Page 2 | Bank won’t let me retrieve credit on credit card

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 2026-10-22T12:26:36+00:00

I have a credit card with a £640 credit balance on it. I actioned a balance transfer forgetting I had a refund coming in for a hotel (I thought it would be coming to my debit card). I have messaged them multiple times asking to return it. They won’t because of a pending transaction. Every time I ask them what the pending transaction is, they won’t say. They’ve said my only option is to spend it!!! £640!!!! AIBU to complain to the financial ombudsman?

TrappedByThisDesk · 23/10/2026 08:40

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 22/10/2026 13:41

This is just so much extra friction because a bank won’t give me my money!

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It is even more friction to go through the complaints process then the ombudsman process.
Sometimes things in life are unjust and the only option is to live with it.

Betterversionofme · 23/10/2026 08:26

Or you can very precisely describe what happened all over internet, like you did here, but with naming bank. Send to their customer service messages with links.
Make sure it's an honest picture.
They'll probably get back very quickly.

Original poster

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 23/10/2026 08:21

MandemChickenShop · 23/10/2026 08:17

£640 in a saving account is about £1.5 a month in interest, and after tax even less. Not worth getting steamy about

I don’t get taxed on savings interest.

it’s an extra £18 a year which is my money. Not theirs.

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MandemChickenShop · 23/10/2026 08:17

£640 in a saving account is about £1.5 a month in interest, and after tax even less. Not worth getting steamy about

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 23/10/2026 08:14

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Girlintheframe · 23/10/2026 08:09

I’ve just transferred credit from my AMEX to my current account. Was incredibly easy. I’m assuming once the pending transaction clears they will move it?

Discosnake · 23/10/2026 08:07

Boreded · 22/10/2026 18:03

No they don’t…they would charge a handling fee though and it will show on the credit file that there is cash transactions which can impact the score

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Absolutely not. I got refund to my normal bank account from Asda credit card when I received large refund to it. No issue at all. No credit score issue or fee.
Twice I might add

Fieldday26 · 23/10/2026 08:04

Having a credit card in credit can be a way of cleaning dirty money, especially if you have done a balance transfer recently. They will be being cautious because of this.

Either wait a few days until the pending transaction drops off or start using it for food and petrol and put your food and petrol money into savings.

Original poster

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 23/10/2026 07:56

Wheelz46 · 23/10/2026 07:44

If your credit card company can see a recent transaction out against a recent credit in, it can red flag for potential first party fraud and the team may need to investigate further to rule first party fraud out.

If it doesn't flag for this and there are no concerns, the credit card company I work for do not issue refunds on pending transactions. Any pending transaction can be recalled by the merchant. A refund will only be giving when out of pending.

I see you have now got your credit back, that is pretty good of your card provider if the credit transaction was still pending and no investigation was involved.

Don’t be so stupid. A refund is not a fraud flag.

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Original poster

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 23/10/2026 07:56

Charlenedickens · 23/10/2026 07:52

How on earth is this against their t and cs. Their t and cs do not dictate how you spend or save money on your current account, nor does it dictate what you’re allowed to spend using the credit card,

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You cannot maintain a positive balance on a credit card. Purposely keeping a balance to spend it with poor be against their terms and conditions.

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Charlenedickens · 23/10/2026 07:52

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 23/10/2026 06:28

As someone has now pointed out this is actually against their t&cs!

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How on earth is this against their t and cs. Their t and cs do not dictate how you spend or save money on your current account, nor does it dictate what you’re allowed to spend using the credit card,

Wheelz46 · 23/10/2026 07:44

If your credit card company can see a recent transaction out against a recent credit in, it can red flag for potential first party fraud and the team may need to investigate further to rule first party fraud out.

If it doesn't flag for this and there are no concerns, the credit card company I work for do not issue refunds on pending transactions. Any pending transaction can be recalled by the merchant. A refund will only be giving when out of pending.

I see you have now got your credit back, that is pretty good of your card provider if the credit transaction was still pending and no investigation was involved.

Applesonthelawn · 23/10/2026 07:14

You mis-judged your cash flows. An account which is not designed to be in credit does now have a surplus balance. Your overall picture is that you have surplus cash that you didn't expect - lucky you!

Pay for your general life expenses from the surplus balance in the credit card instead of the current account you would usually use. The current account will be in surplus by £650 in a month or so. Use that money to put into savings.

It is ridiculous to go to the Ombudsman over this, you will not make any headway at all and it just uses up resources unnecessarily.

NotAnotherScarf · 23/10/2026 07:01

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 22/10/2026 22:45

They can literally see the transaction to on the beach two months ago.

They have given me the money transfer. It was literally just them being difficult.

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No they have a system to stop fraud. However its clearly not always the best for customers and the one size fits all approach that most financial institutions have these days is a pain. But in this case I understand their view as well as yours.

Thankfully common sense won out.

Original poster

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 23/10/2026 06:28

Talkingfrog · 22/10/2026 22:45

I previously had credit on my card- I had paid a bill, and ended up with a refund so there was about £300 credit.

As others have suggested I used it to pay for food/petrol, snd transferred the money from the account the food shop should have come from, to where I now wanted it to be.

As someone has now pointed out this is actually against their t&cs!

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malmi · 23/10/2026 02:47

latetothefisting · 22/10/2026 23:31

wow, people talk absolute crap on here.
I've gone into credit on my credit card loads of times, it's very common if you've a dd set up to pay off in full but then get a refund. How on earth would it be against their t&c's, it's not something people can plan for! What would you suggest the alternative is, just not get money owed to you refunded?

It's never been as much as OP's so I've just spent it as and when, but when I asked they said I absolutely could have it transferred to a different account (e.g. cash equivalent) if I preferred.

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It is against the T&Cs of my credit card to “maintain a credit balance” so I think the occasional refund etc is fine but I can’t deliberately use it as a makeshift bank account. I think that’s very normal and I’d expect the account to be closed if i tried to do that. I understand that’s not what OP is trying to do.

LostWitch · 23/10/2026 01:20

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 22/10/2026 17:30

I’m not going to send £40 here and there across. That’s ridiculous.

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Well don't then

Sulk and complain and wait 6 months for it to come back.

AppleDumplingWithCustard · 23/10/2026 00:48

I recently had a substantial credit balance on one of my cards due to a refund for a cancelled event. My bank allowed me to request that it was credited to my current a/c with no fuss whatsoever. This was Halifax/Lloyds.

latetothefisting · 22/10/2026 23:31

Lobsterteapot · 22/10/2026 17:07

I mean you’re not supposed to put a credit card into credit for money laundering reasons. I suspect that’s what they will say and that you’re in breach of the T&Cs

wow, people talk absolute crap on here.
I've gone into credit on my credit card loads of times, it's very common if you've a dd set up to pay off in full but then get a refund. How on earth would it be against their t&c's, it's not something people can plan for! What would you suggest the alternative is, just not get money owed to you refunded?

It's never been as much as OP's so I've just spent it as and when, but when I asked they said I absolutely could have it transferred to a different account (e.g. cash equivalent) if I preferred.

Talkingfrog · 22/10/2026 22:45

I previously had credit on my card- I had paid a bill, and ended up with a refund so there was about £300 credit.

As others have suggested I used it to pay for food/petrol, snd transferred the money from the account the food shop should have come from, to where I now wanted it to be.

Original poster

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 22/10/2026 22:45

NotAnotherScarf · 22/10/2026 22:44

This

And to stop fraud...ie false refunds by employees to credit cards of friends

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They can literally see the transaction to on the beach two months ago.

They have given me the money transfer. It was literally just them being difficult.

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NotAnotherScarf · 22/10/2026 22:44

KindlySurfiingPlatypus · 22/10/2026 13:39

Buy your normal shopping and petrol on the card.
Each time you do, transfer the equivalent cash from your current account into savings.
Job done.

They cannot and will not give it back to you as cash. If they did it would be facilitating people fraudulently using credit transfer deals to get access to cheap cash loans. Credit transfer rates are a lot cheaper than cash loan rates so they have to be strict.

Edited

This

And to stop fraud...ie false refunds by employees to credit cards of friends

TeamsThemeTune · 22/10/2026 22:29

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 22/10/2026 22:18

I’ve spoken to them, threatened a complaint, and they authorised the money transfer

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Good news. Bloody ridiculous situation.

notnorman · 22/10/2026 22:21

i had a positive balance on capital one and they kept contacting me to give them my bank details so they could transfer it.

Original poster

tellingeveryonehowbadly · 22/10/2026 22:18

TeamsThemeTune · 22/10/2026 21:58

I don't think it's at all unreasonable for OP to want access to her own money, the reasons don't matter.

OP, is the positive balance shown on a monthly statement (which must be accurate), or just on the app/online (which may conceivably show a lag, although this is unusual for credit cards)?

Have you called them and spoken to someone on the phone, or just done this via their app? £640 refund from a well-known company would not usually be a flag for ML, especially as you've previously made a payment to the same people. It might just be that their system is a bit shit and can't cope with a credit balance refund via the app messaging, and the fact that you did a balance transfer post purchase has probably bamboozled them a bit as it's going back onto a different card with a different credit provider.

See the FAQs about managing your account and there is a section on what to do if your account is in credit. If the virtual assistant fails, just call them.

https://www.mbna.co.uk/credit-cards/help-and-support/faqs/managing-your-account.html

MBNA even state that in some cases they will refund a positive balance automatically if you have an account with them or a member of Lloyds Banking Group, so everyone stating categorically that this never happens and they won't return it because it's definitely considered to be money-laundering is just ... well I'll be polite and call it 'misguided conjecture'.

Edited

I’ve spoken to them, threatened a complaint, and they authorised the money transfer

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