Forex Card Refund, Chargeback or Stuck Unused Balance? India Action Guide

Who this guide is for

This guide is for anyone in India holding a prepaid forex (travel) card who has money stuck on it. A forex card is a prepaid card loaded with foreign currency, issued by a bank or an authorised dealer, and used abroad in place of cash. The common problems it covers are:

• Unused balance after the trip: You returned with foreign currency still loaded and want it back in rupees.
• Missing merchant refund: A hotel, airline, or shop promised a refund to your forex card, but it never showed up on the statement.
• Wrong or duplicate charge: You were billed twice, charged after a cancellation, or charged an amount you did not authorise.
• Failed ATM withdrawal or declined payment: Money was debited but you did not receive the cash or the goods.
• Card surrendered or expired: The card is closed but a residual balance was never returned to you.

It applies whether your card was issued by a public sector bank, a private bank, or another authorised dealer. The dispute process is broadly similar, but the exact charges, timelines, and escalation route depend on your issuer. Where rules vary by bank, card network, or product, this guide says so and points you to the official source.

If your problem is with a normal credit card rather than a forex card, see the related credit-card guides linked in the Related guides section below.

What you can do this weekend

Friday evening

Log in to your forex card account, through the bank's net banking, the card portal, or the dedicated forex card app. Download the full transaction statement covering the period of your trip and after it. Save it as a PDF. This statement is your single most important document — it shows every load, spend, refund, reversal, and the current balance in each currency.

Identify the exact problem entry. Is it a refund that never arrived, a duplicate charge, or simply an unused balance with no offsetting credit? Write down the transaction date, amount, currency, and any reference number shown against it. Take screenshots of the balance screen too, because online balances can change after you raise a dispute.

Check your registered email and SMS for any alerts from the issuer about the transaction. Banks send transaction and reversal alerts that can pin down dates and reference numbers you will need later.

Saturday

Gather your merchant proof. If a merchant promised a refund, find the email or receipt confirming it, and note the refund reference or ARN (acquirer reference number) if the merchant gave one. For a cancellation, save the cancellation confirmation. For goods not delivered, save the order page and any communication with the seller.

Pull together your travel evidence. Boarding passes, hotel bookings, tour vouchers, and the trip dates help show where and when the card was used, and support a claim that a charge was wrong or a service was not delivered. This matters most for disputes where the bank asks you to prove the underlying transaction.

Read your card's terms and schedule of charges. Look specifically for: encashment or reconversion charges on unused balance, inactivity or dormancy fees, cross-currency conversion charges, and the issuer's stated grievance timeline. Knowing these in advance stops you from being surprised by deductions and tells you how long the bank has to respond.

Sunday

Draft your dispute or refund request using the template in this guide. Be specific: name the transaction, the date, the amount, what went wrong, and exactly what you want — a chargeback, a refund credit, or encashment of the residual balance.

Assemble your evidence in the order your letter refers to it, and number each attachment. A clean, indexed bundle is far more likely to get a prompt response than a vague email with everything jumbled together.

Be ready to submit on Monday through the issuer's official dispute channel — the app, net banking dispute form, the card customer-care email, or a branch. Note the complaint or service-request number the moment you get it, because every escalation later will refer back to it.

Documents and evidence checklist

Step-by-step action plan

Step 1 — Read the statement and pin down the problem

Open your downloaded statement and classify your problem precisely. Unused balance is different from a missing refund, which is different from a wrong charge. The route to recovery differs for each. For an unused balance, you need an encashment request. For a missing merchant refund or a wrong charge, you need a dispute and possibly a chargeback. Knowing which one you have decides everything that follows.

Step 2 — For unused balance, request encashment

If you simply have foreign currency left over, contact the issuer and ask to encash or reconvert the residual balance to your Indian bank account. Most banks allow this through net banking, the app, or a branch reconversion form. Remember the rupee amount depends on the bank's buy rate on the day of encashment, and encashment or reconversion charges may apply. Foreign exchange dealings in India are governed by the Foreign Exchange Management Act and RBI rules, so very old or unusually large residual balances may attract extra checks — ask the bank if you are unsure.

Step 3 — For a missing merchant refund, confirm and then dispute

First make sure the refund is genuinely missing and not merely slow. Refunds to prepaid forex cards can take longer to appear than refunds to ordinary cards. Get the merchant's written refund confirmation and reference number. If a reasonable time has passed and the credit has not appeared, raise a dispute with your card issuer, attaching the merchant proof and the relevant statement entry. Ask the issuer to trace the refund and, if it cannot be recovered directly, to raise a chargeback through the card network.

Step 4 — For a wrong, duplicate or unauthorised charge, raise a chargeback

A chargeback lets the issuer reverse a disputed transaction through the network — such as Visa or Mastercard — and recover the money from the merchant's bank. It applies to transactions that were duplicated, charged after cancellation, not delivered, or unauthorised. Chargebacks follow strict network rules and time limits that vary by dispute type, so report the problem to your issuer as early as possible. The issuer decides whether the facts fit a valid chargeback reason code, so give them clean evidence.

Step 5 — Raise the dispute through the official channel and get a reference

Use the issuer's designated dispute route: the app dispute form, net banking, the card customer-care email, or a branch. Submit your written request with numbered attachments. Insist on a complaint or service-request number in writing. Note the date. The issuer's grievance policy states how long it has to respond — usually a fixed number of days — so mark that deadline in your calendar.

Step 6 — Escalate within the bank if there is no fair resolution

If the first response is unsatisfactory or there is none within the stated period, escalate to the bank's nodal officer or principal nodal officer for grievances. Their contact details are published on the bank's website under the grievance redressal or customer-care section. Reference your original complaint number and attach the same evidence bundle. Keep your tone factual and your timeline clear.

Step 7 — Escalate to the RBI ombudsman if the issuer is RBI-regulated

If your card issuer is a bank or other RBI-regulated entity, and you are dissatisfied with its reply or get no reply within the period set in its grievance policy, you can complain to the RBI ombudsman under the Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme. File online through the RBI complaint portal. You must normally approach the bank first and give it a fair chance to resolve the matter. The ombudsman service is free for you as the complainant. Keep your bank complaint number and the bank's reply ready, because the portal asks for them.

Step 8 — Consider the consumer forum for a deficiency in service

If money is still stuck and you believe there has been a clear deficiency in service, a consumer complaint is an option. Consumer disputes in India are handled under the consumer protection framework through district, state, or national consumer commissions depending on the amount involved. This is a separate route from the banking ombudsman; do not pursue the same dispute in both forums at once. Where the stakes are high, take advice from a qualified professional before filing.

Escalation ladder

Copy-paste complaint template

Replace the text in square brackets with your own details before sending.

When RTI can help

The Right to Information Act, 2005 applies to public authorities. A purely private bank or private card issuer is not a public authority, so you cannot file an RTI directly against it to recover your money. The bank dispute and the RBI ombudsman are the routes that actually get a forex card refund moving. That said, RTI can support your case where a public authority holds relevant records:

• Records held by a public sector bank: If your forex card was issued by a public sector bank, that bank is a public authority. You can file an RTI with its Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) seeking records relating to your dispute, such as the status of a refund or the internal decision on your complaint, subject to the exemptions in the Act.
• Status of an ombudsman complaint: If you have already filed a complaint with the RBI ombudsman, you can use RTI to ask the ombudsman office about the processing and status of that complaint, subject to the Act's limits.
• Policy and procedure information: RTI can be used to obtain published policies and procedures held by a public authority, which can help you understand how a public sector issuer is meant to handle disputes.

To file an RTI online with a central public authority, see our step-by-step RTI filing guide. The Central government RTI fee is a small prescribed amount, payable as the rules specify. If your RTI is not answered in time or is refused, see how to file a first appeal under RTI Section 19, and the full first and second appeal guide. For advanced strategies, The RTI Playbook explains how to use RTI in regulatory and financial disputes.

When RTI will not help

RTI has clear limits in a forex card dispute:

• Private issuers are out of reach: If your card was issued by a private bank or a private authorised dealer, RTI does not apply to it. Use the bank dispute and RBI ombudsman route instead.
• RTI cannot order a refund: RTI gives you access to information; it cannot compel the issuer to credit your money. Recovery happens through the chargeback, the bank grievance, the ombudsman, or a consumer forum.
• Other people's private records: RTI cannot get you a merchant's internal records or another customer's information.
• Speed: The 30-day RTI window is slower than a chargeback or an ombudsman complaint for actually recovering funds. Use RTI as a support tool, not the main remedy. For complaints against government departments, see how to use CPGRAMS and RTI together.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming the money is lost: A forex card balance, a confirmed refund, and a wrong charge are all recoverable. Treat them as disputes to be resolved, not losses to be written off.
• Waiting too long: Chargeback windows are set by the card network and can close. Limitation periods also apply to consumer and other legal remedies. Raise your dispute early and keep a written trail of every date.
• Disputing before confirming: Raising a chargeback while a genuine refund is still in transit can backfire. Confirm the refund is truly missing, with the merchant's reference, before you escalate.
• No merchant proof: A bank dispute without the merchant's written refund confirmation or reference is hard to win. Get that proof in writing first.
• Skipping the bank stage: The RBI ombudsman normally expects you to approach the bank first. Going straight to the ombudsman without a bank complaint number usually gets the complaint sent back.
• Ignoring disclosed charges: Encashment, reconversion, and dormancy fees are often validly disclosed in the card terms. Read them before claiming a deduction is wrong, and only dispute charges that were never disclosed or look excessive.
• Filing in two forums at once: Do not run the same dispute in the RBI ombudsman and a consumer commission simultaneously. Pick the appropriate forum and follow it through.
• Not keeping screenshots: Online balances and statuses can change once a dispute is opened. Save dated screenshots and PDFs before you raise the dispute.

For related card disputes, see our guides on the credit card chargeback process in India and on credit card disputes and the banking ombudsman, which explain the network and ombudsman mechanics in more depth.