Update: The ACH transfer from Comenity to my bank account posted the next business day.
Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend. Over the weekend, I received an email from Comenity regarding my Comenity Virgin America Credit Card. According to the email, I had a $35.43 credit balance in my account. That was strange, I closed my Comenity Virgin America Credit Card back in October 2017. I logged into my Comenity account and checked out the recent credit card statement to see what was going on.
Even though I closed my Comenity Virgin America Credit Card in October 2017, I was still able to log into my account. There is a note on the login page that the Virgin America Visa Credit Card program ended on January 4, 2018.
It turned out that the $35.43 credit balance was from a “Prorated Annual Fee Credit” that was posted on December 25 – merry Christmas to me! Strangely, my most recent statement from Comenity came out in February 2018, so it looks like Comenity backdated the prorated annual fee credit.
I downloaded the PDF statement to see if I could learn more about the “Prorated Annual Fee Credit.”
Unfortunately, the PDF statement does not provide any more information than the Comenity website.
I then looked at my old credit card statements to piece the annual fees and annual fee refunds together. Long ago, I had the $149 annual fee Comenity Virgin America Premium Visa Credit Card. The $149 annual fee posted on June 23, 2017.
A few days later, I called Comenity to downgrade from the $149 annual fee Comenity Virgin America Premium Visa Credit Card to the $49 annual fee Comenity Virgin America Visa Credit Card. In the process of downgrading, I received a $95.58 annual fee credit (instead of the $100 annual fee credit if I had downgraded on June 23, 2017).
When the news came out that Comenity was not selling the Virgin America credit card portfolio to Bank of America, I called Comenity on October 2, 2017 to close my credit card. I remember being told that I would receive a prorated annual fee refund after the Virgin America program was officially merged with Alaska Airlines (in early 2018). Fast forward to this month, and I had a $35.43 prorated annual fee credit on my closed credit card. If I canceled my credit card closer to July 3, 2017, I would have received a larger prorated annual fee refund. Oh well.
I then called Comenity (855-871-9842) and asked if they would send me a check for the credit balance. Of course, the rep said, the check would arrive in 1-2 weeks. I then asked if they could do an ACH transfer to my bank account (the same bank account I had on file with Comenity to pay my credit card bills) and the rep said yes, that is possible. She didn’t have access to my bank account on file, so I gave her my routing and account number. After verifying the numbers, the rep said the ACH transfer should post to my bank account in 2-3 business days.
I am happy to get a partial annual fee refund, but I wish it was closer to the $49 that I paid back in July 2017. Oh well, I will take what I can get from Comenity / Virgin America. If you had a Comenity Virgin America Credit Card, try logging into your Comenity account and seeing if you have a credit balance from a prorated annual fee refund. If you do, contact Comenity and ask them to send you your money back. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!