How to Request a Chargeback on Credit or Debit Cards

To request a chargeback on a credit or debit card, send your card issuer a written dispute notice within 60 days of the statement date that contains the disputed charge. The notice needs your name and account number, the transaction you’re challenging, the amount, and why you believe it’s wrong. Federal law then requires the issuer to investigate and either fix the error or explain its decision within set deadlines. The exact rules depend on whether you used a credit card, which is governed by the Fair Credit Billing Act, or a debit card, which falls under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E.

When You Can Dispute a Charge

The FCBA lists specific “billing errors” that qualify for a formal credit card dispute:

Unauthorized charges someone made without your permission.
Wrong amounts, where you were charged a different price than agreed.
Goods or services that never arrived or weren’t provided as agreed.
Items you didn’t accept, or that arrived damaged or materially different from what was described.
Missing credits after a merchant accepted your return.
Math or accounting mistakes on the statement.
Statements the creditor failed to send to the correct address.

Debit card errors under Regulation E cover a similar range of unauthorized transfers and account mistakes.

Quality complaints work differently. If your issue is that the product or service was defective or not as promised (rather than a straightforward billing mistake), you can raise the same claims against the card issuer that you could raise against the merchant, but only if you tried to resolve the problem with the merchant first, the original transaction exceeded $50, and the purchase was made in your home state or within 100 miles of your billing address. Those geographic and dollar limits fall away if the merchant is the same entity as the card issuer, is controlled by it, or reached you through a mail or online solicitation involving the issuer.¹ The FTC’s guidance follows the same split: contact the merchant first for quality complaints, but go straight to the issuer for unauthorized charges or wrong amounts.²

The 60-Day Filing Deadline

For credit card disputes, you must send your billing error notice within 60 days of the date the first statement containing the error was mailed or delivered to you.³ For debit card disputes, Regulation E uses the same 60-day window from statement transmittal for reporting unauthorized transfers.

With a debit card, missing the window is especially costly. Report within two business days of learning about the loss or theft and your liability is capped at $50. Wait longer and it can rise to $500. Wait more than 60 days after your statement is sent and your liability for later unauthorized transfers becomes unlimited, meaning the rest of your account balance could be at risk.⁴ Credit card liability, by contrast, is capped at $50 under federal law regardless of how quickly you report, and most issuers waive that entirely through zero-liability policies.⁵

File early either way. The FCBA and Regulation E give you the strongest procedural protections, and those protections attach only to timely notices.

What to Gather Before You File

Pull the transaction basics off your statement: merchant name, transaction date, and exact dollar amount. If your online banking portal shows a transaction reference or authorization number, include that too.

The evidence that matters most depends on the reason for your dispute:

For undelivered goods, save tracking information or delivery-status screenshots showing the item never arrived.
For a wrong or defective item, keep photos of what you received alongside the original order confirmation showing what you paid for.
For an unauthorized charge, gather anything showing you didn’t make the purchase, such as proof you were elsewhere or a police report if the card was stolen.
For an unreceived refund, save the merchant’s return confirmation or refund promise and evidence that the credit never posted.

Keep a record of any contact with the merchant: dated emails, chat transcripts, or notes from phone calls. For quality-of-goods disputes, FTC guidance is clear that you need to show you tried to resolve the issue with the merchant before escalating.² If the dispute involves a subscription or service cancellation, save copies of the terms of service and refund policy.

How to Submit the Dispute

The FCBA requires your billing error notice to be in writing. A phone call alone may not preserve your statutory protections. Your written notice must include your name and account number, identify the charge you believe is wrong, state the amount, and explain why you think it’s an error.³ Send it to the billing inquiries address the issuer designates, usually printed on your statement, not to the general payment address.

Most issuers now accept disputes through their online banking portal or mobile app, and those electronic submissions generally satisfy the written notice requirement. Select the transaction, enter the details, and save the confirmation number or case ID you receive. If you’d rather mail your notice, use certified mail with a return receipt to establish a legal record of when the issuer received it.

If you start the dispute by phone, follow up in writing to lock in the FCBA’s protections. When you’re challenging more than one charge, list each transaction separately with its date and amount so nothing gets bundled by mistake.

What Happens After You File

Once your credit card issuer receives a valid billing error notice, it must acknowledge your notice in writing within 30 days unless it resolves the dispute in that same period. It then has two complete billing cycles, but no more than 90 days, to finish its investigation and either correct the error or explain why it believes the charge is accurate.³

While the investigation runs, you don’t have to pay the disputed amount, and the creditor cannot try to collect it. That protection extends to any finance charges or fees tied to the disputed portion. If you’re on autopay, the issuer must exclude the disputed amount from scheduled deductions as long as it received your notice at least three business days before the payment date.⁶ The issuer also cannot report the disputed amount to credit bureaus as delinquent or threaten your credit rating over it, though it can note that the amount is being disputed.⁷

Debit card disputes move on a faster and different clock. Your bank must investigate within 10 business days of receiving your notice. If it needs longer, it can extend the investigation to 45 days, but only if it provisionally credits your account within those first 10 business days and tells you the credit amount and date within two business days after posting it.⁸ For point-of-sale debit transactions, international transfers, and new accounts (within the first 30 days of the first deposit), the investigation window stretches to 90 days and the initial review period to 20 business days. Once the investigation ends, the bank must correct any confirmed error within one business day and report results to you within three business days.

The merchant will typically submit rebuttal evidence, which the bank weighs against your claims. If the issuer decides the charge was valid, it must send you a written explanation and, on request, copies of the documents it relied on.⁹ It can then bill you for the original amount plus finance charges that accrued on that amount during the investigation, but it cannot add finance charges to your undisputed balances because you withheld the disputed portion.

If Your Chargeback Is Denied

A denial doesn’t have to end the matter. Start by requesting copies of the evidence the merchant submitted; federal regulations give you that right, and the merchant’s documentation often reveals gaps you can address in a second attempt.⁹

Card network rules add another layer. Under Mastercard’s system, for example, the issuing bank can process a second chargeback if the merchant’s rebuttal didn’t address the original reason code or if you provide new evidence, such as a letter dated after the merchant’s response that specifically addresses it.¹⁰ If a second attempt also fails, the dispute can escalate to arbitration through the network.

If you believe the issuer mishandled the dispute itself by missing deadlines, failing to investigate, or skipping required procedures, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB forwards your complaint to the company, which generally must respond within 15 days. You can submit online or by phone at (855) 411-2372, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.¹¹ For smaller amounts where the chargeback process has run its course, small claims court may be an option depending on your jurisdiction.

If the investigation confirms you owe the disputed amount and you still disagree, the issuer must give you at least 10 days to pay before reporting you as delinquent. If you send another written notice within that payment period, the issuer can report the delinquency only if it also reports that you dispute the debt and notifies you of every party it reports to.⁷ Any later resolution has to go to those same parties.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer of Claims and Defenses
2
Consumer Advice – FTC. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1693g – Consumer Liability
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1643 – Liability of Holder of Credit Card
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation Z 1026.13 – Billing Error Resolution
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1666a – Regulation of Credit Reports
8
eCFR. 12 CFR 205.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
9
eCFR. 12 CFR 1026.13 – Billing Error Resolution
10
Mastercard. Chargeback Guide
11
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Learn How the Complaint Process Works