Credit balance refund taking forever!

Aviator_Man

Hi all, I’m getting increasingly impatient with my Creation Credit card which is in credit by £11k.

I made a BT (0%) and a DD was paid also, I requested the money to be transferred to my current account but they insisted the BT amount must be returned to credit card (lucky no fee). This has taken a few emails and couple of phone calls and coming up 4 weeks now it’s getting ridiculous! I’ve had an email stating the “refund form” had been completed (accepted evidence of where the money came from) and told 7-10 working days...since that email it’s been 16 working days!

Any thoughts or advice? I feel like closing my account!

[Deleted User]

Have you called them to ask?

Aviator_Man

I have a chain of 3 emails and called them twice...waiting to hear back from them with an update.

[Deleted User]

Then I would do that then

Aviator_Man

But do you not think they are taking an unreasonable amount of time!?

PRAISETHESUN

It is against the T&Cs for most cards to have a credit balance and in the case of balance transfers they typically refund them back to the card of origin to comply with anti-money laundering regulations. At least this is what happens in my experience.

I'm not sure on how long these things are supposed to take, but 4 weeks does seem a bit excessive. Perhaps consider putting in a formal complaint in writing, which they legally have a set time to respond to after which you can escalate to the FOS. It may also help speed up your issue with getting a refund if they want to avoid having to deal with your complaint

T-G-C

PRAISETHESUN wrote: »

It is against the T&Cs for most cards to have a credit balance and in the case of balance transfers they typically refund them back to the card of origin to comply with anti-money laundering regulations. At least this is what happens in my experience.

I'm not sure on how long these things are supposed to take, but 4 weeks does seem a bit excessive. Perhaps consider putting in a formal complaint in writing, which they legally have a set time to respond to after which you can escalate to the FOS. It may also help speed up your issue with getting a refund if they want to avoid having to deal with your complaint

You are correct. In the past, criminals have attempted to use the credit card network as a medium to store illegitimate funds.

This is because a credit card account is not the same as a current account and until providers clamped down it, there were instances of money laundering going undetected.

Some providers will refund to the card of origin, others will issue a cheque for the credit amount (less common now) or request a bank account to issue the funds to via BACS.

If this is a one-time occurrence and it happens due to innocent circumstances, such as a refund coming in that puts the account in credit, the provider will often accept this and work with the account holder to put things right. If it keeps happening or there is a suspicion of account misuse for money laundering (which KYC aims to prevent) then it will often be closed.

Aviator_Man

Ok thanks guys I get that it’s “against the terms of the account”, it was a legitimate error due to their systems for online banking repeatedly being unavailable and a large DD of £6k approx going out along with a BT of £6k.

Now fortunately I don’t need the cash as I’m in a fluid situation but I’m becoming more and more infuriated by the incompetence of Creation as a company.

To summarise;

1st email sent 24st July stating they required “evidence of where the money came from”- ok, easy; bank statement provided for DD and snap shot of credit card BT (no statement avail).

2nd email 30th chasing.

3rd received 1st aug staying all ok and “refund form complete, allow 7-10working days”

Several phone calls since and now, as of today, 18 working days since approval, I call them again to ask what the situation is and they claim they can only return my £6k DD unless I provide evidence for the BT (already done and approved but whatever) oh and guess what, they are being so
Kind as to expedite my refund so I am expecting £6k DD returned to current account 3-5days from now...I’ll probably be back here complaining in a months time it’s still not happened!

I really feel this is unacceptable and the company have been incompetent dealing with it. I can’t even be bothered to send off again for the £6k BT transfer to be returned, I could probably withdraw it from atm in the time they take to resolve!