When a company offers a statement credit, does that amount appear on your card free for you to spend or is it only applied to an existing balance on the card?

In other words, do you get anything if you have no balance?

[Qtip]

I am not sure I understand the question, If you get a credit on a credit card that has no balance then at he discretion of the credit card company, they can either leave the credit on the card or simply send you a check in the amount that placed the credit card on negative.