Effective July 1, 2010, funds in an applicant’s ECFMG financial account will be available for a period of two years to pay for requested services. Any funds not used during a two-year period will be forfeited to ECFMG; this means that the applicant will lose those funds. The two-year period will be calculated from the date that funds are received at ECFMG. For funds already in an applicant’s account on the July 1, 2010 effective date, the two-year period will be calculated from this effective date. If an applicant has funds in his/her account and makes a service request, ECFMG will use the funds with the earliest receipt date to pay for the service requested.
EXAMPLES: An applicant makes a payment of $295 to his ECFMG financial account on July 2, 2010. He makes another payment of $2,000 on July 10, 2010. On July 28, 2010, he submits an application for USMLE Step 2 CS, which costs $1,295. The $295 from his earlier payment and $1,000 from his later payment are used to pay for this exam registration. The applicant now has until July 9, 2012 to either use the remaining $1,000 balance or request a refund. If he does not, these funds will be forfeited to ECFMG.
An applicant has a balance of $1,700 in her ECFMG financial account when this policy takes effect on July 1, 2010. On December 15, 2010, the applicant submits an application for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, which costs a total of $1,480. The applicant has until June 30, 2012 to either use the remaining $220 balance or request a refund. If she does not, these funds will be forfeited to ECFMG.
It is your responsibility to monitor the status of your ECFMG financial account. You can check the status of your account, including dates on which payments were made to your account, using OASIS. A refund request should be made to claim any funds that will not be used prior to the expiration of the two-year period. Refund requests must be made in writing. (See Communicating with ECFMG in the ECFMG Information Booklet.)
