If your benefit supports accrual claims, you can submit claims that exceed your available balance, up to the full amount your plan provides for the year. Approved claims are reimbursed with available funds, and remaining amounts are marked as pending. As new funds are added to your account, pending amounts are automatically paid.
Available Balance Tooltip
If your benefit's available balance tool states "You can still submit claims up to [Amount] for later reimbursement, your benefit supports accrual claims."
Understanding reimbursement progress
Your claim details section will have a reimbursement progress bar. (It’s another way to tell if you have accrual claims.) Here's how to read the reimbursement progress bar:
Remaining:
Paid:
Approved Amount:
If your plan is terminated, any unpaid portions of a pending accrual claim will be canceled or handled according to your plan's rules.
Messages you’ll see when submitting a claim
When submitting your claim, you’ll see one of three responses based on your available balance and plan limit:
“This amount is covered by your available balance of [total available balance]. If approved, it will be paid automatically.”
“This amount exceeds your available balance of [amount]. If approved, the claim will be paid out up to the approved amount automatically as funds become available.”
“This amount exceeds your plan limit of [amount]. They can submit up to [plan limit dollar amount]. Please adjust to continue.”
Once you submit a claim, it will go through the standard review process. If approved, available funds will be paid out right away and the remaining balance will be held as pending.
Maximum claim amount:
You can't submit a claim for more than the limit shown on your benefit card.
Understanding claim limits:
Depending on your benefit, you may see a plan limit or an election amount on your benefit card. This is the maximum you can submit for.
How your account balance works during an accrual claim
While an accrual claim is active, your available balance will show as $0.00. This is expected and means your available funds are being applied toward your outstanding claim. You'll also see a separate line for your accrued claims outstanding, which shows how much is still pending.
Your debit card will also reflect a $0.00 balance while an accrual claim is being paid down. Once your claim is fully paid, any new contributions will be available to spend as usual.
If you have an active accrual claim, you will not be able to use your card to make purchases because you will not have available funds in your balance.
Where to track your accrual claim
You can check the status of an accrual claim from your claims history. For each accrual claim, you'll see:
The total amount of the claim
The amount paid so far and the date it was paid
The remaining amount still pending
If your available balance shows $0.00 and you have an active accrual claim, this is normal, it's not an error.
What to expect as payments are made
Each time new funds are added to your account through a payroll deduction or employer contribution, they're applied to your pending claim balance first. You'll continue to see payments applied until the full claim amount is paid out.
Here's an example of how that might look over time if there is an approved claim for $200 in January:
Total plan election amount: $600
Contributions: $50 monthly
| January | February | March | April | May |
Monthly contribution | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 |
Account balance | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $50 |
Reimbursement payment | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 | $0 |
Pending balance | $150 | $100 | $50 | $0 | $0 |