Cancelling a credit card in Belgium

One month's notice, one registered letter, no charge

Cancelling a Belgian credit card costs nothing. The law says so in as many words, and it caps the notice period an issuer can hold you to at one month.

Two texts apply at the same time, and that is where pages written for France get Belgium wrong. The credit side falls under article VII.98 of the Code of Economic Law (Livre VII du Code de droit économique). The card side falls under article VII.16, which governs framework contracts for payment services. The second one is the one that gives you money back.

How do you cancel a credit card in Belgium?

By registered mail to the lender, unless the general conditions accept another channel. Neither a phone call nor an email is enough by default.

The FPS Economy states it plainly on its ConsumerConnect portal. The letter does not need to give reasons: the Code requires no justification, and the issuer cannot accuse you of abusing the right. Four elements are enough: your name, the contract or card number, an explicit statement of cancellation, the date.

Then comes the step almost nobody anticipates. The general conditions of Beobank credit cards, in the version of 1 May 2024, require the card itself to be returned cut in half, also by registered mail. Until the card comes back, the file stays open on the issuer's side.

In the files I handled, half the disputed cancellations came from holders who had telephoned, been given a verbal agreement, and thrown the card in the bin. Six weeks later a statement arrived with the fee on it, and nothing in the file allowed anyone to date their request.

What date should the letter go out to avoid another year of fees?

Before the statement that follows the card's anniversary month. One day either way changes the amount from EUR 5 to EUR 24, depending on the issuer.

The mechanism is written out in the Beobank conditions: the first annual fee is billed on the date of the first statement, it covers twelve months from the month it is billed, and for subsequent years it lands on the statement drawn up after the anniversary month. A cancellation received on the 2nd of the anniversary month is in time. Received on the 2nd of the following month, it arrives after billing.

The figure to remember: your one-month notice period does not start on the day you post the letter, but on receipt. A registered letter posted on a Friday before a public holiday can be delivered four days later. What the issuer looks at first is the delivery stamp, never the posting stamp.

Rates recorded from the issuers on 29 August 2026. Beobank publishes an APR of 14.49 % on a credit facility of EUR 2,150, for a variable actuarial borrowing rate of 13.98 %, rates in force on 9 May 2025. Fimaser publishes an APR of 14.50 % on a credit facility of EUR 3,000, of which 2.40 % a year is the card charge, for a variable borrowing rate of 11.22 %.

Both cards are cancelled the same way, but the fee does not behave the same way. At Beobank it is paid as one annual block, so the calendar matters enormously. At Fimaser it is spread as a percentage of the outstanding balance, so it dies out on its own once the balance reaches zero. A settled and unused Carrefour card costs you nothing even before the letter goes out, whereas a settled and unused Beobank card keeps billing EUR 5 a year.

Is the fee you already paid refunded pro rata?

Yes, and this is the point on which almost all available French-language content gets Belgium wrong.

Article VII.16 of the Code of Economic Law, which transposes the European payment services directive, sets the rule: charges levied regularly for the provision of payment services are owed by the user only in proportion to the period elapsed at the end of the contract, and if they were paid in advance they are refunded without delay on a pro rata basis. The words "without delay" are in the text.

The consequence is direct. A fee of EUR 24 billed in March, on a card cancelled at the end of August, leaves seven unused months: around EUR 14 comes back to you. The refund is not a commercial gesture by the issuer, it is a legal obligation, and it does not depend on what the general conditions say.

Two caveats, because they come up in every file. The rule covers payment service charges, not the borrowing interest already accrued on a carried balance: that stays owed up to the day of repayment. And where the fee is structured as an annual percentage of the balance, as at Fimaser, there is nothing to refund in advance because nothing was paid in advance.

What happens to the carried balance after cancellation?

It falls due at the end of the notice period. Cancelling stops the credit, it does not erase the debt.

The Beobank conditions are explicit: on expiry of the notice period, the capital due and unpaid, the total cost of credit due and unpaid and the agreed charges must have been repaid. Failing that, three months after a registered formal notice, late interest is added along with a lump-sum indemnity of 10 % on the tranche of capital up to EUR 7,500 and 5 % above that. Each reminder letter is billed at EUR 7.50, at a maximum of one letter a month.

In other words, a cancellation sent with EUR 1,800 of carried balance settles nothing: it turns a revolving credit into a debt due within thirty days. The arithmetic comes before the letter, not after.

If the balance cannot be repaid within that window, cancellation is not the right first move. Approved debt mediation services and the public social welfare centres (CPAS) handle these situations free of charge and can negotiate a plan with the lender before a payment incident occurs. The way interest builds on a carried balance is set out in the article on credit card interest.

How long do you stay in the Central Individual Credit Register?

Three months and eight working days after the end of the contract, in the general case. Two working days only, where the cancellation is done cleanly.

Every credit facility is recorded in the positive section of the Central Individual Credit Register (Centrale des Crédits aux Particuliers) held by the National Bank of Belgium, under article VII.148 of the Code of Economic Law. The positive section is not a blacklist: it lists current credits, and every Belgian lender must consult it before granting a new one.

The distinction is worth knowing, because it decides your short-term borrowing capacity. The Beobank conditions set out both periods side by side: three months and eight working days after the end date of the contract, and two working days after repayment in the event of early repayment or cancellation of the credit facility, provided no further drawdown is possible.

That last condition is the real key. A card simply left unused, but whose credit line stays open, keeps weighing on your file. A card cancelled, settled and returned disappears in two working days. The FPS Economy details the retention periods, and consulting your own data at the National Bank is free.

Can the issuer cancel your card from its side?

Yes, with at least two months' notice, and only if the contract provides for it.

Article VII.98, § 1, paragraph 2 sets that minimum and requires notification by registered mail or any other medium accepted by the consumer. Some issuers give themselves more room: the Beobank general conditions raise that notice period to three months. An issuer that makes the balance immediately payable without respecting the notice period breaches article VII.98.

There is a third case, quieter, and it works in your favour. Where the issuer unilaterally changes its conditions, it must inform you at least two months before they take effect, and you can cancel free of charge up to that moment. The same applies if the borrowing rate moves by more than 25 % against the agreed rate, under article VII.86, § 5. So the letter announcing a fee increase is also a dated exit window.

What if the issuer keeps charging after cancellation?

Three routes, in order, and the first two are free.

Write first to the issuer's complaints department, attaching a copy of the registered letter and the delivery receipt. Without an agreement, take it to Ombudsfin, the Belgian ombudsman for financial services: the procedure is written, free, and the opinion issued is not binding. The Economic Inspectorate of the FPS Economy also receives complaints, and it is the body that sanctions breaches of Book VII.

The refusal ground most often invoked in these files has not changed in ten years: the issuer states it never received the letter. Against that argument there is exactly one document, and it is the delivery receipt of the registered letter. Keep it for three years.

Before opening a new card, the ranking of Belgian credit cards gives the annual fee and APR card by card, the comparison tool places them side by side, and the choosing a card page sorts by situation. The real annual cost takes the four items one by one.

Sources. Cancellation of a consumer credit, form and notice period: FPS Economy, ConsumerConnect, consulted on 29 August 2026. Articles VII.98 and VII.16 of Book VII of the Code of Economic Law. Retention periods and the positive section: National Bank of Belgium and FPS Economy. Notice period, lump-sum indemnity, reminder charges and return of the card: general conditions of Beobank credit cards, version of 1 May 2024. Annual fee and APR recorded on 29 August 2026 from the published pricing pages of Beobank and Carrefour Finance. Free recourse: Ombudsfin. No link in this article is remunerated.