Xbox Live Gold Renewal/Cancellation Dilemma

So here's my dilemma: I have a card for a prepaid 12M Xbox Live Gold I intended to pay the day of renewal, 2/3/2018. However, a problem occurred when I tried to cancel auto-renewal and/or cancel my Xbox Live Gold. So I decided to try over and over to no
avail. However, this is where things get strange. An idea to change my payment method came along. Originally, my payment method was a card that had funds to consistently pay. So I decided to switch the payment method to a low balance source, my Microsoft
Points and removed the backup. To my surprise, it worked when I chose to disable auto-renewal.

So here's my main question: Why does auto-renewal NOT cancel when I have a card with funds to pay, but does when I use a source that doesn't have funds (other than $1 and some cents)? If I could please get a straight answer, that'd be appreciated.
I would also like to point out that others have spoke about similar topics, which links are below (even some without that capability I had to remove it):

Can't cancel auto-renewal on xbox live gold membership

Why can't I turn off auto renew?

Can't disable auto renewal

Will Not let me cancel auto renewal/remove payment. (This one has a comment that speculates the whole situation is a "scam")

Cannot Cancel Xbox Live Auto-Renewal

Thank you for your time. Hopefully we can get Xbox to address this, since it does seem other people aren't pleased with it.

:)

 

How to Turn off auto renewal or cancel Xbox LIVE membership

How to turn off auto renewal

It is recommended that you cancel your Xbox LIVE Gold Membership using the option of turning off automatic renewal. If auto renewal is "off", your membership will expire at the end of its current term.

Steps to follow:

1) If you are not already signed in, click Sign In at the upper right hand corner and sign in using your Microsoft account.

2) Proceed to My Account.

3) Click Change next to automatic renewal. Change the setting to OFF

You will be able to continue enjoying all the benefits of Xbox LIVE Gold Membership until your paid membership time expires.

Note:

If you want to cancel or disable your Xbox LIVE Gold Membership immediately, you should contact Xbox support. Use the Request a Call from Support option on the official Xbox Contact Us page. Your account cannot be canceled through chat or email.

If you disable your account immediately, you will lose the time remaining on your membership subscription.

If you are on a 2 Year Xbox LIVE Gold Contract, and you want to cancel before the end of the 2 years, you will be charged an Early Termination Fee and other applicable taxes. Once the two-year agreement period is over, your account will not be renewed automatically.

You can cancel the 2 Year Xbox LIVE Gold Contract using the option of self-cancel your subscription on Xbox.com

 

Wait so you get 2 free games every month even if you stop paying for Gold??

Yeah, unless something has changed recently, you get to keep your Xbox 360 gold games.

But the Xbox One gold games you need to have an active subscription.

Here it is from the official Xbox site: