An ex.com charge on your bank or credit card statement almost always traces back to Expertise.com, a directory that connects consumers with local service professionals across more than 200 industries.1Expertise.com. Hire the Best Local Professionals The name looks unfamiliar because payment processors truncate merchant descriptors to fit tight character limits on electronic statements. Before you treat it as fraud, check whether anyone on the account recently searched for, booked, or subscribed to a service through that platform.
Why the Descriptor Looks Cut Off
Payment processors like Stripe cap statement descriptors at 22 characters total, and the merchant prefix gets trimmed to just 10 characters when the full business name runs longer.2Stripe. Statement Descriptors That’s how Expertise.com ends up on your ledger as something like “EX.COM,” “EX EXPERTISE,” “EX LLC,” or “EXPRT.” Different variations can point back to the same source.
What the Charge Is Usually For
Expertise.com researches and ranks local service providers, from plumbers and lawyers to financial advisors, and offers a concierge service that books consumers directly with top-ranked professionals.1Expertise.com. Hire the Best Local Professionals
Charges on personal or business accounts typically fall into a few buckets. Service professionals pay lead-generation fees for client referrals, and those sometimes hit a shared business card. Premium directory listings and enhanced-visibility subscriptions renew on monthly or annual cycles. Consumers who booked a provider through the concierge service may see a related transaction. If none of those descriptions fit anyone on the account, treat the charge as unauthorized and move quickly.
Contact Expertise.com First
Reaching the merchant before calling your bank is usually the fastest route to a refund, and banks routinely ask whether you tried.3U.S. Bank. Do I Need to Contact the Merchant Before Filing a Dispute? Expertise.com’s terms of use direct billing and account questions to legal@expertise.com.4Expertise.com. Terms of Use
Include the exact charge amount, the date it posted, and the last four digits of the card. If you want to cancel a subscription or listing, ask for written confirmation of the cancellation and a specific end date. That confirmation is your most useful piece of evidence if any further charge appears.
Disputing the Charge With Your Bank
If the merchant doesn’t respond or refuses a refund, your bank can step in. The protections available to you depend heavily on whether the charge hit a credit card or a debit card, and that difference matters more than most people realize.
Before you file, gather the exact posting date and dollar amount, any confirmation emails or receipts tied to the transaction, and a record of your attempt to reach the merchant. A screenshot of an unanswered email counts. If you already cancelled a subscription, attach that confirmation. Specific documentation shortens the back-and-forth with the bank’s investigation team.
Credit Card Disputes
Credit card billing disputes are governed by the Fair Credit Billing Act at 15 U.S.C. § 1666, which covers unauthorized charges, charges for the wrong amount, and charges for goods or services never received.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
The FCBA requires your dispute to be in writing. A phone call doesn’t trigger the statute’s protections. The written notice has to go to the address your card issuer designates for billing disputes, which is not always the same as the payment address, and it must arrive within 60 days of the date the issuer sent the statement containing the error.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors Many issuers now accept online-portal submissions as satisfying the written-notice rule, but a quick call to confirm is worth it.
While the investigation is open, the issuer cannot try to collect the disputed amount, charge interest on it, or report it as delinquent.6eCFR. 12 CFR 1026.13 – Billing Error Resolution If the charge turns out to be unauthorized, federal law caps your liability at $50.
Debit Card Disputes
Debit card transactions fall under a different regime: the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, implemented through Regulation E. The protections are weaker and the timelines tighter, which is why unauthorized debit charges sting more than credit card fraud.
Your bank generally has 10 business days to investigate after receiving your error notice. It can extend the investigation to 45 days total, but only if it provisionally credits your account within those initial 10 business days. Point-of-sale debit transactions get up to 90 days.7eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
Liability for unauthorized debit charges depends entirely on how fast you report:
- Within 2 business days of learning of the loss, your liability is capped at $50.8eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers
- Between 2 and 60 days, your liability rises to $500.8eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers
- After 60 days, you can be on the hook for the full amount of any unauthorized transfers that happen after that window closes.8eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers
If an unauthorized ex.com charge hit your debit card, report it the same day you spot it. Every day of delay increases your exposure.
The 60-Day Deadline
Credit and debit disputes share one critical window: 60 days from the date the statement containing the questionable charge was sent. For credit cards, that deadline in 15 U.S.C. § 1666 determines whether you can invoke FCBA protections at all.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors For debit cards, 12 CFR § 1005.6 uses the same 60-day mark to decide whether your liability stays capped or becomes unlimited.8eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers
Most people who lose disputes lose them here. They see the charge, mean to deal with it, and let two months slip. Talking to the merchant does not pause the 60-day clock, so set a calendar reminder the moment you spot the charge, even if you plan to try resolving it with Expertise.com first.
Stopping the Next Charge
If the ex.com charge turned out to be a subscription you’d forgotten, cancelling now keeps the next billing cycle from catching you again. Email legal@expertise.com to request cancellation and get written confirmation with a specific end date.4Expertise.com. Terms of Use Monitor your statements for at least two more billing cycles to confirm nothing else posts.
If the charge was genuinely unauthorized, ask your bank for a replacement card so the compromised number can’t be used again. Turn on transaction alerts in your banking app. Real-time notifications are what give you a chance of catching the next problem inside that 2-business-day window where debit liability stays lowest.