Negative balance can make you think you made a mistake when you first see it. A negative balance on your credit card is a positive thing because it means the bank owes you money.

You might be less than happy to have your money tied up in a credit card. We are going to show you the best things to do when you have a negative credit card balance. We will cover the different things you can do, all requiring different levels of effort from you.

Why do I have a negative balance?

You will most likely have a negative credit card balance after you get a refund or return.

This happened to me when I returned and paid the balance on my World Elite Mastercard. After paying my bill, the return didn't process. What did the result look like? There is a negative balance on my card.

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To take care of my negative balance, I will use this card to spend $100. You may want to look into other options if you have a large negative balance.

After you cancel your credit card, you can get a refunds.

Keep spending on the card

The simplest option is this one. If you keep using the card that has a negative balance, the purchases you make on the card will bring you back to a positive balance. There is almost no need to contact the bank with this approach.

Transfer the balance to another card on your account

If you have a negative balance on another card in the same account, you can contact the bank and ask to transfer it to another card. The benefit of this approach is that you can put your future spend on a card that will earn you the most points, rather than using the negative balance on one card.

Matt had a negative balance of more than $400 on his Platinum Card from American Express due to aRefund There was a positive balance on his Delta card. He used the American Express chat feature to ask an agent to transfer the negative balance onto the Delta balance. It took less than a day for the balance to show up on the Delta card.

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Ask for cash

If you don't want to transfer the negative balance to another card, you may want to ask for cash. Banks will usually give you cash or a physical check for the amount they owe you.

It can be worth it to have the freedom to spend that money on a different card that will earn you more rewards than the card with the negative balance. You could just want the cash flow.

5 minutes of chat gave me 85,000 points.

Bottom line

Negative credit card balance means the bank owes you money. Choose the option that works best for you when you have a negative balance and maximize your rewards.

You can just spend on that card. You can either apply the balance to another card on your account or send the cash by direct deposit or check.