> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.marqeta.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create balance refund

> Create a new balance refund, which can be issued to the account holder if their credit account balance is negative.

POST/credit/accounts/\{account\_token}/creditbalancerefunds

Create a new balance refund, which can be issued to the account holder if their credit account balance is negative.

## URL path parameters

| Fields | Description |
| - | - |
| account\_token string  Required | Unique identifier of the credit account for which you want to create a balance refund. Send a `GET` request to `/credit/accounts` to retrieve existing credit account tokens. **Allowable Values:**  Existing account token |

## Request body

| Fields | Description |
| - | - |
| token string  Optional | Unique identifier of the credit balance refund. **Allowable Values:**  36 char max |
| method string  Required | Payment instrument used to issue the refund. **Allowable Values:**  `ACH`, `CHECK` |
| amount decimal  Required | Amount of the credit balance refund. The maximum refund amount is the amount that brings the account balance to \$0. For example, \$4000 is the maximum refund amount for a -\$4000 account balance. **Allowable Values:**  0.01 min |
| description string  Required | Description for the credit balance refund. **Allowable Values:**  255 char max |
| currency\_code string  Required | Valid three-digit [ISO 4217 currency code](https://www.iso.org/iso-4217-currency-codes.html). **Allowable Values:**  `USD` |

## Sample request body

```json JSON lines wrap theme={null}
{
  "method": "CHECK",
  "amount": 500,
  "description": "credit balance refund",
  "currency_code": "USD"
}
```

## Response body

| Fields | Description |
| - | - |
| token string  Returned | Unique identifier of the credit balance refund. If in the `detail_object`, unique identifier of the detail object. **Allowable Values:**  36 char max |
| account\_token string  Returned | Unique identifier of the credit account that needs the credit balance refund. **Allowable Values:**  36 char max  Existing account token |
| status string  Returned | Current status of the payment or refund. **Allowable Values:**  `INITIATED`, `PENDING`, `PROCESSING`, `SUBMITTED`, `CANCELLED`, `COMPLETED`, `RETURNED`, `REFUNDED`, `SYS_ERROR`, `ACH_ERROR` |
| method string  Returned | Payment instrument used to issue the refund. **Allowable Values:**  `ACH`, `CHECK` |
| amount decimal  Returned | Amount of the credit balance refund. The maximum refund amount is the amount that brings the account balance to \$0. For example, \$4000 is the maximum refund amount for a -\$4000 account balance. **Allowable Values:**  0.01 min |
| description string  Returned | Description for the credit credit balance refund. **Allowable Values:**  255 char max |
| created\_time datetime  Returned | Date and time when the credit balance refund was created. **Allowable Values:**  Format: yyyy-MM-ddThh:mm:ssZ |
| updated\_time datetime  Returned | Date and time when the credit balance refund was last updated. **Allowable Values:**  Format: yyyy-MM-ddThh:mm:ssZ |

## Sample response body

```json JSON lines wrap theme={null}
{
  "token": "credit_balance_refund_token1234",
  "account_token": "my_account_token_12",
  "status": "COMPLETED",
  "method": "CHECK",
  "amount": 0,
  "description": "credit balance refund",
  "created_time": "2025-07-14T20:17:28Z",
  "updated_time": "2025-07-14T20:17:28Z"
}
```


## Related topics

- [Balance Refunds Overview](https://www.marqeta.com/docs/core-api/credit-account-balance-refunds.md)
- [About Credit Account Ledger Entries](https://www.marqeta.com/docs/developer-guides/about-credit-account-ledger-entries.md)
- [About Credit Account Journal Entries](https://www.marqeta.com/docs/developer-guides/about-credit-account-journal-entries.md)
- [2021 Release Notes](https://www.marqeta.com/docs/developer-guides/release-notes-2021.md)
- [Create refund](https://www.marqeta.com/docs/core-api/credit-account-refunds/create-refund.md)