Yes, you can dispute a credit card charge, and federal law backs you up when you do it in writing. The Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the date the statement containing the error was sent to notify your card issuer of a billing error, unauthorized charge, or problem with goods or services you paid for. Miss that window and the issuer has no federal obligation to investigate, no matter how strong your claim is.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
What Counts as a Valid Reason
The FCBA covers a defined list of billing errors on credit card and revolving charge accounts. The most common ones:
- Unauthorized charges from theft, a data breach, or identity fraud.
- Wrong amounts, whether the merchant overcharged you or a math error inflated the bill.
- Goods or services you paid for that never arrived or were never performed.
- Items that arrived significantly different from what the merchant described, including damaged products.
- Returns or refunds the merchant agreed to but never credited to your account.
- Duplicate charges for the same transaction.
Your liability for unauthorized charges caps at $50 under federal law, and most major issuers waive even that. Once you report the card lost or stolen, you owe nothing for any charges after that point.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1643 – Liability of Holder of Credit Card3Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
The Extra Rule for Quality Complaints
If your dispute is about the quality of what you bought, rather than a straightforward billing mistake, a different section of the FCBA controls. Before you can push the claim onto the card issuer, you have to make a good-faith attempt to resolve the problem directly with the merchant first.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer
Two more thresholds apply on paper: the transaction has to exceed $50, and the purchase has to have occurred in your home state or within 100 miles of your mailing address. Those restrictions fall away if the merchant is the card issuer itself, is controlled by the issuer, or if the sale came through a mail or online solicitation the issuer participated in.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer Most online purchases meet that last exception, which is why the geographic limit tends to trip up in-person buyers more than online shoppers.
How to File the Dispute
The FCBA’s strongest protections activate only when you send a written billing error notice. That notice has to go to the address your issuer designates for billing inquiries, which is usually different from the payment address. It needs to identify you by name and account number, describe the error, and state the dollar amount.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
Most issuers now let you file through their website or mobile app, and for routine disputes those channels work fine. If real money is at stake, sending a letter by certified mail with return receipt gives you dated proof of delivery, and that paper trail can matter if the dispute drags on.
Before you file, pull together your supporting documents. Receipts, order confirmations, screenshots of the merchant’s product listing, photos of damaged items, and any emails with the merchant all help. Organized evidence speeds up the investigation and cuts down the odds of a flat rejection.
What the Issuer Must Do
Once your written notice arrives, the issuer has 30 days to acknowledge it. From there, it has two complete billing cycles, and no more than 90 days, to investigate and resolve the dispute.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1026.13 – Billing Error Resolution During that period the issuer contacts the merchant, gathers evidence from both sides, and reaches a decision.
Win the dispute and the charge comes off permanently, along with any related finance charges. Lose it and the original charge goes back on your statement with a written explanation. You can ask for copies of any documents the issuer relied on.
Your Rights While the Dispute Is Open
You do not have to pay the disputed amount during the investigation, and the issuer cannot charge interest or finance charges on that portion of the bill.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can They Charge Me Interest on a Charge I Told Them I Did Not Make? Pay the rest of the bill in full and you keep your grace period on new purchases.
While the dispute is pending, the issuer cannot report the amount as delinquent to credit bureaus, cannot send it to collections, cannot threaten your credit, and cannot sue you over the disputed portion.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1026.13 – Billing Error Resolution If you have autopay set up, the issuer has to stop pulling the disputed amount as long as you tell them at least three business days before the scheduled payment.
These protections apply only to the disputed amount. Everything else on the statement still accrues interest and is due on time.
If the Issuer Rules Against You
You have room to push back. Submit new evidence that wasn’t part of the original investigation and ask the issuer to reconsider. Some issuers offer a formal appeal through the card network’s arbitration process.
If you still refuse to pay after the issuer closes the matter, it can start collection procedures. But if it reports the unpaid balance to a credit bureau, it also has to report that you dispute the debt, and you can add a statement to your credit file explaining your position.
For smaller amounts, small claims court is on the table. Filing fees vary widely by jurisdiction, typically from around $10 to over $300 depending on the claim amount. Under the FCBA, you can also assert against the card issuer any legal claims you could bring against the merchant under state law, which sometimes gives you leverage without having to sue the merchant directly.3Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
Debit Cards Are Not Covered
One boundary worth flagging: the FCBA applies to credit cards and revolving charge accounts, not debit cards. Debit card disputes fall under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E, which use different deadlines, a tiered liability structure, and separate investigation timelines. If the charge you want to dispute came off a checking account through a debit card, the rules above don’t apply, and waiting too long can leave you on the hook for the full loss.