YouTrip user says company sought repayment months after Japan purchase was approved
A YouTrip user has expressed frustration after receiving an email from the company asking her to top up S$16.86 for a transaction made during a trip to Japan earlier this year.
In a Facebook post on 25 June, the 44-year-old user, Ms Lin, said the amount was linked to a purchase made on 22 Feb 2026 while she was travelling in Japan, but had allegedly not been successfully deducted.
The transaction had reportedly been approved at the point of payment and was made using funds in her Japanese yen wallet on the YouTrip app.
User questions why she was asked to pay months later
Speaking to MS News, Ms Lin said she could not remember what the S$16.86 purchase was for as she had travelled across several prefectures in Japan over 19 days and used her YouTrip card multiple times daily.
Her YouTrip app also reflected a negative balance of -S$16.86.
Source: Facebook
She said YouTrip informed her that the amount had not been successfully deducted because the merchant did not complete the transaction settlement within the stipulated timeframe.
However, Ms Lin questioned why she should be held responsible for what she believed was an issue between the merchant and YouTrip, especially since the payment had been approved at the time of purchase.
“YouTrip is a debit card. Transactions were approved during the point of sale,” she told MS News.
“Whether it’s a merchant or YouTrip internal issue, they shouldn’t ask users to be accountable. This is unfair, and there’s no proof that payment was not charged.”
She also said she did not receive any notification or refund indicating that the original transaction had failed.
Was told amount would be waived
Ms Lin said YouTrip later informed her that it would waive the S$16.86 as a goodwill gesture.
Image courtesy of Ms Lin
At the time she spoke to MS News, however, she said she had yet to receive confirmation that the charge had been reversed, adding that the amount was still reflected in her transaction history.
“The last conversation was that they will waive it as goodwill, but they have yet to reply on whether the amount has been reversed,” she said.
Image courtesy of Ms Lin
This prompted her to email YouTrip again for an update.
YouTrip says negative balance has been waived as goodwill gesture
In response to MS News’ queries, YouTrip said it was aware of the user’s case and had been in communication with her to address her account status.
“We can confirm that this matter has been resolved. The user’s negative balance has been fully waived as a gesture of goodwill,” said a YouTrip spokesperson.
Source: YouTrip, for illustration purposes only
The company explained that card transactions involve a standard process where a merchant first authorises a payment before later settling the transaction.
According to YouTrip, there may be cases where the settlement is not completed within the standard timeframe.
In such instances, the funds may temporarily be returned to the user’s available balance in the interim.
When the transaction is cleared later, the authorised amount would then be reflected in the user’s account.
This could result in a negative balance if the temporarily released funds had been spent or moved in the meantime.
“In instances where these timelines cause unexpected disruptions to our users, we review the cases on a case-by-case basis and provide waivers as a goodwill gesture to minimise the inconvenience to our users,” the spokesperson added.
YouTrip also encouraged users who need clarification on their account balance to contact its Customer Support team so they can be guided through their transaction details.
User concerned others may not notice delayed deductions
Ms Lin said she typically empties the balances in her foreign currency wallets after returning from overseas trips.
In this instance, she had no funds left in her account when YouTrip requested the top-up.
She believes that had she still maintained a balance, the amount could have been deducted automatically, regardless of which currency wallet the funds were held in.
This concerns her, as her husband keeps multiple foreign currencies in his YouTrip account.
Like many travellers, she said they only use the card overseas and do not regularly review their statements.
Ms Lin urged other users to periodically check their transaction histories and account balances to ensure there are no unexpected deductions.
Check your transactions at all times, as you may not know if you are the one facing the same issue as me.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and YouTrip.
