30

I paid for a conference with a credit card (about 10 months in advance before the event). The amount was taken from my card in a few weeks. About 3 months later, I cancelled this credit card as I changed credit card companies (unrelated event). But then this conference was eventually cancelled 10 months later due to pandemic. Now after a year of emails, they have offered to refund the amount but only to the exact card that was used to pay for it. And of course I don't have this card anymore. Is there some workaround?

Edit: The card/bank is based in Sweden and the event paid for was in the US.

Update: I did contact the back and now 7 weeks later, I finally got my refund.

mindlessgreen
  • 403
  • 4
  • 8
  • 24
    Yes, call the bank of your cancelled credit card and seek their advice. – MonkeyZeus Jan 19 '22 at 18:48
  • 10
    In the future, remember that it's quite common for refunds to only be issued to the original card, so don't cancel a card for which a refund is anticipated. – chepner Jan 19 '22 at 20:06
  • 14
    @chepner: It's not always avoidable. I had my card compromised in the interim on one case. It had to be cancelled. – Joshua Jan 20 '22 at 03:11
  • 13
    @Joshua Well, not really. You just had to block the card and obtain a new card from the same bank under the same contract. In those circumstances the bank should be able to route any credits from the old card to your new one without issues. The OP instead switched banks, so there is no chance to automatically route the money to a new card – GACy20 Jan 20 '22 at 08:49
  • 4
    @GACy20: Except my bank didn't. – Joshua Jan 20 '22 at 15:55
  • 1
    Had this problem myself. It was with a specific retailer and there was a "dispute" that eventually closed out in my favor. – JosephDoggie Jan 20 '22 at 17:07
  • 1
    Then it will credit to your account. On a closed account, this will reduce your debt in arrears, or, result in a credit and they will send you the money. Using the gold-standard way of sending money in your country. To them it is a CYA more than a courtesy. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 21 '22 at 20:50

4 Answers4

46

This happened to me a few months ago. I received a statement in the mail from the bank who issued the card that showed a credit. They did not send a check to me proactively but after contacting them they did send a check for the amount of credit.

jwh20
  • 3,468
  • 1
  • 14
  • 15
  • 2
    Yep. The bank normally understands when that happens and is able to handle it! – Aganju Jan 20 '22 at 02:50
  • 8
    This only works for default country. I wonder what is the practise in the rest of world where checks are not used. – Alex Jan 20 '22 at 09:27
  • 11
    @Alex Well, then they use the way which is usual in that respective country, e. g. a SEPA transfer where they apply or whatever means is available. – glglgl Jan 20 '22 at 11:50
  • I don't think there are any countries where checks are not used. There are countries where checks are not usually used. – DJClayworth Jan 21 '22 at 15:28
  • 4
    @DJClayworth Well, I know of only one such country, but it is still a counterexample: in the Netherlands, banks do not offer the possibility of writing checks. For now, it is still possible to cash a foreign check although it is prohibitively expensive, but soon banks will refuse to accept them. – 11684 Jan 21 '22 at 17:56
  • I'm sure thy use whatever payment method is current in that country. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 21 '22 at 20:52
10

In the UK at least, one of two things will happen:

  1. The receiving bank will contact you and ask how you wish to receive the credit. Possibly less a small administration fee.

  2. If the bank has a reliable way of identifying a bank account that belongs to you, say a recent direct debit or another account that belongs to you with the same bank, they'll just deposit it there automatically.

ScottishTapWater
  • 328
  • 1
  • 9
  • 2
    Banks often have ways and means not available to others - I was due some PPI compensation (there was a whole thing about it a few years back) and my then bank calculated it and paid it into my account. I subsequently closed that account, and later moved house. 3 years later, I get a letter at my new address from old bank saying they had miscalculated and owed me more, and it would be paid into my current account at my new bank. At no point had I told my old bank I had switched banks (didnt use a switching service etc) or told them my new address. Banks have means we dont. –  Jan 20 '22 at 20:08
5

Is there some workaround?

There is no need to. Let the event company refund via the credit card, and then contact the bank or credit card processor to receive the proceedings.

This is because:

  1. The event company may have no means to know if the person emailing them is the credit card owner. So the only safe way (for them) to process the refund is by using the same channel of payment: the credit card.

  2. There is a credit card account and (possibly many) credit cards numbers. When you "reissue" a new card, your account continues. The same applies here. The refund will pass through our canceled card number and be deposited in your card account.

Then contact the credit card company and inform them that you don't have that card anymore, that you will not create a new card, and ask for a check or transfer of the credit. In the remote possibility that the credit card company, in turn, gave you any headache, then inform you that you will pursue formal complaints with the Central Bank and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (or the respective institutions in your country).

André LFS Bacci
  • 851
  • 5
  • 6
  • 6
    The issue isn't with the credit card company, it's with the company that was running the event that was cancelled. – Barmar Jan 20 '22 at 15:13
  • The event company may have no means to know if the person emailing them is the credit card owner. So the only safe way (for them) to process the refund is by using the same channel of payment: the credit card. After the refund goes through, this and other answers would apply. – André LFS Bacci Jan 20 '22 at 22:34
  • 2
    Sure, but you said to reply to the credit card company. You can't reply to someone who hasn't communicated with you in the first place. And why would you be filing a complaint against a company that hasn't done anything wrong yet? – Barmar Jan 21 '22 at 01:48
  • I misread the original text. I will rewrite part of answer. – André LFS Bacci Jan 21 '22 at 14:56
  • 1
    "The refund will pass through our canceled card number and be deposited in your card account." The OP says they changed credit card companies, not just changed card numbers. – Barmar Jan 21 '22 at 15:11
  • @Barmar that's not necessarily a stopper. Many years ago when AOL gave my Dad a run around when he tried to cancel their service after getting DSL; he tried to end run their customer disservice dept by cancelling the credit card they were billing. The next month, he discovered that VISA helpfully gave AOL the information needed to send their bill to another one of his credit cards. – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Jan 21 '22 at 16:30
  • @DanIsFiddlingByFirelight Wow, I have a hard time believing it's legal for them to charge a credit card without the cardholder's authorization. – Barmar Jan 21 '22 at 16:38
  • @Barmar They had his authorization, though he was trying to cancel it. Cancelling a credit card does not revoke any authorizations to bill that account. When you give someone a credit card number to authorize payments, you are using the card number to authorize billing the account. – David Schwartz Jan 21 '22 at 18:54
  • @DavidSchwartz But he was talking about a totally different account at a different bank. If I give you a Visa card from Bank A, and the charge is declined, you can't charge my MasterCard card from Bank B. – Barmar Jan 21 '22 at 19:13
  • @Barmar That's not how I read it since they say he cancelled "the credit card they were billing" (not the account) and they say "another one of his credit cards" which could have been the same account. (And I suspect that what really happened is that they were billing the account all along and the cancellation of the card had no effect on anything and his father didn't fully understand what was going on.) – David Schwartz Jan 21 '22 at 19:31
  • @DavidSchwartz You're right, I misread it as meaning a totally unrelated card. – Barmar Jan 21 '22 at 19:36
  • @DavidSchwartz it was a card at a different bank. Keeping your subscription going for you even if you lose an account is a "service" VISA offers (or did 15+ years ago anyway). – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Jan 22 '22 at 04:26
3

It helps if we know your country, and the issuer. I had a similar issue at Kinko's some years back. I also had a situation with a phone banking app developed in partnership with Vodafone and my bank. It allowed transfers to cancelled cards at times.

Such deposits and refunds can go into a suspense account if the card number has not been re-used. It may also suddenly trigger a statement. Otherwise the bank has a team for this. In my case the team was appropriately named for their role. It can be sorted. Changing cards or providers can complicate the matter as they would obviously prefer to sweep the balance to another account. If the reversal cannot be processed it is the Merchant's problem.

mckenzm
  • 985
  • 4
  • 8