Small Balance Credit Card Waiver (Issuers Waive Small Balances)

Did you know that some banks will waive your credit card bill if it just has a very small balance on it?

Small Balance Waiver

With many credit cards, if the balance on your statement is small – usually 99 cents or less – the bank will forgive it; it’s too small to ask you to pay. Usually it shows up on the bill as a “credit adjustment” or something similar.

Here’s the data that we’ve found so far on how much will be forgiven:

Some of this info is based on my own experiences, and some is based on readers comments to this post, on this Reddit thread, and on this FatWallet thread.

How to Use It

This may not sound so easy to make use of, but consider the fact that Amazon allows accounts reloads of as little as 50 cents (here’s a link to thatcontains our affiliate). So after you go through the pain of setting up all your credit cards in your Amazon account, you can just go one-by-one and buy 99 cent e-gift cards on each credit card once a month.

Some people do this actively to net the $.99 or whatever across a bunch of cards. Other people aren’t comfortable with this, but can still use it sporadically when trying to keep a card active or the like. Regardless, it’s good to know why you might see a waiver pop up on your credit card bill for a small amount.

Effect on Credit Score

We know that 30% of the FICO score is based off your credit utilization ratio. We’ve written that anecdotal evidence suggests that the sweet spot for optimizing your utilization ratio is to have zero utilization on all your credit cards, besides for one card which should have a utilization of something under 10% of the credit limit on that card.

How will this $.99 trick effect your credit score? If you leave a $.99 balance on numerous credit cards, will the $.99 balance show up on your credit report and hinder the above mentioned sweet spot?

No. Based on what I see on my own credit report, I believe that for two reasons this will not hinder your credit score at all.

Firstly, in general the balances always get rounded down to the dollar. So if you have a balance of $532.99, it shows up as a $532 balance. In our case, the $.99 balances are showing up as $0 on my credit report, just as all balances are rounded down to the dollar. I would therefore assume that your utilization ratio remains zero.

Additionally, since the credit card issuer is waiving that small balance, they report it as a balance of $0; the waiver is factored into the balance reported. I see this from the balance reported on my Discover card. As mentioned, Discover waives up to $2. On my credit report the balance is showing up as $0, despite the fact that there was actually a $2 balance. Apparently, since they are waiving the $2, they don’t report that balance at all.

Our Verdict

We’re obviously not getting rich on this, but it sounds like a cute way to get $5-$10 in Amazon gift cards per month with minimal effort. Please comment below with any additional (current) info, and we’ll update the post to reflect the additional information.

It’s worth noting that some banks might not take kindly to this, so keep in mind the small risk. Some people aren’t comfortable taking advantage of this; it’s still useful to know which banks have a waiver, for planning purposes.

View Comments (879)

  • The Westgate Resorts credit card (and by extension, I would assume all Imprint cards?) does NOT waive $0.99.

  • I have a US Bank card where the "$0 annual fee waived" month is different from the anniversary month.

    It was opened in May with a different bank, then acquired by USB a few years ago (presumably in January but I don't remember).

    USB still shows the original age and opening date in May but the "$0 annual fee waived" month is January.

    So the small balance waiver is skipped in January instead of May. All my other USB cards go by the original opening month.

  • I know that Wells Fargo forgives $1.99 on their main cards.
    I've done that every month for like 10 years.

    But shit I forgot, I got the Wells Fargo Choice and OneKey cards a few months ago.. anyone know if Wells Fargo will forgive $1.99 on those?

    • Correct, as per the exchange below I have the OneKey card, and it has waived $1.99 or similar with every statement so far. I would assume the same to hold true for the Choice card, but I don’t have it (yet).

  • Anyone know of a vpn company that i can get service covered by these small balances credit waiver ?

    • Not really. @guest_1977424

      Best time to signup for a VPN service is usually around Black Friday, and pay the lump sum for 2-3 year subscription. Portals like TopCashBack or others will usually have 75-100% cashback for some of the top name services.

      If you are willing to use any service regardless of reputation, DoC has listed some that were actually moneymakers with 1-3 year contracts.

      Just be sure to turn off auto-renewal. Then in 2-3 years, look for another similar deal, and just use a different email address so they see you as a new customer.

        • Just got this in my inbox... @guest_1981156 @6

          "Private Internet Access: Get 100% Cash Back!" from TopCashBack...

        • Use the search on the DoC website and search for VPN. @guest_1981156

          The most recent one was "Topcashback: 140% Back On PureVPN".
          Offers like that come and go, and you have to trust the portal to actually pay you back their part. I haven't had issues that I recall, but certainly some people do.

  • Wells Fargo Signify business card waived under $2 for two months in a row. Then sub $1 got charged to statement. However, cash back of a few cent hit too (I believe the biz cards are quarterly, automated). Maybe with the cashback payment it does not do waiver because a transaction posts against a debit...

  • NOT WAIVED:
    US Bank Cash+ – $1 NOT waived (it is not the annual fee anniversary month)
    US Bank Altitude Go – $1 NOT waived (it is not the annual fee anniversary month)

    First time ever for me that these have not been waived. Will report again next month.

    • USB waived 99 cents for me this week:

      11/26/2024
      Credit Adjustment +$0.99
      Completed 11/26/2024
      Transaction Date 11/27/2024
      Type small balance charge off

    • 11/8… 11/15... 11/19. All 3 Cash+ cards

      11/6 P2 Altitude Go.

      All waived.

      • May have been the way some credits landed? $15 streaming credit on Alt Go and $39 rewards redeemed on Cash+. Still, had exactly $1 in new purchase on each card and a $1 balance due on each card. Who knows? It's been a good year; can't complain! 🤑

        • Still thinking about this... I wonder if US Bank only gives one credit per statement? Has anyone ever received the $1 credit adjustment on the same statement that you redeemed rewards?

          • Working a couple of months ago... Maybe it was just a fluke, or you got a manual review?

            10/09/2024
            Credit Adjustment
            + $1

            9/16/2024
            Rewards Redeemed for Statement Credit
            + $87.00

            9/10/2024
            Credit Adjustment
            + $1

          • Thanks for taking the time. Maybe I got manual reviews or it was a fluke. Haven't filed any disputes, sent secure messages or called customer service - anything that would beg for a manual review. I need to let it go. 😂

  • The new One Key card (my CC #4 with Wells Fargo) also waives up to $2 per statement cycle, as expected.

    • oh so I guess it does! damn feel so stupid for not realized it sooner.. haha I've been doing this on another Wells Fargo card for like 10 years

    • Thank you John. Which 3 other Wells Fargo cc do you have? Active Cash and the 2 Autographs? I'm looking for new cards to open @guest_1902764

      • I have the standard Autograph (all my 42 credit cards have no AF, I'm making no exceptions), plus the old Cash Wise and Cash Back signature Visas, which I never converted. I hadn't looked at WF in a long time, but decided to add the One Key card when they recently had this $200 statement credit promotion with no requirements.