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What happens to unused postage when you return a meter

Learn how account credits for unused postage are applied and what the next steps are.

Before returning a meter to Pitney Bowes, you must remove unused postage.

Removing unused postage process

  • After you remove unused postage, Pitney Bowes will credit the account or credit card used to pay for the postage.
  • If you don’t see the unused postage credit on your account or credit card immediately, it should appear within 3 business days. Follow the steps below to confirm if unused postage credits were applied to your account.
  • Credits are applied to current balances owed first, any leftover amount can then be used for future purchases and charges.
  • If you have a credit balance in your Line of Credit (Purchase Power), Deposit Account (Reserve Account) or USPS trust account and will not use the account going forward, you can Request a refund of a credit balance on an account.

Confirm postage credits have applied

Line of Credit (Purchase Power)

  1. The account is credited within 1-2 days.
  2. Go to your recent credit line transactions to see if the credit has been applied to your account. The line item will be called Postage Refill Reversal.
    Line of credit transactions screen

Deposit Account (Reserve Account) or USPS Trust

  1. The account will be credited immediately.
  2. Go to your recent prepaid account transactions to see if the credit has been applied to your account. The line item will be called Unused Postage Credit.
    Unused postage credit screen for prepaid accounts

Important: If you are no longer using a Deposit Account (Reserve Account) or a USPS Trust account set up with EFT or schedule pay, cancel your EFT, Schedule Pay or ACH payments.

Credit card

Pitney Bowes will return the funds to your credit card account within 3 business days. Your credit card issuer may take additional time to post it.

To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, Federal law requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. Accordingly, in order to activate your Account, the Bank asks that you provide identifying information, including your address and taxpayer identification number. The Bank may also ask for additional identifying information, where appropriate, including asking that your representative who is opening your Account to provide his/her name, address, date of birth, driver’s license and/or other documents and information that will allow the Bank to identify him/her. In order to participate in the Program, you must provide the information described in this paragraph. You agree to provide all such requested identifying information.

Eligibility subject to credit approval and customer verification. This is not a commitment to lend, and this does not create, and is not intended to create a legally binding obligation on either of us. Program, rates, Terms & Conditions are subject to change.

Banking products and services are provided by The Pitney Bowes Bank, Inc., Member FDIC. Pitney Bowes, Pitney Bowes Bank, and the Corporate logo are trademarks of Pitney Bowes Inc. or a subsidiary. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Pitney Bowes Bank is state chartered and located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

UPDATED: April 11, 2025