A PP*MK CNSLT charge on your bank or credit card statement is a payment to an independent Mary Kay beauty consultant, processed through ProPay. If you or someone in your household recently bought skincare or cosmetics from a Mary Kay representative, that transaction is almost certainly what you’re looking at.
What the Descriptor Breaks Down To
The “PP*” prefix is often mistaken for PayPal, but it belongs to ProPay (now part of Global Payments), and it appears by default when a merchant hasn’t registered a custom prefix.1Global Payments | ProPay. What Descriptor Will Payers See on Their Credit Card or Bank Statement Mary Kay has a dedicated partnership with ProPay, which supplies merchant accounts for its consultants and plugs into their personal selling websites.2ProPay. Mary Kay – ProPay “MK” identifies the Mary Kay affiliate and “CNSLT” is short for consultant. Statement descriptors are capped at roughly 25 characters, which is why the company name and seller details come through compressed.
Mary Kay consultants are independent business owners, not corporate employees, so the charge carries the seller’s abbreviated business identifier rather than something like “Mary Kay Inc.”3Mary Kay. Be a Beauty Consultant Depending on how an individual consultant set up ProPay, you may also see variants like PP*MK followed by a name.
Figuring Out What the Charge Was For
Start with the date and the exact dollar amount. Match them against any email receipts, text confirmations, or order notes you have from a Mary Kay seller. A specific amount is often enough to jog your memory about a particular product, even if the purchase itself slipped your mind.
If you still don’t recognize it, check with anyone else authorized on the card. Mary Kay products are frequently bought as gifts, and a spouse or family member may have placed the order without mentioning it. Recurring charges are also worth considering: if you set up a standing order with a consultant for something you use regularly, a new PP*MK CNSLT line will appear each time she processes the next shipment.
You can also identify the consultant directly. Mary Kay’s website has a lookup tool that searches independent beauty consultants by name, phone number, or ZIP code.4Mary Kay. Find a Beauty Consultant If you can pull a name from your transaction details, contacting the consultant for a copy of the invoice is usually the fastest confirmation of what you bought.
If You Made the Purchase but Want to Return It
Mary Kay offers a satisfaction guarantee on products bought from authorized consultants: a full replacement, exchange, or refund within one year of the purchase date.5Mary Kay. Satisfaction Guarantee Your first stop is the consultant who sold you the product.
If she’s no longer active or you can’t reach her, you can return the product directly to Mary Kay’s corporate office. You’ll need valid proof of purchase, and the return must fall inside the one-year window. Call the Customer Satisfaction Department at 1-800-627-9529 for shipping instructions and refund processing.5Mary Kay. Satisfaction Guarantee
If You Didn’t Authorize the Charge
Once you’ve ruled out your household and any consultant you’ve worked with, treat the charge as unauthorized and move quickly. Your protections, and the deadlines that control them, depend on whether the charge hit a credit card or a debit card.
Credit Card Charges
Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, your liability for unauthorized credit card charges is capped at $50, and you must send a written dispute to the creditor within 60 days of the statement date to preserve those rights. The creditor must acknowledge the dispute within 30 days and resolve it within 90 days or two billing cycles, whichever comes first. While the investigation is open, the creditor cannot try to collect the disputed amount, charge interest on it, or report it as delinquent.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
Debit Card Charges
Debit card fraud is time-sensitive in a way credit card fraud is not, because the money is already out of your checking account. The Electronic Fund Transfer Act uses a tiered liability system:
- Report within 2 business days: your liability is capped at $50 (or the amount taken, whichever is less).
- Report between 2 and 60 days: your liability can reach $500.
- Report after 60 days: no statutory cap, and you may be on the hook for the full amount.
A week of waiting on a debit card dispute can multiply your potential losses tenfold.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1693g – Consumer Liability After you report, your bank has 10 business days to investigate and decide whether an error occurred, then three business days after finishing to report results back to you.8Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Procedures for Resolving Errors
How to File
Call your bank or card issuer, explain that you did not authorize the transaction, and give them the date, dollar amount, and the PP*MK CNSLT descriptor. For a credit card, follow up in writing within the 60-day window. The issuer will typically open a chargeback against the ProPay transaction.
Protecting the Account Afterward
Disputing a single charge doesn’t close the door on the person who used your card. The number that was compromised once can be used again.
Ask your bank or issuer to block the card and send a replacement with a new number. If the fraudulent charge hit a debit card, consider asking for an entirely new account number as well, since the card is tied directly to your checking funds.9Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Credit Card and Debit Card Fraud Update any automatic payments tied to the old number so legitimate charges don’t bounce.
If you suspect the problem is broader than one charge, place a fraud alert on your credit reports by contacting any one of the three major bureaus (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion). The bureau you call must notify the other two, the alert lasts one year, and it tells lenders to take extra steps to verify your identity before opening new accounts in your name.9Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Credit Card and Debit Card Fraud