Pay Yourself Back with Disney Visa vs. using a Rewards Card

[Bellex917]

One more Q for the pros...

Let's say I go to Disney and come home on the 18th of the month. My credit cycle goes through the 12th. So, do I need to wait until the 12th for those rewards to officially post to pay myself back and keep the rewards, or can I pay myself back prior to the credit cycle ending? I usually pay my credit card off the day I return home from a vacation so I know it's all done and paid for, I don't wait for the billing cycle to end. However, if I choose to do the PYB my reason would be to earn the points on those purchases, so I don't want to NOT bc I paid them early.

 

[disneychrista]

For those that are confused about @eticketplease explanation, this might help.

I had $0.50 left on my DVC dues after using gift cards. I charged the $0.50 to my Disney visa, and $0.01 in rewards is pending on my account. I then used PYB to wipe out the $0.50, and the $0.01 in rewards is still pending. I expect to see that penny added to my rewards at my statement close.
(This is not about earning a penny - I couldn't care less about the 50 cents or the penny. It is just a data point.)

Now, maybe I am misunderstanding the conversation above, because some of it was hard to follow (read it quickly), but it seems as if you do earn rewards on anything you purchase, even if you use PYB to pay for it.

I will be curious if that penny is actually posted or not. Because everything I have read says the total rewards you get is based on your statement balance (purchases less any credits) What I posted above, if you read past what I highlighted, states that if your statement balance is negative they will deduct rewards. My experience shows that this is the case.

 

[trenty]

I will be curious if that penny is actually posted or not. Because everything I have read says the total rewards you get is based on your statement balance (purchases less any credits) What I posted above, if you read past what I highlighted, states that if your statement balance is negative they will deduct rewards. My experience shows that this is the case.

I haven’t used PYB in a long while, so I don’t really remember. I am confident that the penny will post. I will check when the statement closes. I have always understood that rewards are based on purchases (minus any returns), not statement balance on closing date.

If what you state is true - one would not get rewards if charges are paid off before a statement closes. I often have a zero balance since I pay off my cards every ten days or so. I have always gotten full rewards from Chase even though my statement balance is usually $0.

 

[disneychrista]

I haven’t used PYB in a long while, so I don’t really remember. I am confident that the penny will post. I will check when the statement closes. I have always understood that rewards are based on purchases (minus any returns), not statement balance on closing date.

If what you state is true - one would not get rewards if charges are paid off before a statement closes. I often have a zero balance since I pay off my cards every ten days or so. I have always gotten full rewards from Chase even though my statement balance is usually $0.

You are correct. I have never paid my balance before my statement closes, so I didn't take that into account. What I am meaning is that you get rewards paid on the net of your purchases minus returns, refunds & credits. PYB would post like a credit, reducing your net. $1350 in purchases - $150 PYB statement credit would net $12 in rewards. I would be happy to be incorrect in my interpretation of this. But I can't imagine it works in any other way. I wish I could easily test this out but I don't have any charges that would qualify for PYB.

 

[trenty]

You are correct. I have never paid my balance before my statement closes, so I didn't take that into account. What I am meaning is that you get rewards paid on the net of your purchases minus returns, refunds & credits. PYB would post like a credit, reducing your net. $1350 in purchases - $150 PYB statement credit would net $12 in rewards. I would be happy to be incorrect in my interpretation of this. But I can't imagine it works in any other way. I wish I could easily test this out but I don't have any charges that would qualify for PYB.

I will let you know if I get my penny after my statement closes in about a week. PYB is essentially a payment, so I expect to get the reward.

 

[eticketplease]

One more Q for the pros...

Let's say I go to Disney and come home on the 18th of the month. My credit cycle goes through the 12th. So, do I need to wait until the 12th for those rewards to officially post to pay myself back and keep the rewards, or can I pay myself back prior to the credit cycle ending? I usually pay my credit card off the day I return home from a vacation so I know it's all done and paid for, I don't wait for the billing cycle to end. However, if I choose to do the PYB my reason would be to earn the points on those purchases, so I don't want to NOT bc I paid them early.

In essence it doesn't matter when you use PYB as the points for your purchases that you made on your trip before you return home have been earned it's just that they won't be available to spend until the 12th. So if you have enough Rewards Dollars in your bank currently you can wipe them out on the 18th and then on the 12th the points you earned from your trip would be added to your Rewards Dollars balance. What really matters is if you have enough to wipe out a complete charge because you can only apply rewards dollars once to a transaction so if you apply $0.01 to a transaction as @trenty and I have done or the whole amount it disappears as a transaction that you can apply your Rewards dollars to.

Assume you have a current Statement balance of $0 but your Rewards Dollar Balance is $200 on 2/13/26.
You go down to Disney on 2/14-2/17 and have a VDAY Date night at Narcoossee's for $175, Grab some Merch at the Emporium for $75 on 2/15 and had some drinks at Trader Sam's for $50 on 2/16. All told you have 3 transactions that qualify for PYB and a total of $300.

Assuming that only those 3 purchases were made for the entire statement balance and that you have the premier card ($49 AF) on 3/12 you will have $6 added to your Rewards Balance whether you redeem the points before 3/12 or not and your Statement Balance on 3/12 would be $300 that you would owe to Chase.

If you come back on the 18th you can go in and wipe out the $175 Narcoossee's charge which leaves you with $25 in your bank. This also leaves you with 2 qualify transactions that you can later apply rewards dollars towards (5/16/26 would be the cutoff for $75 Emporium and 5/17/26 would be the cutoff for the $50 at Trader Sam's)

On 3/12 your Statement would show that you owe Chase a total of $125 after making 3 purchases and redeeming 1 Statement Credit from PYB.
Rewards Dollar Balance would show a starting balance of $200 with a $175 Redemption and $6 in Earnings giving you a total of $31 left in your Rewards Dollars Balance.

If you decide not to utilize PYB until the statement closes then on 3/12:

Your statement would read that you owe Chase $300 with 3 charges showing.
Your Rewards Dollar Balance would show Starting Balance of $200 + $6 in Earnings with your new Balance of $206.
You can then go in and wipe out the $175 purchase which means you would then need to pay Chase $125 to pay off the statement balance which would be the same as if redeeming the rewards dollars before the statement close date.
Your Rewards balance will now go from $206 - $175 = $31 which is the same as redeeming them before.

Let's now say on 3/12 you will just wipe out your $31 and apply it towards the $50 Trader Sam's purchase.
On 3/15 you found out that SAK's was having a going out of business sale and you spend $1,900.
At 1% back for general purchases that means $19 would be added to your Rewards Bank on 4/12.
On 4/13 you go to apply that $19 but you discover the Trader Sam's is no longer there since you had cashed in $31 towards it previously.
The good news for you is if you want to you still have 1 eligible purchase that you could redeem towards which would be the $75 Emporium purchase.
Knowing that I will earn more rewards dollars on my 5/12 statement and that I have until 5/16 to redeem Rewards dollars to that purchase I would wait until that 5/12 statement and apply the maximum rewards dollars at that time.

Of course you could just keep banking the rewards dollars in anticipation of your next trip.

When doing PYB I always look at which charge is going to drop off first since you only have 90 days to redeem them and which charge is the least amount so that I can completely wipe it off or use a good chunk of rewards to knowing that I only get one shot at wiping it off.

 

[trenty]

One more Q for the pros...

Let's say I go to Disney and come home on the 18th of the month. My credit cycle goes through the 12th. So, do I need to wait until the 12th for those rewards to officially post to pay myself back and keep the rewards, or can I pay myself back prior to the credit cycle ending? I usually pay my credit card off the day I return home from a vacation so I know it's all done and paid for, I don't wait for the billing cycle to end. However, if I choose to do the PYB my reason would be to earn the points on those purchases, so I don't want to NOT bc I paid them early.

You will earn the rewards if you pay your CC early.

 

[eticketplease]

You will earn the rewards if you pay your CC early.

I never give banks money early. I always pay on the statement due date and have always earned my rewards as well.

 

[eticketplease]

You are correct. I have never paid my balance before my statement closes, so I didn't take that into account. What I am meaning is that you get rewards paid on the net of your purchases minus returns, refunds & credits. PYB would post like a credit, reducing your net. $1350 in purchases - $150 PYB statement credit would net $12 in rewards. I would be happy to be incorrect in my interpretation of this. But I can't imagine it works in any other way. I wish I could easily test this out but I don't have any charges that would qualify for PYB.

Please be HAPPY as I've already shown examples of this.

While Statement Credits do post to reduce the amount that you owe the bank they do not affect your earnings whatsoever.

Rewards are calculated as a simple equation of Purchases - Returns.

Returns & Refunds are the same thing in my eyes you return something and get a refund. Please explain if you are meaning something different when you mentioned returns and refunds.

Credits do not affect your rewards. An example of Credits are a payment and statement credits

Statement Credits can be from Chase Offers, Pay Yourself Back or a sign up bonus.

 

[disneychrista]

Please be HAPPY as I've already shown examples of this.

While Statement Credits do post to reduce the amount that you owe the bank they do not affect your earnings whatsoever.

Rewards are calculated as a simple equation of Purchases - Returns.

Returns & Refunds are the same thing in my eyes you return something and get a refund. Please explain if you are meaning something different when you mentioned returns and refunds.

Credits do not affect your rewards. An example of Credits are a payment and statement credits

Statement Credits can be from Chase Offers, Pay Yourself Back or a sign up bonus.

I'll be honest your posts are so large that I can't make heads or tails of what you are posting. What I want to see is a simple condensed Statement (purchases - returns - refunds - PYB) total and the corresponding rewards total. Maybe I will test it myself on my trip to Disneyland in April. I have a gift cards to use but maybe I will use my Visa for a Jack Jack Cookie or something and then use pay you back. So I can test it myself. That might honestly be the only way to actually "prove" it to myself. I just can't believe Chase would give you rewards on a purchase that you use rewards to "pay" for.

 

[eticketplease]

I'll be honest your posts are so large that I can't make heads or tails of what you are posting. What I want to see is a simple condensed Statement (purchases - returns - refunds - PYB) total and the corresponding rewards total. Maybe I will test it myself on my trip to Disneyland in April. I have a gift cards to use but maybe I will use my Visa for a Jack Jack Cookie or something and then use pay you back. So I can test it myself. That might honestly be the only way to actually "prove" it to myself. I just can't believe Chase would give you rewards on a purchase that you use rewards to "pay" for.

They are long as I am trying to give as much detail as possible so I apologize if you got lost.

Here is where you are losing me:

You keep mention Returns and Refunds.

Are these different?

To me these are the same thing, You return an item to the store and the amount you paid is then refunded to your account.

Am I wrong? I really want you to understand how this works as I feel it provides much more value and flexibility then a redemption card.

 

[eticketplease]

Maybe I will test it myself on my trip to Disneyland in April.

You can test before if you would like.

Just go to shop disney (now disneystore.com) and buy a $25 gift card. You will earn the 1% or 2% back ($0.25 or $0.50 if premier) and then you will see the charge to wipe off.

 

[disneychrista]

They are long as I am trying to give as much detail as possible so I apologize if you got lost.

Here is where you are losing me:

You keep mention Returns and Refunds.

Are these different?

To me these are the same thing, You return an item to the store and the amount you paid is then refunded to your account.

Am I wrong? I really want you to understand how this works as I feel it provides much more value and flexibility then a redemption card.

Those are Chases words not mine. They come directly from the Chase website, you can see it in what I posted earlier.

I agree they seem to be the same thing. The only difference I can see is that maybe you were overcharged and got a refund from the retailer but didn't actually return any merchandise.

My understanding is you earn rewards on the net of purchases less anything that reduces that amount, which to me would include the PYB. It would be great if doesn't, I'm all for getting unexpected "bonuses."

You can test before if you would like.

Just go to shop disney (now disneystore.com) and buy a $25 gift card. You will earn the 1% or 2% back ($0.25 or $0.50 if premier) and then you will see the charge to wipe off.

I definitely don't need more gift cards. Plus, I am not even sure I have $25 in rewards to spend. My Disney Visa is not my main credit card because I get better rewards on another one. But I will definitely test it out when I am at the park.