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I changed my auto insurance coverage from company A to company B, effective July 1. I later found that company A had processed an automatic premium payment for the period July 5 - Aug. 5. I called company A and they said they would refund my premium in 10 days. This is not acceptable to me. Could I call my bank and request a "chargeback" for the premium I paid so I can get my money back faster? Are there any downsides to doing this?

EDIT: The insurance company refused to work with me to get my money back to me in anything less than 10 days, so I took matters into my own hands and called my bank to reverse the automatic payment. They got the money back into my account by the next morning with no fee.

MrChrister
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Bart
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2 Answers2

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There's no reason for a chargeback, and you might get charged a fee for invalid chargeback or even sued by the insurance company.

You need to always read the contract and see what the auto-renew policy is and what the local law on the issue is. It might be that you in fact approved that charge.

In any case, since they agreed to refund, and within a reasonable period of time, your chargeback will be invalid. It is likely that by the time the chargeback is even processed by the bank, the refund will be there already.

littleadv
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Your bank will undoubtedly charge you a fee for the "chargeback" and so while you will get your money back faster, you will likely end up with less than you would if you were not so impatient and just waited a few days for the refund to show up. I suppose it depends on whether you consider this a downside or not.

Dilip Sarwate
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