How to File a Chargeback: Deadlines, Liability, and Denials

To file a chargeback, contact your card issuer or bank, identify the specific transaction you want to dispute, and submit your explanation and supporting evidence within 60 days of the statement showing the charge. That 60-day deadline comes from federal law and applies to both credit and debit cards, though the two run on different rules once the dispute is open. Here is how to file a chargeback the right way, what to expect afterward, and how to protect your money if things go wrong.

Gather Your Information First

A dispute moves faster when you file it with everything in hand. Before you open the app or write the letter, pull together:

Transaction details from your statement: date, merchant name, dollar amount, and any transaction ID or reference number.
Evidence that the charge is wrong. Screenshots of a defective item, a cancellation confirmation, tracking that shows the package never arrived, or anything else that supports your version.
Your contact history with the merchant. Save emails, chat transcripts, and notes from calls. For quality-of-goods disputes on a credit card, showing you tried to resolve it with the seller first is a legal requirement, not a courtesy.¹
A short written explanation of what happened and which category the dispute falls into: unauthorized charge, item not received, wrong amount, or defective product.

Incomplete submissions get delayed or denied. If your bank uses a dispute form, having these details ready lets you fill it out cleanly the first time.

How to Submit the Dispute

Most banks let you start a chargeback through their website or mobile app. You select the transaction, choose a reason, and upload your documents. This is usually the fastest route and gives you an immediate confirmation number.

If the disputed charge is on a credit card, the Fair Credit Billing Act requires written notice to the issuer’s billing inquiries address, which is not the same as the payment address. That address is printed on the back of your statement or on the issuer’s website.² Your letter should include your name, account number, the amount you believe is wrong, and why. Even if you start online, mailing a written letter — certified, so you have proof of delivery — gives you the strongest legal footing.

If the charge is on a debit card, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act lets you report the error orally or in writing. Your bank can require you to follow an oral report with a written confirmation within 10 business days, and if you don’t send that confirmation when asked, the bank is not obligated to provisionally credit your account.³ So if you call it in, ask whether written follow-up is required.

Save every confirmation number, email receipt, and tracking slip from your submission.

The 60-Day Deadline

Both the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act give you 60 days from the date your financial institution sent or transmitted the statement showing the disputed charge. Miss that window and you lose the federal protections that make the chargeback process work.²³

Card networks often give you longer. Visa generally allows disputes up to 120 days after the purchase date.⁴ Mastercard uses similar 120-day windows for many categories, and for some, such as interrupted ongoing services, extends to 540 days from the transaction date.⁵ Those network timelines can save a late filer, but relying on them is risky. File as soon as you spot the problem.

What Happens After You File

The investigation runs on different clocks depending on the card.

Credit Cards

The issuer must acknowledge your dispute in writing within 30 days of receiving it. It then has up to two full billing cycles — and no more than 90 days — to investigate and either correct the charge or explain in writing why it stands.² While the investigation is open, the issuer cannot try to collect the disputed amount or charge you interest on it. Many issuers remove the charge from your statement during the investigation, though the law does not require a provisional credit for credit cards the way it does for debit cards.

Debit Cards

Your bank must investigate and reach a decision within 10 business days. If it needs more time, it can take up to 45 days, but only if it provisionally credits your account within those first 10 business days and gives you full use of the funds while it looks into the claim.⁶ If the bank concludes no error occurred, it must notify you within three business days of finishing the investigation, and it must give you notice before reversing any provisional credit.

How Much You Could Owe If the Charge Was Unauthorized

Your liability for an unauthorized charge depends on which type of card was used.

On a credit card, your maximum liability is $50, no matter how much the thief ran up. If you report the card lost or stolen before any unauthorized charges are made, you owe nothing. The issuer carries the burden of proving the charge was authorized.⁷

On a debit card, how fast you report drives how much you can lose:

Report within 2 business days of learning of the loss or theft: liability is capped at $50.
Report after 2 business days but within 60 days of the statement: liability can reach $500.
Report after 60 days: you can be on the hook for the full amount of unauthorized transfers that happen after the 60-day window closes, with no cap.⁸

Speed matters most on debit cards. A few extra days can multiply your exposure.

Quality-of-Goods Disputes Have Extra Conditions

If your complaint is that the goods or services were defective or not as described — rather than that the charge was unauthorized, wrong, or never delivered at all — the Fair Credit Billing Act adds two conditions before you can hold your credit card issuer responsible for the merchant’s failure. The transaction must exceed $50, and the purchase must have taken place in your home state or within 100 miles of your billing address. You also have to show you made a good-faith attempt to resolve the problem with the merchant first.¹

The dollar and distance limits do not apply if the merchant is the same company as the issuer, is controlled by the issuer, or made the sale through a mail or online solicitation the issuer participated in. And this rule only limits quality-of-goods claims. Disputes over unauthorized charges, billing errors, or items that never arrived are not subject to the 100-mile or $50 restriction.

Your Protections While the Investigation Is Open

During a credit card dispute, the issuer cannot report the disputed amount as delinquent to credit bureaus or threaten your credit rating because you haven’t paid it.⁹

If the issuer rules against you and you still disagree, you can write back within 10 days (or within the payment period the issuer gives you, whichever is later) to say you continue to dispute the amount. The issuer can then begin collection and report the account as unpaid, but any report must note that you dispute the charge, and the issuer must tell you who received the delinquency report.¹⁰

If the Chargeback Is Denied

A denial does not have to be the final answer.

Appeal with your issuer. On a credit card, write back within 10 days of the explanation (or the payment period you were given) stating that you still dispute the charge. This preserves your rights, though the issuer can begin collection.¹⁰
File a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Companies generally respond within 15 days, and complaint data is published publicly. Put everything in the first submission, because you typically cannot file a second complaint on the same issue.¹¹
Sue the merchant in small claims court. If the dollar amount falls within your local court’s limit, this is a direct path, and filing fees for smaller claims are generally modest.

Don’t File a Chargeback You Can’t Support

Disputing a charge for a product you actually received and were satisfied with — sometimes called friendly fraud — carries real consequences. If the purchase involved any electronic communication, a knowingly false dispute can qualify as wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.¹² State theft or credit card fraud charges may also apply. On the civil side, merchants who detect a pattern of bad-faith disputes may refuse future service, and your bank can close your account.

Chargebacks are built for genuine errors and fraud. If you’re unhappy with a purchase, start with a refund request to the merchant. That request also builds the record you’ll need if a legitimate chargeback becomes necessary later.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer of Claims and Defenses
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 Correction of Billing Errors
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1693f – Error Resolution
4
Visa. Chargeback: Debit and Credit Card Purchase Disputes
5
Mastercard. Chargeback Guide Merchant Edition
6
eCFR. 12 CFR 205.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1643 – Liability of Holder of Credit Card
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693g – Consumer Liability
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666a Regulation of Credit Reports
10
Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
11
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 1343 – Fraud by Wire, Radio, or Television