Refund deposit to a closed bank account

[turtle1947]

On 8/13 I cancelled a cruise for which I had a refundable deposit. Unfortunately I have closed the bank account whose debit card I used and moved to a new bank. RCCI tells me they have to issue the refund to the bank, wait for the bank to return to them, then cut a check and mail to me.

 

Any have an idea how long all this takes?

[Nanatravel]

On 8/13 I cancelled a cruise for which I had a refundable deposit. Unfortunately I have closed the bank account whose debit card I used and moved to a new bank. RCCI tells me they have to issue the refund to the bank, wait for the bank to return to them, then cut a check and mail to me.

 

Any have an idea how long all this takes?

 

That is a problem on your end. You will have to keep checking with the closed bank account company to see if they have received your refund. I don't know of the bank returning the check to RCI. I had this occur to a client for a CCL cruise.

[schmeed]

In the modern world, those transactions take minutes. However, I'm sure RCI will take several days to turn this around. The check will probably take 10+ business days to arrive. I would absolutely stay on top of them.

 

Disclaimer: I don't have direct experience with this situation, but I know AR/AP departments are notoriously slow.

[klfrodo]

Hopefully Schmeed is correct but I'm thinking his timeline is very generous.

I wouldn't be surprised if this takes 90 days or more to get this straightened out.

 

You caused a problem that Royal will say they sent the refund to the bank, the bank will say they returned the check and Royal will say they don't have it in their records..

 

You're in a long fight unless you can get the right people involved.

If you live in a small town where everybody knows everybody else business,,, I'd head down to the old bank and talk to someone who can help head this off.

[schmeed]

Hopefully Schmeed is correct but I'm thinking his timeline is very generous.

I wouldn't be surprised if this takes 90 days or more to get this straightened out.

 

You caused a problem that Royal will say they sent the refund to the bank, the bank will say they returned the check and Royal will say they don't have it in their records..

 

You're in a long fight unless you can get the right people involved.

If you live in a small town where everybody knows everybody else business,,, I'd head down to the old bank and talk to someone who can help head this off.

 

No checks were sent to their bank. This would have been an electronic ACH refund. Their bank should immediately reject the transaction (as the account is invalid) and then the money would be returned to RCI. In ACH world, this should take a few business days at most (even though the transactions take minutes).

 

Now....you are correct in that the wait will be getting a check from RCI. They will not be in any hurry to cut and mail a check for the refund. I think 10 business days is reasonable...but it could definitely take longer.

 

That's why I said I would be ALL OVER RCI to get it done quickly. :)

[steveru621]

No checks were sent to their bank. This would have been an electronic ACH refund. Their bank should immediately reject the transaction (as the account is invalid) and then the money would be returned to RCI. In ACH world, this should take a few business days at most (even though the transactions take minutes).

 

Now....you are correct in that the wait will be getting a check from RCI. They will not be in any hurry to cut and mail a check for the refund. I think 10 business days is reasonable...but it could definitely take longer.

 

That's why I said I would be ALL OVER RCI to get it done quickly. :)

 

Since a debit card was used to make the payment, ACH is not used. The credit will be issued through the Visa or MasterCard electronic settlement system. The credit for that card number will reject at the banks processor and be returned to the network the very next business day. The unknown here is whether RCI enters these credits into a card terminal, which I doubt, in which case they will know it immediately. In either case ACH is not part of this for RCI.

 

As to when RCI will notice it rejected is up in the air.

[bouhunter]

I wouldn't be surprised if this takes 90 days or more to get this straightened out.

 

and Royal will say they don't have it in their records..

 

.

 

Probably both incorrect. RCCL deals with this all the time - refunds on credit cards that have changed or been cancelled, bank accounts closed, etc. It will take a little time, but probably no where near 90 days......

[steveru621]

Probably both incorrect. RCCL deals with this all the time - refunds on credit cards that have changed or been cancelled, bank accounts closed, etc. It will take a little time, but probably no where near 90 days......

 

I agree.

 

The reason RCI wants to credit your debit card directly is the interchange fee paid to process the original amount. It's not much, maybe 1-2% on a debit card. But all those credits add up.

[broberts]

Probably both incorrect. RCCL deals with this all the time - refunds on credit cards that have changed or been cancelled, bank accounts closed, etc. It will take a little time, but probably no where near 90 days......

 

Does this also apply to the debit card used by the OP?

[steveru621]

Does this also apply to the debit card used by the OP?

 

For non-PIN processing, debit and credit cards act the same. RCI does not use POS PINs, therefore uses the same network that all credit cards use. Over 5 years ago a merchant was not even aware it was a Debit card. That changed in a settlement that required the word DEBIT on the front of the card along with the Visa, MasterCard, etc... logo.

 

This was done, in part, for Auto Rental merchants to tell what kind of safeguards they needed to use.

 

EDIT:

 

Just wanted to add. Just because it's a Debit card, RCI still has no idea what the customer's checking account number backs up the card.