A canceled credit card can still receive charges and refunds

[Alan]

Our son and we have just had a couple of interesting events with canceled cards.

I canceled a card in March this year. Last month I went to the Dr office for a checkup. (I last visited the office 2 years earlier). When I checked out they said that insurance covered it all - nothing to pay. A few days later I received a letter from the Dr office saying that they noticed that my account was $114 in credit and that they had refunded the balance to the card I used at my last visit 2 years earlier. I tried accessing my card on-line - no deal - card canceled. I called them, confirmed that it was canceled but had just received a refund of $114. I then requested that they send me a check, which they did.


Son canceled his only card also in March. In September he gets a statement out of the blue showing he owed $54 for Norton Antivirus. He called the credit card company and they told him that the card had been re-activated when Norton charged his annual fee to it and there was nothing he do but pay the bill, and then cancel his automated annual charge with Norton.

I think both practice of accepting charges and refunds on canceled cards is terrible, but thought I'd share the experience to let others know that canceling a credit card is not necessarily the end of the matter, even many months after the event.

 

[maddythebeagle]

What card issuer accepted charges after canceling...that is odd and would insist on them removing the charge...Not odd to take refunds on canceled cards, though, I have had that happen...probably since it cheaper to apply payments to the closed accounts rather then send payments back....

 

[bssc]

They are called soft cancels and usually last from six to twelve months depending on your card issuer. It is to handle issues like repeating subscriptions that people forget to change.

It would be better than getting a $25 charge for the equivalent of a bounced check, I guess.

 

[Alan]

What card issuer accepted charges after canceling...that is odd and would insist on them removing the charge...Not odd to take refunds on canceled cards, though, I have had that happen...probably since it cheaper to apply payments to the closed accounts rather then send payments back....

It was CapitalOne that accepted the new charge and they did not give a timeline, just said that if an automated charge had been established then it didn't matter if the card had been canceled. Some years back we had a similar problem with AOL charging our credit card after we had canceled AOL and I called the CC company who allowed me to refuse the charge, but told me that I couldn't tell them to stop accepting charges from AOL, I had to monitor the card and challenge each charge. (It happened 3 times before AOL finally got the message that I really did want to cancel)

 

[Alan]

They are called soft cancels and usually last from six to twelve months depending on your card issuer. It is to handle issues like repeating subscriptions that people forget to change.

It would be better than getting a $25 charge for the equivalent of a bounced check, I guess.

I would expect the likes of Norton to simply cancel the subscription, or send a confirmation that they are going to charge you since it is an annual thing. I never automate annual charges so I don't really know.

Our son has learned a lesson at no cost this time around.

 

[GladToBeFree]

Maybe to get around the problem...

It was CapitalOne that accepted the new charge and they did not give a timeline, just said that if an automated charge had been established then it didn't matter if the card had been canceled. Some years back we had a similar problem with AOL charging our credit card after we had canceled AOL and I called the CC company who allowed me to refuse the charge, but told me that I couldn't tell them to stop accepting charges from AOL, I had to monitor the card and challenge each charge. (It happened 3 times before AOL finally got the message that I really did want to cancel)

You could report a "lost card" and get a new one. Then cancel the new one before using it. I would hope that charges to a lost card wouldn't be valid.

 

[Alan]

You could report a "lost card" and get a new one. Then cancel the new one before using it. I would hope that charges to a lost card wouldn't be valid.

Nice idea - I'll remember that for future when I cancel a card

 

[Meadbh]

I recently had a bad experience with Sears. For their own reasons they changed the number of my card and issued me a new one, but kept the old number operative for several months. I forgot all about it and paid my bill (I shop at Sears every 2-3 months or so) to the old number that was still popping up on my bank's website. Then I got another bill for the same amount, with interest. Luckily my ever helpful bank got it all sorted out within days. But Sears had accepted the payment and was quite willing to bill me twice!

 

[Trek]

I've had the same bad experience with Capital One. I canceled my CC account and cut up the card 10 months ago, but it's still valid and open. Multiple phone calls have gotten me nowhere with it. I'd never do business with Capital One ever again.

 

[JustMeUC]

This brings up bad memories!

Several years ago I had AOL and they were auto billing my CC. I purchased a new computer which came with 1 year of AOL service so I canceled my previous account. Well, they kept charging my card for several months so I canceled the CC thinking that would put an end to it..... NOPE! I would call AOL every month and cancel and called my CC company several times telling them if they continued to accept charges from AOL I would not pay it. They did and I did not pay it. It is the one black mark on my credit and since I am not financing a house at any point I have no intention of ever paying it!! Still gets me hot around the collar!

 

[Alan]

This brings up bad memories!

Several years ago I had AOL and they were auto billing my CC. I purchased a new computer which came with 1 year of AOL service so I canceled my previous account. Well, they kept charging my card for several months so I canceled the CC thinking that would put an end to it..... NOPE! I would call AOL every month and cancel and called my CC company several times telling them if they continued to accept charges from AOL I would not pay it. They did and I did not pay it. It is the one black mark on my credit and since I am not financing a house at any point I have no intention of ever paying it!! Still gets me hot around the collar!

I had a very similar experience with AOL. 3 times I canceled and 3 times had to go through the disputed charfe process. The cc company said they could not stop accepting charges from AOL. Absolutely nuts. They just hope folks don't check their statements closely every month.