Whether benefits are configured to expire monthly, quarterly, or annually, there’s often a rush to spend any remaining funds in the final days of the year.
While most of that spending happens without issue, there are two common issues employees may experience:
Card Declines
For a variety of reasons, employees may experience card declines which prevent them from spending their remaining funds.If their transaction is declined and funds returned to their benefits, any balance that is available at the time of a scheduled expiration will be removed from their balance.
Example of declines include:
- Incorrect zip code or billing address entered at checkout
- Incorrect CVV code entered at checkout
- Ineligible merchant under benefit policy
- Insufficient benefit funds
To prevent these declines, we strongly encourage employees to spend their funds well before the end of the year to give them sufficient time to troubleshoot any declines before funds expire. Benepass will send periodic reminders in advance of upcoming expirations. You can find out more about card declines in this article.
Merchant Charge Delays
Some merchants, most famously Amazon, do not charge their customers' cards until the order has shipped. In these cases, employees may complete a purchase with a merchant before the end of the year, but the merchant may not try to charge that card until after an expiration has taken place.
The only way to avoid such issues is to either make purchases well before the end of the year or instead submit the purchase for reimbursement before expiration.
Questions? We are happy to help! Please reach out to the Benepass Admin Support Team by emailing admin@getbenepass.com.