What happens to my payments when I refund an order?
Generally, refunds are applied starting with your final payment, working backwards to earlier payments,
As soon as we receive your refund from the merchant, we’ll apply the refund to your last instalment and work backwards to your prior instalments for the relevant purchase.
Full Refunds:
If you’ve returned your entire order and the full order has been refunded including delivery, all future payments will be cancelled and any payments made will be refunded. Please note that when a £2.50 Zilch Anywhere fee has been applied to your order, this will not be refunded, unless the original order was cancelled within 24 hours.
Partial Refunds:
The same principle applies to partial refunds. If you’ve returned some items in your order and received a refund, we’ll apply this to your instalments to reduce bi-weekly instalments. If your partial refund is larger than your ‘Left To Pay’ balance, then we’ll refund you the difference.
Example 1: Refund amount is larger than outstanding balance with Zilch
Order #00001 totalled £100, and the upfront payment of £25 was made at the time of purchase.
Payment schedule before refund:
| Order: #00001 | Total: £100.00 | Payment Status: |
| Upfront Instalment | £25 | PAID |
| Second Instalment | £25 | Due in 2 weeks |
| Third Instalment | £25 | Due in 4 weeks |
| Fourth Instalment | £25 | Due in 6 weeks |
The order total was £100 and a refund of £90 was processed after the down payment was paid, but before the second instalment was due.
In this instance, all future instalments are cancelled. After the refund, the customer’s ‘total owing’ becomes £10. Since they’ve already paid a £25 down payment, Zilch will return the £15 balance to the original payment method.
Payment schedule after the £90 refund is processed:
| Order: #00001 | Total: £100.00 | Payment Status: |
| Upfront Instalment | £25 | Adjusted to £10 Amount refunded to card: £15 |
| Second Instalment | £25 | Cancelled |
| Third Instalment | £25 | Cancelled |
| Fourth Instalment | £25 | Cancelled |
Example 2: Refund amount is smaller than outstanding balance with Zilch
Order #00002 totalled £100, and the upfront payment of £25 was made at the time of purchase.
Payment Schedule before refund:
| Order: #00001 | Total: £100.00 | Payment Status: |
| Upfront Instalment | £25 | PAID |
| Second Instalment | £25 | Due in 2 weeks |
| Third Instalment | £25 | Due in 4 weeks |
| Fourth Instalment | £25 | Due in 6 weeks |
The order total was £100 and a refund of £20 was processed after the down payment was paid, but before the second instalment was due.
In this instance, the customer’s upcoming instalments are adjusted. After the refund, the customer’s ‘total owing’ becomes £80. And as they’ve already paid a £25 down payment, the customer still needs to repay £55. Therefore, we’ve divided the £55 by the 3 remaining instalments, such that the customer will only need to pay £18.33 (with the last instalment rounded up) for the remainder of the loan.
Payment Schedule after the £20 refund is processed:
| Order: #00001 | Total: £100.00 | Payment Status: |
| Upfront Instalment | £25 | PAID |
| Second Instalment | £18.33 | Adjusted |
| Third Instalment | £18.33 | Adjusted |
| Fourth Instalment | £18.34 | Adjusted |
Example 3: Refund for a purchase that included a Zilch Anywhere fee
A purchase was made for £100 plus a £2.50 Zilch Anywhere fee. In total, the customer was charged £27.50 at the time of purchase (£25 down payment + £2.50 fee).
A full refund of £100 was then processed before the second instalment was due. The third and fourth instalments are therefore cancelled, and the customer receives a refund of £25, which excludes the £2.50 fee initially paid.
Why am I still being charged when I have returned my order?
After returning your order, it may take several days for the merchant to accept the return and process a refund — especially if you’ve returned items via post. Until Zilch receives the refund from our merchant, your original payment schedule with Zilch will continue.
If you’re expecting a refund but have an instalment due soon, please continue to make this payment and once we receive your refund, we will apply the refund to your purchase or adjust your instalments accordingly.
Why am I still being charged for my Zilch Anywhere fee after returning my order?
If you have placed an order which later gets cancelled by the merchant within 24 hours, your Zilch Anywhere fee will be refunded back to your account. However, if your order has successfully been delivered but is later returned, we w not refund your Zilch Anywhere fee.
I’ve been asked to match my refund to a purchase – how do I do that?
Sometimes when you receive a refund/return we may ask you to assign it to the correct purchase. This is because the merchant has not provided sufficient information to us about which purchase your refund to go back to. You can assign a refund to a purchase by logging into your account via our app or website.
Once you have logged into your Zilch account a pop up will appear asking you to match your refund to the relevant purchase.
We will show you a list of your open purchases (i.e. purchases that have not been fully paid off). Please select where you want your return/refund applied and confirmed.
It is important to note that you cannot change your return after you have confirmed it, which means it is important to apply to the correct purchase if possible.
What should I do if I received a refund/return but am unable to match it to the correct purchase?
If you don’t see the original purchase to match your refund against, here is why:
Our system determines which purchases are eligible for matching in this order:
- First, you will see all open purchases from the same retailer you received a refund from.
- If the above does not apply, you will then see all open purchases from other retailers.
- Lastly, if you do not have any open purchases you will be able to apply your refund to a closed/fully paid purchase.
By encouraging customers to apply for their refunds against open purchases, customers are able to reduce the amount due on upcoming instalments. This helps ensure we are lending responsibly.
What should I do if my goods haven't arrived or have arrived damaged?
For any issues regarding the delivery of your order or its condition, simply get in touch with the merchant you ordered from. Head over to the merchant’s website and app (if available) to find their contact details to raise your issues with them directly.
What if I want to return part of my order?
To return part of your order, go to the merchant’s website and check their return policy. It’s best to contact the merchant directly. Once you’ve made a return, the merchant will process your refund. Once Zilch receives your refund, we will contact you via email and reflect the refunded amount on the payment details screen of your purchase. We will sometimes ask you to match the refund to the original transaction. Refunds will take about 3-5 working days to reflect on your bank account depending on your banking provider.
What is the maximum time it could take for my refund to process?
Most refunds can take up to 7 - 10 working days to reflect on your bank account. However, depending on the merchant, there are rare occasions in which you may have to wait up to 30 days for your refund to reflect on your account.
Why is this?
When you take out a loan with Zilch, we send funds for the full purchase amount to the retailer. We then create an “open” purchase on your Zilch account as the payment went through successfully.
The next step is for the retailer to collect the money we sent over, which normally takes place straight away.
If a retailer cancels your purchase/can’t collect the payment for any reason, they usually send Zilch a message, which automatically reverses the transaction and triggers the refund process.
However, there are rare instances when we don’t receive a cancellation or reversal message from the merchant, in which case the funds we’ve sent to them are never collected, and remain “pending” on our system.
According to MasterCard, if a retailer does not send a payment reversal message back to us, Zilch will automatically apply the reversal 30 days after the purchase was made. If you’d like us to look into whether we can apply for an early refund prior to the 30-day mark, you’ll need to provide us with the following:
- Confirmation from the merchant that they will not be collecting this payment. Please include all relevant payment details.
Suggested Articles:
1. I Have Not Received My Refund -
https://payzilch.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360014472857-I-haven-t-received-my-refund-yet-
2. What Are Zilch Rewards & How Do They Work -