PreTax Travel Funds
Hello Terry, First of all, thank you for all the information in your books and that you provide on WGN. Has helped me from making some tragic mistakes! Wondering if there is anyway to get money back out of Ventra that was put into my on a pretax account basis. Totally willing to have the funds run through taxes but Ventra/METRA tell me NOPE!! This was money contributed prior to this COVID mess which after everything flushed out ended in a decision to retire at 68. Advice? We’re not looking at a huge amount but it’s around $500.00.
Terry Says
I searched online and found a number of Reddit threads about how tough it is to get money back from your unused Ventra card. And one old Redeye article from 2014 showing how to do it — IF you move out of state: https://www.chicagotribune.com/redeye/redeye-how-to-cancel-your-ventra-card-when-you-move-20141001-story.html
And there were some threads about selling loaded ventra cards at a discount for cash. I don’t know if this is legal — or even if it is, whether the amount you receive is taxable, or traceable, since it was a pre-tax gift to you.
I’m thinking you should write this off and stop thinking about it– unless you personally know someone who could use the card.
