To dispute a charge on your credit card, send a written notice to your card issuer’s billing inquiries address within 60 days of the statement that first showed the error. Your notice needs to identify you, state the dollar amount you’re challenging, and explain why you believe it’s wrong. Federal law then requires the issuer to investigate, and while it does, you don’t have to pay the disputed amount or interest on it.
The 60-Day Deadline
The clock is the single most important thing to understand. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, your written dispute must reach your card issuer within 60 days after the issuer sent the billing statement containing the error.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors The 60 days runs from when the statement was mailed or transmitted, not from when you opened it or noticed the problem. Miss that window and your issuer has no legal obligation to investigate.
So the moment a charge looks wrong, act. Don’t wait for next month’s statement to see if it corrects itself.
What Counts as a Valid Reason
Federal law defines specific categories of “billing errors” that qualify. Not every charge you regret makes the list. Situations that give you legal standing include:
- Unauthorized charges, whether from a stolen card, fraud, or identity theft.
- Wrong amounts, such as a $15 purchase posted as $150, or a charge that ran twice.
- Goods or services that never arrived or were never performed.
- Items that were significantly different from what was advertised, including damaged or wrong products.
- Posting errors, like a payment that wasn’t credited or a charge dated wrongly.
All of these trace back to the Fair Credit Billing Act’s definition of a billing error.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors What doesn’t qualify is buyer’s remorse. If you got exactly what was described and simply changed your mind, that’s a return governed by the merchant’s refund policy. Filing a dispute instead of asking for a return is an abuse of the system, and banks routinely deny those claims.
One practical point worth keeping in mind: merchants can refuse you future service after a chargeback. Some companies suspend accounts when customers file disputes, and that’s legal. If you use a service regularly, try resolving the issue directly with the merchant before you file. That conversation also strengthens your dispute if you end up needing one.
Quality Disputes Have Extra Requirements
There’s a wrinkle when the problem is the quality of what you received rather than a straightforward billing error. You can assert a claim against your card issuer for what the merchant did or didn’t deliver, but only if you first made a genuine effort to resolve the problem with the merchant, the original transaction exceeded $50, and the purchase happened in your home state or within 100 miles of your billing address.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer of Claims and Defenses Those geographic and dollar limits don’t apply if you bought the item through a mail or online solicitation connected to the card issuer, or if the merchant and issuer are the same company.
How to File the Dispute
Use the Billing Inquiries Address
Federal law requires your written notice to go to the address the issuer has designated for billing inquiries. This is not the same as the payment address.3Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges Look on your billing statement or the back of your card for a separate address labeled “billing inquiries” or “billing disputes.” Sending your dispute to the payment address could mean the issuer never processes it as a formal dispute, and your 60-day deadline could quietly run out.
What Your Notice Needs to Say
The statute requires three things at minimum:
- Your name and account number.
- The dollar amount you believe is wrong.
- A clear explanation of why you believe the charge is an error.
Those are the elements the law names.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors You’ll strengthen your case by attaching supporting evidence: receipts, screenshots of the merchant’s advertised price or product description, delivery tracking showing non-delivery, copies of emails where you tried to work things out with the merchant, or photos of a damaged item. The more you hand the investigator, the less they have to guess.
Online, App, or Mail
Most banks now let you file disputes through their online portal or mobile app. You select the transaction and upload documents. These digital submissions are convenient and create a timestamped record. Take a screenshot of the confirmation screen as your own proof of filing.
If you prefer paper, mail your dispute by certified mail with a return receipt requested. That receipt proves exactly when your notice was delivered, which matters if there’s ever a question about whether you met the 60-day deadline. Either way, keep a copy of everything you send. If the investigation goes sideways, you’ll want a complete record of what you provided and when.
What Happens After You File
Once your credit card issuer receives a properly filed dispute, it must send you a written acknowledgment within 30 days. From there, the issuer has up to two complete billing cycles, and no more than 90 days, to investigate and either correct the error or explain why it believes the charge is valid.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors Many issuers apply a provisional credit while the investigation continues, which offsets the disputed charge on your balance.
If the investigation goes your way, the provisional credit becomes permanent and the charge disappears. If the issuer sides with the merchant, the provisional credit is reversed and the original charge is reinstated, along with a written explanation.
What You Owe in the Meantime
You don’t have to pay the disputed amount while the investigation is open, and you don’t owe interest or finance charges on that amount during the investigation.3Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges You still need to pay the rest of your bill on time. Skipping the entire payment because one charge is disputed will produce late fees and credit damage on the undisputed portion.
Your credit report gets some protection too. While the dispute is open, the issuer cannot report the disputed amount as delinquent. It can report that the amount is in dispute, and if it does, it must tell you which bureaus it contacted.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666a – Regulation of Credit Reports A “disputed” notation isn’t a delinquency and shouldn’t hit your score the way a missed payment would.
Your Liability for Unauthorized Charges
If the disputed charge is one someone else made, your maximum liability under federal law is $50, and even that only applies when your physical card was lost or stolen and used before you reported it.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1643 – Liability of Holder of Credit Card In practice, most major issuers waive the $50 as a competitive perk.
If Your Dispute Is Denied
A denial isn’t necessarily the end. Read the issuer’s written explanation carefully. Disputes sometimes fail for procedural reasons like missing documentation, an unclear description, or filing at the wrong address, rather than because the charge was truly valid. If that’s what happened, you may be able to provide additional evidence and ask the issuer to reopen the investigation.
If the issuer won’t move and you believe the dispute was handled improperly, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB accepts complaints about credit card billing disputes. You describe the facts, attach supporting documents up to 50 pages, and identify the company. The CFPB forwards the complaint to the company, which generally responds within 15 days.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint You then get 60 days to review and provide feedback. Include everything relevant the first time; you generally can’t submit a second complaint about the same issue.
For smaller amounts where neither the issuer nor the CFPB route has worked, small claims court is an option. Filing fees typically run from $15 to roughly $75 depending on the jurisdiction and amount, though they can go higher. You don’t need a lawyer, and the process is built for exactly these kinds of consumer disputes.
One Note on Debit Cards
The protections above apply to credit cards. If you paid with a debit card, a different law, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, governs the dispute, and the rules are less forgiving because the money has already left your checking account. The 60-day reporting deadline still applies, but your liability for unauthorized transactions can climb sharply the longer you wait, and the investigation timeline works differently.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693g – Consumer Liability