What happens if I unintentionally make a Credit Card Overpayment?
Overpayment means paying more than the Outstanding Balance or Current Balance.
Basically, it’s not a grave mistake if you overpay your credit card. The extra money paid is still yours. It will appear as a Credit in your account. You can use this Overpayment as reserve money to pay for the next month’s bill. Or if you have nothing more to pay on the next bill, you can use this Overpayment as advance payment for future purchases.
Can I refund my Credit Card Overpayment?
It depends on your card issuer’s policy.
Some like Metrobank and BDO do not refund overpayments.
Metrobank has its policy on Overpayments on their credit card statements. It says that overpayments will be used to pay for succeeding credit card purchases and charges.
Standard Chartered, on the other hand, allows the refund of an overpayment. The credit card holder requests the bank in writing to refund the overpayment, as reflected in the card statement, and pays 500 pesos for refund processing.
Does overpayments earn interest?
No.
Why or how does unintentional overpayment happen?
Mostly it happens if you’re paying your credit card through an automatic debit arrangement. Minsan nadodoble yong Debit.
It happens also when you’re paying through Internet Banking, at marami kang pera sa bank account mo. Nag-aapura ka tapos nasobrahan mo ang pindot ng zero — yong 1000 mo naging 10000.
If Overpayment is not my fault, and it’s the fault of the card issuer, can I refund my Overpayment?
Yes, you can request for a refund in writing or via email. You can follow it up over the phone.
But in automatic debit arrangements where your bank is a different entity from your credit card issuer, it’s your bank that will be at fault, and not your credit card issuer.
If my credit card does not allow the refund of overpayments, is there another way I can get my money? I need cash badly.
You can consider making a Cash Advance. But bear in mind that there’s a Cash Advance Fee, and that the interest for your cash advance starts accumulating from the day you make the Cash Advance.
Indeed, the card issuers are shrewd.
What’s the usual Overpayment policy in the U.S.?
You can always request for a refund.
Banks are also mandated to report large Overpayments to federal agencies because Overpayments are also used by crime syndicates for money laundering.
BDO refuses to refund overpayment done by the surviving spouse who is a senior citizen. The deceased used to pay her credit card but when she passed away the task was passed on to the surviving spouse who was not knowledgeable regarding this matter. He continuously paid BDO thinking that the negative amount was part of the credit card debt. He was not even informed by the BDO teller that he was making an overpayment. It’s been 4 years since this incident happened. He complied with what BDO told him to do but to no avail. What can he do?
Do you mean he continuously paid a certain amount month after month over 4 years? So the Total Amount Due, which is negative, increased month after month? And he received statements of account month after month? Did BDO send a renewal card?
Or BDO told him to do something 4 years ago that he has complied with but BDO did not do what it promised to do? And you discovered it only now?
I’m not sure what to suggest since I don’t know the other facts, but I suggest that you collect documents (credit card statements, payment receipts, death certificate). Photocopy them and scan them or picture them for your own copy. Then assist the senior citizen in writing a letter to BDO: describe the circumstances of overpayment, request for refund, total to be refunded, include details (dates of overpayments and amounts). Support the letter with documents. Have your own copies. I hope the senior citizen can still physically go to BDO and have the documents received by BDO. If ever your complaint reaches the BSP (Central Bank), the BSP needs to know you have first tried to negotiate with BDO before you ask help from BSP.
On one side, I think BDO is not inclined to refund the overpayments (except if there’s proof of inefficiency on the part of the teller receiving the payments), but it’s BDO’s moral responsibility to refund the overpayments, given that the widower strived to be good and continued paying what he thought was his wife’s debts. Sinabi ko na hindi inclined ang BDO in the sense na kung living pa sana yong cardholder ay madali namang gastusin yong overpayment (charge lang for groceries or appliances). I think they have a policy of not refunding overpayments. I checked their recent terms and conditions pero hindi ko makita. Parang meron pa akong nabasa na yong other banks… they charge for storage fee kung a cardholder closes their account pero merong natira na amount.
Isa pang issue is the widower is not the cardholder, so ang refund kung meron man, will be in the name of the cardholder. Meron ding ibang sets of requirements sa mga heir’s claims on accounts. I’m so sorry I can’t help really. I hope you can ask other people too.
So you will plead with BDO on their moral values as a bank and company.
Parang yong mga nagkakamali sa funds transfer. Merong mga big cases na instead na $10k lang ang naitransfer ng bank ay natransfer ng $100k. Dapat yong recipient ibalik yong sobra, as a responsible human being, pero yong iba, ginagasto na agad. Court cases were filed to recover wrong transfers but I have not followed through on the final results.