guflyer

What is the Chase policy for refunding an annual fee upon account closure? Is it fees get refunded by calling within 30 days of the fee post date, or is it 30 days of the statement date? I called a couple of times and was told different things about annual fee refunds, with one person telling me that they don't refund the annual fees at all.

Dr Jabadski

Not a definitive answer but I too thought it was 30 days (from posting date) until … this experience (2nd post, see last sentence) of mine (biz card) and another person (apparent personal card) just a week ago suggesting that it's 41 (or even 90) days. Could be that 90 days only apply to biz cards. It’s virtually certain that it’s at least 30 days from posting date for personal and biz cards.

A very common problem with all businesses, particularly airlines and credit card issuers. That’s why HUCA (Hang Up Call Again) should be rule #1 of FF World and why for my situation linked above I've called (at least) 3 or 4 different times.

mia

There is no need to call. The policy is printed on your paper or PDF statement each and every month. The time is measured from the statement date.

Dr Jabadski

FWIW, 30 days from statement date and 30 days from posting date may be the same. My AmEx cards all post the annual fee on the same date as statement closing date, regardless of exact anniversary date, even when the statement closing date was changed at my request. My Chase cards all post the annual fee on the 1st, the day before statement closing date of the 2nd. I’m uncertain if Chase posts all annual fees on the 1st or on the day before statement closing date.

mia

Chase posts all Annual Fees on the 1st day of a month.

Happy

As mia pointed out, it is 30 days from statement closing date, which can be any date of the month of course. Chase bills AF on the 1st day of a month regardless when your card is opened. In other words if you opened the card on the 2nd or 3rd of a month (you need to literally go pass the 24hrs of the 1st day - dont ask me how do I know), your AF would be billed on the 1st of the following month if the first year fee not waived, or in 2nd year the 1st of the following month of the month your card initially opened.

After that 30 days there is no reversal of the AF. However if you do product change you have 41 days after the statement closing date to get AF full reversal. I do not know for sure if longer than 41 days whether the AF would be refunded prorated. In the past it was. But we do not seem to have recent DPs to confirm it is still the same policy.

pashber

I wish this were true on the card downgrade, but I called 3x and was told that the downgrade had to be done by the 41st day of the fee assessment in order to have the $550 fee reversed. They don’t acknowledge the statement date as relevant, as least in these 3 conversations.

My AF hit on 12/1. My statement date was 12/23. I was told I had to downgrade (product change) by 1/10, which is 41 days, with 12/1 as day 1. One rep said I had 40 days and when I told him December had 31 days, he said day 1 of the downgrade clock started on 12/2, so the deadline was still 1/10. Weird, but that’’s how they do it.

I asked what would happen if I missed the downgrade deadline by 1 day, and was told I would have to pay for the month, meaning I would recover only 11/12 of the $550 fee. So I downgraded in time, but because $2500 in travel expenses had not posted by 1/10, I lost out, getting 1 1/2% Chase FU) versus the 3%. However, they did not claw back the $300 travel credit I had already used.

mia

In other words you forfeited 3,750 points to save $46?

pashber

Yup. Normally, the points post within 2 days. Unfortunately, this was one of those rare occasions where it took 3 days.

I should mention that I was on the fence for a very long time about keeping the card and had almost decided to renew until checking around and realizing I could now qualify for the Sapphire Preferred 60K bonus (48 months+). BTW, does anyone know if an 80K bonus is on the horizon?

Dr Jabadski

Datapoints re: AF refund for account closure > 30 days from AF billing/posting/statement

It’s often written that Chase will refund annual fees when an account is closed within 30 days of AF posting date or statement date. This is my second Chase biz closure well past 30 days with AF refund that I've done within the past few months.

UA Club biz, opened November 2021, closed February 2023, 88 days after AF posted, 87 days after statement with AF, online info stated “account closed” immediately, AF refunded with few days, easily transferred to a different Chase biz account (or Chase would have mailed a check).

World of Hyatt biz, opened February 2022, closed yesterday, ~71 days after AF posted, 70 days after statement with AF, agent said AF to be credited manually (vs automatically for closure within 30 days of AF posting or statement), no news is good news, I’ll edit if AF does not get refunded as expected and/or if the 2 $50 statement credits since AF posting get clawed back. (Statement credits were a pleasant surprise, not at all a factor in my delaying closure (but I guess could be a factor for some people), I had forgotten about them, I was delaying closure until I had successfully applied (again) for a WOH personal card, only remembered the credits when I saw them on a recent statement.)