Some time ago, my Discover miles credit card had a negative balance. Since that money would otherwise just sit there, and I don’t like dealing with slow and inconvenient paper checks, I wanted to see whether customer service could ACH the funds directly back to the Checking account I use for payments. In practice, this was actually very easy for customer service to do. When I called, the representative first said they could only mail a check, but I emphasized that I wanted an ACH transfer to the same Checking account I use to pay the card. The rep put me on hold, and after a short wait came back and said it was no problem. After verifying the Checking account information and asking about the source of the balance credit, such as a refund, the rep said the transfer would be completed within 14 days, while again noting that mailing a check would be faster. I still chose ACH.
- In reality, the money arrived in just 2-3 business days, which was still much faster than receiving a check by mail. (A bit slower than AMEX, though; AMEX ACH refunds usually arrive the next day.)
- The statement will show ACH FUNDS TRANSFER REVERSAL
If you choose to receive a check, or if the card carries a negative balance for a long time and the system automatically mails a check, the statement will show Credit Balance Refund (Sale type), like this:
- Discover miles is a good beginner card that earns everything 1.5X. You can also apply for a second Discover card after holding the Discover it (quarterly 5%, $50 sign-up bonus) for one full year. Its biggest feature is the first-year match, making it effectively 3X in the first year, plus a $100 sign-up bonus. If you’ve already run out of cards to open, the unlimited first-year 3X also makes it a great option for experienced users.