a £6,000 credit balance on his select card to his Flex Direct account, but there's no guarantee they'd always do this, of course.

thenudeone

geet wrote: »

I have a Barclay world mastercard (formerly egg money), .. that has a £85 positive balance from

You currently have a positive balance? The easiest way is just buy £85 worth of something. Alternatively you could ring them but I suspect the BC staff won't know anything about the fact that the card could be used like a savings account (now several years ago) and may not easily agree to sending the money to you.

Why don't you use your card for all your spending to get the 1% cashback? It's probably the best cashback card there is. Someone on average earnings spending everything they can on the card could get about £100 a year cashback.

As long as you pay the balance in full each month there is no interest charge. In the meantime you can earn a little interest on the money in an interest-bearing current account.

geet

thenudeone wrote: »

As long as you pay the balance in full each month there is no interest charge. In the meantime you can earn a little interest on the money in an interest-bearing current account.

Yes, that is what I want to do - I can spend the £85 no problem, but want to know how to spend after that when my balance becomes 0, without incurring any charge at all.

What is the time limit for "as long as you pay the balance in full each month"? End of the month - but then it will take five days to process - will i incur interest? Can i have a DD 'pay balance in full' and be assured i will never incur any charge.

Like is said have never used a CC!