Challenging a credit card statement (2024)

FAQs

Challenging a credit card statement? ›

Send a Dispute Letter to Your Card Company

What's a credit card dispute? If you believe that a credit card transaction has been posted to your account in error, you may submit a credit card dispute within 60 days of the date that appears on the transaction statement or receipt.

Contact your credit card issuer

You can only dispute charges that have already been posted. If you prefer not to submit a dispute online, you may do so in writing, or by calling customer service and disputing the charge over the phone.

While there are many possible reasons to dispute a credit card charge, they all fall into one of three categories: the charge was unauthorized, there was a billing error, or there was a problem with the purchase.

You might not always get a fair outcome when you dispute a chargeback, but you can increase your chances of winning by providing the right documents. Per our experience, if you do everything right, you can expect a 65% to 75% success rate.

Yes. You can dispute a credit card transaction, even if you willingly approved it at the time. Disputes like this happen frequently when a vendor doesn't deliver the goods or services as promised.

If you end up needing to involve the credit card issuer, the easiest way to dispute a charge is typically online or over the phone. But to ensure you're fully covered under the law's consumer protections, it's important to follow up with a letter, according to the Federal Trade Commission's website.

If asking the merchant for a refund didn't work, request a chargeback with your credit card issuer. Many card issuers let you dispute transactions by phone, mail or online. You may also be able to submit a dispute directly through your card issuer's mobile app.

If the company finds an error, the amount must be credited back to you, along with any related finance charges. But if the card issuer decides the charges were accurate, you'll be responsible for paying the disputed amount, including any finance charges that accrued while the disputed charge was being investigated.

Do credit card companies actually investigate? ›

Credit card companies hire multiple fraud investigators whose primary responsibility is investigating reports of fraud. A credit card company's fraud investigation largely depends on whether the credit card owner is aware of the fraudulent transactions and reports them to the company.

You cannot go to jail for filing credit card disputes. The Fair Credit Billing Act directly protects consumers from incorrect and fraudulent charges. But if you file fraudulent chargebacks, you risk lawsuits and criminal charges. A fraudulent chargeback is a false dispute made by a consumer to secure a refund.

Generally, the bank must mail or deliver written acknowledgement to you within 30 days of receiving your written billing error notice. If the bank determines that a billing error has occurred, it shall resolve it within two complete billing cycles—but no later than 90 days after receiving a billing error notice.

Cardholders can face consequences for filing false chargebacks. In fact, friendly fraud is considered to be a form of wire fraud, which means that, technically, you could go to jail for falsely disputing credit card charges. However, that doesn't commonly happen. Here's what may more likely occur.

When a cardholder disputes a transaction, the bank initiates a chargeback and contacts the merchant providing a reason code for the dispute. The merchant then has the option to either accept the dispute and the associated losses or fight the chargeback by providing evidence that the transaction was valid.

Your card provider can ask the seller's bank to refund the money. This is known as the 'chargeback scheme'. If you paid by debit card, you can use chargeback however much you paid.

You generally have at least 60 days to dispute credit card charges when there's a billing error or fraudulent transaction, and 120 days if you have a complaint about the quality of goods or services.

Disputing a credit card charge does not hurt your credit. However, if the information on your credit report changes because of the dispute, your score may change accordingly. Credit agencies can also note the dispute by placing the “XB” code on your account, which simply means the dispute is under investigation.