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Dispute a Credit Card Charge: US & UK Chargeback Guide

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Illustration of a disputed credit card charge, for a US and UK guide to chargebacks, Section 75 and billing-error rights

Last reviewed: September 28, 2026. Rules described apply in the United States and the United Kingdom as of that date. This is general education, not legal advice for your specific case.

Short answer: Ask the merchant for a refund first, then contact your card issuer if that fails. In the US, send a written billing-error notice to your credit card issuer within 60 days of the first statement showing the charge; debit cards follow separate, stricter rules. In the UK, ask your card provider to raise a chargeback and, for credit card purchases priced over £100 and up to £30,000, a Section 75 claim. If the provider says no, you can escalate to the CFPB (US) or the Financial Ombudsman Service (UK).

A charge you don't recognise, a parcel that never came, a hotel that billed you twice: each one comes down to the same question. Do you keep chasing the merchant, or do you go to your card provider? And if you go to the provider, which of your rights are you using? It matters, because the rules that protect you depend on three things: whether you paid by credit or debit card, which country your card was issued in, and what went wrong.

This guide explains how card disputes work in the US and the UK. It covers the laws that give you rights, the card network rules that sit on top of them, the deadlines, the evidence that tends to win, and what happens to the merchant on the other side.

Refund, dispute, chargeback: three different things

People use these words as if they mean the same thing. They don't, and mixing them up can make you miss a deadline.

  • Refund: the merchant reverses the payment voluntarily. It's the fastest route and it doesn't involve your bank, but it depends entirely on the merchant agreeing.
  • Dispute (or claim): you ask your card issuer to step in. In the US, a credit card dispute can rest on legal rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act. In the UK, it can rest on Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 or on the card scheme's chargeback rules.
  • Chargeback: the mechanism the card networks use to pull money back from the merchant's bank. Your issuer uses network rules (Visa, Mastercard, American Express and others) to reverse the transaction. Visa describes a dispute as "the reversal of the value (or partial value) of a transaction by the card issuer to the acquirer" (Visa).

Legal rights and chargebacks overlap, but they aren't the same. A chargeback is a network procedure. The Financial Ombudsman Service notes that each network has its own chargeback rules. A statutory right, such as a US billing-error claim or a UK Section 75 claim, is something your issuer must deal with under the law.

United States: your rights on credit cards

What counts as a billing error

The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) is implemented through Regulation Z. Under 12 CFR 1026.13, a billing error includes:

  • a charge you, or someone with authority to use your account, didn't make;
  • a charge that isn't properly identified on the statement;
  • goods or services you didn't accept or that weren't delivered as agreed;
  • a payment the issuer failed to credit properly;
  • a computational or accounting error by the issuer;
  • a request for clarification or documentation about a charge;
  • a statement that wasn't sent to your current address, provided you gave the change at least 20 days before the billing cycle ended.

The FTC's consumer guide gives the same practical list: unauthorised charges, wrong dates or amounts, maths errors, items not delivered, and payments that weren't posted.

The 60-day deadline, and why it's in writing

Your notice must reach the issuer within 60 days after the issuer sent the first periodic statement showing the error (Reg Z 1026.13). The CFPB tells consumers to send a written billing-error notice and to call the issuer as well (CFPB). The FTC adds a detail people often miss: send it to the billing-inquiries address on your statement, not the address where you send payments (FTC).

Many issuers let you dispute through an app or website, which is convenient. The statutory protections are tied to a proper written notice, though. If the amount is significant or the issuer seems slow, send the letter too and keep proof of the date you sent it.

What the issuer has to do

  • Acknowledge your notice in writing within 30 days, unless it has already resolved the dispute.
  • Resolve it within two complete billing cycles, and never more than 90 days.
  • If it finds an error, correct it. If it finds none, explain why in writing and tell you what you owe.

While the dispute is open, Reg Z says you don't have to pay the disputed amount (or related charges), and the issuer may not try to collect it. It also may not report you as delinquent over that amount, and it may not close or restrict your account just because you disputed in good faith (Reg Z 1026.13(d)). You still have to pay the undisputed part of your bill on time. For more on how late payments feed into your score, see how credit scores are calculated.

Quality problems: the "claims and defenses" right

What if the item arrived but is defective, or the service was poor? That usually isn't a billing error. It falls under a separate right in Reg Z 1026.12(c). Under that rule you can refuse to pay the issuer for the part of the purchase you haven't paid yet if:

  • you made a good-faith attempt to resolve it with the merchant first;
  • the purchase was more than $50; and
  • it happened in your home state or within 100 miles of your billing address.

The $50 and 100-mile limits don't apply when the merchant is the card issuer itself or is closely tied to it, or when the order came through the issuer's own mail solicitation (1026.12(c)). The CFPB points out that this right only covers the amount you haven't yet paid off (CFPB).

In practice, a lot of online quality disputes fall outside the 100-mile test. They're then handled through your issuer's chargeback process under network rules, which is often generous but isn't a statutory right.

Unauthorised charges on a credit card

Your liability for unauthorised use of a credit card is capped at the lesser of $50 or the amount charged before you told the issuer (Reg Z 1026.12(b)). Network policies can bring that to zero. Visa's Zero Liability policy, for example, covers unauthorised use of Visa credit and debit cards, but it excludes certain commercial and anonymous prepaid card transactions, and your issuer can delay or refuse a refund based on things like gross negligence or late reporting (Visa).

United States: debit cards run on different rules

Debit card transactions are electronic fund transfers. They're covered by the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E, not the FCBA. The biggest practical difference is that the disputed money has already left your checking account.

Reg E error-resolution timelines

  • Your deadline: report within 60 days after the bank sent the statement that first shows the error.
  • Bank's investigation: 10 business days (20 for accounts open less than 30 days).
  • Extended investigation: up to 45 days, but only if the bank gives you provisional credit within 10 business days. It can be 90 days for point-of-sale debit purchases, transactions started abroad, and new accounts.
  • Result: reported to you within three business days after the investigation finishes.

These timelines come from 12 CFR 1005.11 and the CFPB's consumer guidance (updated August 31, 2026).

Debit liability depends on speed

Under 12 CFR 1005.6, if your card is lost or stolen:

  • report within two business days of learning about it and your liability is capped at $50 (or less);
  • report later and it can reach $500;
  • if you don't report an unauthorised transfer within 60 days of the statement showing it, you can be liable for transfers that happen after that 60-day window, before you notify the bank.

The FTC summarises it bluntly: after 60 days you could lose all the money taken from your account.

Reg E covers errors and unauthorised transfers. It doesn't cover "the item was broken" or "the service was bad." For those problems, a debit card holder relies on the issuer raising a network chargeback. That's one reason many people prefer a credit card for large or risky purchases. We weigh up the other side of that choice in why credit cards can become a financial trap.

United Kingdom: Section 75 and chargeback

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974

Section 75 makes your credit provider "jointly and severally liable" with the supplier for misrepresentation or breach of contract. In plain English, you can claim from the card company as if it were the seller. The conditions, as the Financial Ombudsman Service explains them:

  • the cash price of a single item or service is more than £100 and not more than £30,000;
  • it's the cash price that counts, not the amount you put on the card, so a deposit paid by credit card can bring the whole purchase within scope;
  • you paid with a credit card, a point-of-sale loan or certain catalogue accounts;
  • there's a direct "debtor-creditor-supplier" link between you, the lender and the seller.

Section 75 doesn't cover debit cards, charge cards, overdrafts, general-purpose bank loans, cash, credit card cheques or bank transfers (FOS). Payment through an intermediary can complicate the supplier link. The ombudsman's guidance for firms says a third party taking the payment doesn't automatically break it, because it "might simply be processing the payment for the supplier" (FOS business guidance). Expect these cases to be argued on their facts.

Chargeback in the UK

A UK chargeback works the same way it does anywhere: your provider uses Visa, Mastercard or Amex rules to claw the payment back. It covers debit, credit and prepaid cards and has no £100 minimum. FOS says you "usually have around 120 days" to raise one, depending on the problem (FOS).

Chargeback isn't a legal right, so you can't force your provider to attempt one. The ombudsman does, however, expect providers to raise a chargeback when you meet the scheme's requirements, give a consistent account with supporting evidence, and there's a reasonable chance of success (FOS).

Which one first?

FOS describes the usual order: try a chargeback first, and consider Section 75 only if the chargeback fails. Running both at once can cause problems such as double recovery (FOS). The simplest approach is to tell your provider what went wrong and ask it to consider both. It's the provider's job to route the claim.

Unauthorised payments in the UK

If you didn't authorise the payment at all, you're dealing with fraud, not a merchant dispute. The FCA's guidance (updated May 15, 2026) says:

  • your provider should refund an unauthorised payment by the end of the next business day;
  • you must report it within 13 months of the payment date;
  • if a lost or stolen card wasn't reported, you may have to pay up to £35, unless you couldn't have detected the loss or the bank was at fault;
  • a provider can refuse if you authorised the payment, acted fraudulently, or failed to keep your card, PIN or password details safe.

Payments you were tricked into sending by bank transfer fall under a separate reimbursement scheme. That's covered in our guides to crypto scam red flags and avoiding loan scams.

US vs UK at a glance

Situation United States United Kingdom
Billing error / non-delivery on credit card FCBA/Reg Z: written notice within 60 days of first statement; resolved within 2 billing cycles (max 90 days) Chargeback (about 120 days, per scheme rules) and/or Section 75 if item price is £100.01-£30,000
Faulty goods or poor service on credit card Claims and defenses: over $50, home state or within 100 miles, unpaid balance only; otherwise network chargeback Section 75 (breach of contract/misrepresentation) or chargeback
Same problems on a debit card Reg E covers errors and unauthorised transfers; quality disputes rely on network chargeback Chargeback only (no Section 75)
Unauthorised use: your maximum liability Credit: $50. Debit: $50 / $500 / potentially unlimited, depending on how fast you report Up to £35 if a lost/stolen card wasn't reported; report within 13 months
If your provider refuses Complaint to the CFPB Final response (8 weeks; shorter for payment-services complaints), then Financial Ombudsman within 6 months

Step by step: how to dispute a card charge

  1. Check that it really is wrong. Unfamiliar descriptors, pre-authorisation holds at hotels and fuel stations, and charges from a family member cause many "mystery" charges. Search the merchant name on your statement and check your email receipts.
  2. If it's fraud, call now. Freeze or cancel the card and report it immediately. For debit cards in the US, the two-business-day window directly affects your liability.
  3. If it's a merchant problem, contact the merchant in writing. Give a clear description, the order number, what you want (refund, replacement, repair) and a reasonable deadline. Keep the reply, or record that there wasn't one. US claims-and-defenses rights require a good-faith attempt to resolve it with the merchant, and card schemes generally expect one too.
  4. Diary the deadlines. In the US, count 60 days from the date of the statement that first showed the charge. In the UK, keep the rough 120-day chargeback window in mind. Don't let a slow merchant run down your clock.
  5. Raise it with your issuer. Use the app or phone to start quickly. For US credit cards, follow up with a written billing-error notice to the billing-inquiries address. In the UK, ask the provider to consider chargeback and, where eligible, Section 75.
  6. Submit your evidence (see the checklist below). Keep it factual and consistent.
  7. Pay what isn't disputed. Keep the rest of the account current so a separate late-payment problem doesn't cloud the dispute.
  8. Watch for the outcome and any reversal. A temporary credit can be reversed if the merchant successfully challenges the claim. Read every letter from the issuer.
  9. Escalate if needed. US: file a complaint with the CFPB. UK: make a formal complaint to the provider, then go to the Financial Ombudsman within six months of the final response.

Evidence that makes a dispute stronger

  • Order confirmation, invoice or receipt showing the price, date and what was promised.
  • The merchant's terms: delivery dates, cancellation and refund policy as they stood when you bought.
  • Your written contact with the merchant and its responses, with dates.
  • Delivery tracking, or proof that a return was sent and received (keep the postage receipt).
  • Photos or video of damaged or wrong items, taken as soon as possible.
  • For cancelled subscriptions: the cancellation confirmation or a screenshot of the account showing the cancellation.
  • For services: a written quote or contract, and something showing what was actually done.
  • For fraud: confirmation that the card was in your possession, a note of when you noticed, and any police or fraud report reference.

The Financial Ombudsman says it weighs paperwork, photos, videos and each party's account alongside the law, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (FOS). A short, dated timeline at the top of your submission helps whoever reviews it.

Card network timelines (network rules vary)

Behind your issuer, the card networks set their own deadlines. They change periodically and differ by network, dispute reason and region, so treat these as indications rather than guarantees:

  • Visa: its merchant guidelines (June 2024) describe a general window of 120 calendar days from the transaction date, or from the date you expected the goods or services, capped at 540 days from processing (Visa Dispute Management Guidelines).
  • Mastercard: publishes its own Chargeback Guide with separate reason codes and timeframes.
  • UK in practice: FOS describes the usual limit as around 120 days.

Network deadlines are separate from the legal ones. A US cardholder with a billing-error claim still has to meet the 60-day Reg Z notice deadline, even if the network window is longer. And a UK Section 75 claim isn't bound by chargeback time limits because it's a legal claim. The ombudsman's general time limits (six years from the event, or three years from when you knew) are a guide to how long complaints can be looked at (FOS).

Two worked examples

US: an undelivered order

Say you pay $300 by credit card for a jacket from an online store in another state. It never arrives, and the store stops replying. The statement showing the charge is dated March 5. You'd want a written billing-error notice to reach the issuer's billing-inquiries address by May 4. Non-delivery is a billing error under Reg Z, so the 100-mile limit doesn't apply. The issuer must acknowledge within 30 days and resolve within two billing cycles (90 days at most). Meanwhile, you pay the rest of your bill but not the $300.

If the jacket had arrived torn instead, that's a quality issue. It fails the 100-mile test here, so you'd rely on the issuer's chargeback under network rules.

UK: a sofa paid partly on a credit card

Say you buy a £1,200 sofa and pay a £200 deposit by credit card and the rest by bank transfer. The retailer goes bust before delivery. The cash price (£1,200) is within the £100-£30,000 range, so Section 75 can apply to the whole claim, not just the £200, provided the debtor-creditor-supplier link is intact. Your provider may try a chargeback on the £200 first. If that fails, or doesn't cover your loss, you'd pursue Section 75. If the provider rejects it, you'd complain formally and could then take it to the ombudsman.

What happens to the merchant

When your issuer raises a chargeback, the money comes out of the merchant's account via its acquiring bank. The merchant can accept it or fight it by sending evidence back through the chain. That's why a win isn't final until the process is over. Disputes can move through further stages (often called pre-arbitration and arbitration) before the network decides.

Beyond losing the sale, Visa lists additional fees, administrative work, higher chargeback ratios that can raise processing costs, and possible inclusion in network monitoring programmes (Visa). For a small business, a run of disputes can threaten its ability to take cards at all. That's a good reason to give a legitimate merchant a real chance to fix things first, and a good reason for merchants to answer customers quickly.

A warning about "friendly fraud"

Disputing a charge you actually made or approved, to keep the goods and the money, is sometimes called friendly fraud or first-party misuse. Visa defines it as a cardholder disputing "a legitimate transaction that they made or someone in their household made" and estimates it at around 20% of fraud disputes globally (Visa). Many cases are honest mistakes: a partner's purchase, a forgotten subscription, an unfamiliar merchant name. Others are deliberate.

The networks are tightening up. Since April 2023, Visa's Compelling Evidence 3.0 rules let a merchant defeat a fraud dispute by showing matching data from your earlier, undisputed purchases, such as device ID, IP address or delivery address (Visa CE3.0). Filing a false fraud claim can lead to the credit being reversed. Card agreements generally allow issuers to close accounts, and a knowingly false claim can have legal consequences. Check with your household before claiming "I didn't make this."

When this doesn't apply

  • Bank transfers, Zelle-style payments, wire transfers and cash: no card chargeback and no Section 75. See our guide to sending money internationally for how transfer protections differ.
  • Crypto purchases and transfers: once crypto leaves your wallet, card rules can't reverse the blockchain transaction, and exchange card purchases may be treated differently by your issuer.
  • Buyer's remorse: a chargeback isn't a returns policy. If the merchant delivered what it promised, you're relying on its refund terms or your statutory consumer rights, not the card.
  • Payments you authorised after being scammed: these are generally treated as authorised. Your options depend on how you paid, and chargeback may still help for card payments to a merchant that didn't deliver.
  • Business and commercial cards: many consumer protections, including parts of Visa's Zero Liability policy, don't apply.
  • Cards issued in another country: the law of the issuing country matters, not where you shopped. A Canadian, Australian or EU card has its own rules.

FAQ

Will disputing a charge hurt my credit score?

In the US, while a billing-error dispute is open, the issuer can't report the disputed amount as delinquent (Reg Z). Missing payments on the rest of the balance can still hurt your score. If you're planning a loan soon, see improving your credit score before applying.

Can I dispute a charge made through PayPal or a similar wallet?

Sometimes. The card payment goes to the wallet provider, which can complicate chargebacks and, in the UK, the Section 75 supplier link. FOS guidance says an intermediary doesn't automatically break the link. Outcomes depend on the facts, and the wallet's own buyer-protection process may be quicker.

Do I need to pay the disputed amount while I wait?

For US credit cards under a billing-error claim, no, but pay everything else. For debit cards, the money has already gone. You may get provisional credit if the bank takes more than 10 business days to investigate.

Does Section 75 cover purchases abroad?

The Ombudsman's consumer guidance doesn't list overseas purchases among the exclusions; the tests are the price range, the payment type and the supplier link. Foreign sellers, currency conversion and third-party processors can make a claim harder to evidence, so keep good records and ask your provider how it will treat the purchase.

Can a virtual card number help avoid disputes?

It can reduce fraud exposure and make unwanted subscriptions easier to shut off. Dispute rights still come from the underlying card. See how virtual credit cards work.

Bottom line

Start with the merchant, but don't let that eat into your deadline. On a US credit card, the written 60-day billing-error notice is your strongest tool. On a US debit card, report fast, because your liability grows with delay. In the UK, ask your provider to consider chargeback and Section 75 together, and take a refusal to the Financial Ombudsman. Your next step: pull up the statement with the problem charge, note its date, and set a reminder for the deadline before you do anything else. If you're choosing a card with these protections in mind, our guide to choosing the right credit card is a useful next read.

Sources

All accessed September 28, 2026.

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