A negative credit card balance will not hurt your credit score. If you notice an overpayment, it can be a good idea to contact your credit card issuer, particularly if the overpayment was significant. If you do nothing, and the excess remains, banking regulations require that your credit card issuer attempt to send you a refund after six months. You can dispute a credit card charge with your credit card issuer as soon as it posts to your account. The clock starts on the date of the billing statement with the disputed charge. While credit card overpayments are usually pretty simple to clear up, they can still affect your cash flow, leaving you in financial limbo until you get things sorted out.
- There’s no benefit to letting a credit card company hold on to money that could be earning you interest in a bank account.
- You’ll get notices when new charges hit your account or when refunds come through.
- Consumers are not inclined to pay more than the bill amount for purchases.
- An interest in your credit report and score, though, can serve you well.
- Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.
Let’s say for example you make a manual payment on the sixth of the month, but an automatic payment is scheduled for the same day. Neither payment clears in time to stop the other, so you end up with a negative balance that’s equal to the extra payment. But you’ve probably never given much thought to what happens if you pay too much on your credit card. While it may be a less frequent problem than late or missed payments, overpayments certainly happen.
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From industry experts to data analysts and, of course, credit card users, we’re well-positioned to give you the best advice and up-to-date information about the credit card universe. CreditCards.com credit ranges are derived from FICO® Score 8, which is one of many different types of credit scores. If you apply for a credit card, the lender may use a different credit score when considering your application for credit. When they followed up, BBVA said the money had been credited to their checking account electronically through an intermediary, considering that was the way BBVA received the money. The Experian Smart Money™ Debit Card is issued by Community Federal Savings Bank (CFSB), pursuant to a license from Mastercard International.
What To Do If You’ve Overpaid Your Credit Card
The payment window online usually includes a “statement balance” option you can click on, so you don’t risk going over if you wish to pay in full. Setting up email and text alerts can also help remind you about when the bill is due and the amount you owe. This might be in the form of a direct deposit back into the account you paid your account balance from. This also might take several business days, in which case it might be better to allow the credit card company to leave the credit on your account and use it on a future month’s balance. Paying the right amount on a credit card each month can be more challenging than you might expect.
Overpaying your credit card bill by a small sum will often result in a negative balance on your account. However, overpaying by a significant amount may be a fraud trigger for your issuer. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. While we strive to provide a wide range of offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
And even if you don’t ask for a refund, your credit card company must try to issue a refund if you don’t make any other purchases for more than six months. But if you do have one, it could have happened for a variety of reasons. If the dispute gets resolved in your favor around the time your payment is due, you might find yourself in a credit card overpayment situation.
What happens if you have a negative credit card balance?
If you close your credit card while there is a negative balance, the credit card account issuer must provide a full refund of the negative balance. Autopay is a handy tool to avoid unnecessary fees and penalties. When payments are automated, you might miss fraudulent charges or not realize that a refund has come through properly. Even when automated payments are enabled, you should check your account at least monthly to review charges.
What Is the Impact of a Negative Balance on Your Credit Score?
You still want to avoid negative balances because when there’s too much credit on your account, your credit card issuer might flag your account for fraud. This can lead to a lengthy dispute what happens if you overpay your credit card or inability to use your card for many days while the company sorts things out. It can be annoying to accidentally overpay a credit card bill, but it won’t affect your credit.