An Open Inc charge on your bank or credit card statement is almost always an OpenAI subscription, most often the $20 monthly ChatGPT Plus plan.1OpenAI Help Center. What is ChatGPT Plus If you or someone on your payment method signed up, canceling and asking for a refund from OpenAI is the fastest fix. If you didn’t authorize it, federal law lets you dispute the charge with your card issuer or bank, but the deadlines and your financial exposure depend on whether the card is credit or debit.
Who Bills as Open Inc
OpenAI is the source in the large majority of cases. The company sells ChatGPT subscriptions in several tiers, with Plus at $20 per month as the most common purchase. Higher amounts usually mean a Pro, Business, or Enterprise plan, or several months billed together. The dollar figure on your statement is the quickest way to work out which plan is behind the charge.
A smaller share of these charges come from Open Collective, a platform that handles funding for open-source projects and community groups. Contributors to a hosted project may see “Open Inc” followed by a project name or reference number. Other companies occasionally use a similar merchant name, but if you’re searching the phrase, OpenAI is the safe first guess.
Check Whether the Charge Is Yours
Start with the amount. Around $20 points to ChatGPT Plus. Anything higher suggests a Pro or team plan, or multiple billing cycles combined. Search your email for “OpenAI,” “ChatGPT,” or “Open Collective” and look for a signup confirmation or a receipt near the transaction date.
Match against the transaction date, not the posting date. Banks often show both, and they can differ by two or three business days. Your banking app may also display a merchant ID or category code, which helps when the name alone is ambiguous.
Free trials cause a lot of these surprises. Someone signs up, forgets to cancel, and the paid month kicks in. A shared household payment method is another common explanation. Finding a confirmation email you don’t remember means the charge is technically legitimate, but you still have options for a refund.
Ask OpenAI for a Refund First
Going to the merchant is usually faster than a bank dispute. OpenAI’s policy is that accidental purchases are generally eligible for a refund if you contact the company within 14 days of the charge.2OpenAI Help Center. How Do I Request a Refund for My ChatGPT Subscription Requests go through the OpenAI help center, which has billing-specific forms asking for the transaction date, amount, and card details.
If you subscribed through Apple’s App Store, OpenAI can’t refund you directly and you’ll need to request it through Apple.2OpenAI Help Center. How Do I Request a Refund for My ChatGPT Subscription The same is generally true for Google Play, though OpenAI does handle some of those requests.
Canceling and refunding are separate actions. Canceling stops future charges but leaves the posted one in place. Ask for both, and get a confirmation number or email so you have documentation if the billing continues.
Disputing an Unauthorized Credit Card Charge
If the charge isn’t yours and the merchant won’t help, the Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the date your credit card statement is sent to notify your card issuer of a billing error or unauthorized charge.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors Your liability for unauthorized credit card charges is capped at $50, and most major issuers waive that as a matter of policy.
After you file, the issuer must acknowledge the dispute in writing within 30 days and has two full billing cycles to resolve it, with a hard ceiling of 90 days.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors While the investigation runs, the issuer cannot try to collect the disputed amount or report it as delinquent. If the investigation goes your way, the charge is reversed permanently along with any related finance charges.
Most issuers have a dispute button inside their mobile app. You can also mail a written notice to the billing inquiry address on your statement, which creates a paper trail. Include the transaction date, amount, and a brief explanation.
Disputing an Unauthorized Debit Card Charge
Debit card protections work on a different track, and the stakes are higher because the money already left your account. The Electronic Fund Transfer Act governs the dispute, and your liability turns on how quickly you report the problem.
- Report within 2 business days of learning about the charge and your liability is capped at $50, or the amount of the unauthorized transfer, whichever is less.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693g – Consumer Liability
- Report after 2 business days but within 60 days of your statement and liability can climb to $500 for transfers after the two-day window, if the bank can show the later transfers wouldn’t have happened had you reported sooner.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693g – Consumer Liability
- Report after 60 days and you can be on the hook for the full amount of any unauthorized transfers that occurred after the 60-day window closed.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693g – Consumer Liability
This is where a small recurring charge does the most damage. A $20 monthly hit that slips past you for several statements erodes your rights month by month. Look at your bank statements regularly, even for small amounts.
Once you report the error, the bank has 10 business days to investigate. It can extend the review to 45 days, but only if it provisionally credits your account within those first 10 business days so you have access to the funds while the case is open. The bank must report results to you within three business days after finishing the investigation.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
Your Right to Cancel Easily
Federal law requires companies selling recurring online subscriptions to disclose the material terms before collecting payment information, obtain your informed consent before billing, and provide a simple way to cancel.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 8403 – Negative Option Marketing on the Internet The FTC’s “click-to-cancel” rule reinforces this by requiring cancellation to be as easy as signup and prohibiting companies from misrepresenting terms or bypassing clear consent.7Federal Trade Commission. Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Click-to-Cancel Rule If a merchant made you jump through hoops to stop the billing, that context strengthens both a direct refund request and a formal dispute with your bank.
When the Charge Points to Identity Theft
One unfamiliar charge is usually a forgotten trial. Several unfamiliar charges together, or an Open Inc charge alongside other transactions you don’t recognize, is a different situation and worth treating as potential identity theft.
Freeze the compromised card through your bank, then place a free security freeze on your credit reports with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Online and phone requests must be processed within one business day, and lifting the freeze later can take as little as one hour. A freeze blocks anyone from opening new accounts in your name.8USAGov. How to Place or Lift a Security Freeze on Your Credit Report
You can also place a free one-year fraud alert by contacting any one of the three bureaus, which must then notify the other two. A fraud alert requires businesses to verify your identity before extending new credit. Reporting the theft at IdentityTheft.gov generates a personalized recovery checklist covering debt collection, government IDs, and related steps.9Federal Trade Commission. How to Recover from Identity Theft