Quote:
Originally Posted by Noah930
If you have a credit card with actual monetary credit on it (as in, you've paid more than you've charged, so there's a positive balance in your account), how would you expect the credit card company to deal with it? If for months and months, the monthly statement indicates a positive balance and you don't request any refund check, and you then make a purchase (for greater than the credit balance), you'd think you'd just have to pay the difference and all would be even, right? Do credit card companies do it any other way?
Well, apparently Macy's does.
My wife has/had a Macy's credit card. We had about a $40 credit/balance on it from some sort of returned item. That showed up on the monthly statement for several months. She then purchased a purse for $60. The next statement showed that we now owed $20. Just pay $20, right? So that's what we did. Paid the balance on time.
6 days later, Macy's sent us a check for $40. And the next statement indicated we owed them $40...plus whatever late penalties/finance charges they drummed up. WTF? (BTW, we never cashed that check.)
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Credit cards are useful tools, but they require maintenance. Normal business is done by machine or minimum wage short bus zombies but every company does have an office for problems and complaints. Skip the short bus zombies and go straight to complaints.
Make sure you don't owe them for any purchases. Make copies of all your statements, explain what happened just as you did here and start sending letters. Every time you get a statement with a balance for late penalties and finance charges send the letter and the copies of all the recent statements and demand credit. It may take six months, but they will eventually give you a credit for all the BS charges. The problem here is they give you credit for the BS charges on your last statement, but while the credit is being processed the computers are adding more interest charges for it - it may be as little as 50 cents. So your next statement will show a credit for the BS charges that appeared on the last statement, plus interest accrued while the credit was being processed, plus a late fee. You just have to be persistent, keep sending the letter and the statements. Before you are finished, make sure you receive at least two statements with zero balances. Then formally close the account. You have to be patient. The whole process can take nearly a year. Been there, done it.