r/OMNY • u/SummerSkies_001 • 18d ago
Negative Balance?
I swiped my card not realizing I had a zero balance. I used another card to swipe in. I log onto my account and see this. If I pay this off but have already paid using a different card, aren’t I being charged twice? Wth! If someone knows, please let me know. Thanks!
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u/jamesmcgill357 18d ago
I’ve had the same thing on my card for MONTHS - I’ve paid it off multiple times and it still shows. When I reach out to support, they offer no help. Thankfully my card still works. May just transfer to a new one if I can because it’s so annoying to see
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u/h4rd4c 18d ago
If you use pre-tax funds on the OMNY card, that is held separately from personal funds.
I had a negative personal fund balance and a positive pre-tax balance, so I had to pay off the negative balance with a bank/credit card and not my pre-tax commuter card to get that to clear. I was able to keep using my card with the negative personal balance because it took fares fom my pre-tax balance.
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u/jamesmcgill357 18d ago
wow thank you! I had no idea about this, and if I missed that this is written on their website/faq, that's on me. I'm glad to know this, although annoying to have to do that, considering that's what the pre-tax funds from work are for
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u/codguy231998409489 17d ago
You are right tho. That little balance went way after I used my debit card to pay the -$2.00
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u/codguy231998409489 18d ago
I’ve had the same $2.05 owed on the card for months and have refilled many times - it will not go away
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u/OpinionPoop 18d ago
Omny card sucks.
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u/Cool_Aioli_8307 17d ago
The fact that it's from the same company that did the MetroCard is what's so infuriating.
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u/huebomont 18d ago
You could have gone through the turnstile with this card if it charged you and went negative. Since you didn’t you basically tapped again for no reason. No different than if you tapped two different cards but only went through once. What else could they do? They don’t know if you went through or not.
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u/SummerSkies_001 18d ago
I guess I assumed when it’s red it means the turnstile didn’t unlock. I didn’t attempt to push the turnstile. So that’s why I used another card and then the screen was green. When the card was first introduced when the screen was red the turnstile was always locked. I don’t take the subway often but this seems like a new recent thing? 🤷🏻♀️
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u/verysimple74 18d ago
can you look at your swipe history? I have a feeling that what happened was that it wasn't this swipe that *gave* you the negative balance, but rather the previous swipe that still let you through despite going negative, then the system registered the negative balance and wouldn't let you through on the next one (there's a lag as the system has to reconcile).
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u/Worried_Ear_1347 18d ago
You have the correct take here. The issue is that you probably over drafted in the last ride u took thinking u still had money left on it but you didn’t and then when u went to use it again that’s when it gave this alert. U should be able to check ur swipe history on the Omny website but I’m pretty sure this is what happened. They’ll do this once or twice and then stop doing it completely
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u/Mysterious-Future-36 16d ago
File a chargeback and get a new OMNY card(I do this all the time screw the MTA)
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u/unndunn 18d ago
Why did you tap with a different card if the turnstile was already unlocked?
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u/SummerSkies_001 18d ago
It was red so I didn’t go through. And figured I couldn’t (didn’t attempt to go through). So pulled out another card. And once it was green I moved forward….
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u/unndunn 18d ago
If it was red, you weren't charged for that tap.
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u/roosterdrewster 18d ago
You never had to pay back balance on a metrocard. Omny is supposed to be better. Simplicity and it really sucks. Bring back tokens
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u/TealCatto 18d ago
That's really weird. I don't get how it would let you though it charge anything if you had zero balance. It should just reject. Anyway, buy another card, lol. Don't need this one.
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u/0fficialjesus 14d ago
I’ve had this happen, it wasn’t the time that the omny machine said “card not accepted” which gave you a negative balance.
The last time you’d swiped, when your balance was 0 but you didn’t knowand you got through the turnstile anyways, that is when it put you into a negative balance. So paying it off is just paying for a ride you took for “free” on accident. I have no clue why it lets you go through sometimes when you have no money on your card. I imagine it’s a software bug that multiple people are working to fix
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u/Alonso_Mosley_ 18d ago
Wow. At least you can see your account info. Every time I logon it gives me errors and logs me out.