Banks are either not allowing credit card users to pay an amount more than their outstanding or refunding excess amounts due to concerns over money laundering and fraud.

Most credit card users pay either their total outstanding or minimum dues every month, but some customers pay more to ensure their card limit doesn’t get breached. The restrictions impact those who expect a temporary spike in spending due to high-value purchases or overseas travel. Bankers say that such customers can make payments soon after their purchase.

According to a bank executive, one of the reasons for not allowing the parking of funds into credit card accounts is to prevent them from being used as money mules in international transactions. “There have been instances of money from hacked accounts being transferred to compromised credit cards. These cards are then used for international transactions,” he said.

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Banks on overpaying

Most banks have put internal guards in place to prevent customers from overpaying through apps. However, it is still possible to initiate transfers through other banks. In such cases, card-issuing banks return the surplus funds within a week.

HDFC Bank, SBI Card, and Axis Bank do not allow users to pay above the outstanding amount through their apps, while some customers of ICICI Bank said that they were able to overpay on their credit cards. An HDFC Bank spokesperson said that since credit cards a lending products and not savings accounts, customers are not allowed to park excess funds.

“Banks are advised not to have excess credit on credit cards as they are also reviewed from the AML (anti-money laundering) angle. There is also a recent guideline that asks banks to refund excess credit balances on cards within a certain period. A credit card is not a prepaid card product to permit loading and utilization of the instrument,” the HDFC Bank spokesperson said.

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