A chargeback is a bank-initiated reversal of a card transaction: you tell your card issuer or bank that a charge is wrong, they investigate, and if the dispute holds up, they pull the money back from the merchant and return it to your account. Federal law gives you this right for unauthorized charges, billing mistakes, and certain merchant failures, but the rules and deadlines depend on whether you paid with a credit card or a debit card.
When You Can File
Federal law recognizes a handful of situations that qualify. The Fair Credit Billing Act and Regulation Z cover credit cards; the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E cover debit cards. The reasons that come up most often fall into three groups.
Unauthorized charges are the clearest case. If someone uses your card without permission, whether through a stolen number, identity theft, or any other means, you can dispute the charge and ask for a reversal.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR Part 1026 – Regulation Z – Section 1026.13 Billing Error Resolution
Billing mistakes also qualify: being charged twice for the same purchase, being billed for the wrong amount, or having a payment you made not properly credited to your account.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR Part 1026 – Regulation Z – Section 1026.13 Billing Error Resolution
Merchant failures round out the list. You can dispute a charge when you paid for something that never arrived, when what you received was significantly different from what was described, or when a merchant promised a refund and never processed it.2Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
Complaints about product quality follow a separate legal track with extra requirements, covered further down.
Filing Deadlines
Miss the deadline and you can lose the federal protections that force your bank to investigate. Both card types run on 60-day clocks, and both clocks start when the statement is sent, not when you open it.
For credit cards, you must notify your card issuer within 60 days after the issuer sends you the statement that first shows the charge you want to dispute.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
For debit cards, you have 60 days after your financial institution sends the periodic statement reflecting the error.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors The stakes for waiting are higher on the debit side, because your maximum liability climbs the longer you delay (see below).
How to File
Before you contact the bank, pull together the transaction details: the date, the exact amount, and the merchant’s name as it appears on your statement. Write down why the charge is wrong, whether it’s fraud, a billing error, or a delivery problem. If you already tried to work things out with the merchant, keep the records: emails, chat transcripts, or notes from phone calls with dates.
Most banks let you open a dispute through their online portal or mobile app by selecting the transaction and completing a dispute form. You can also call or send a written notice. For credit card disputes, written notice must go to the address your card issuer designated for billing inquiries, not the general payment address.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors That address is usually printed on your statement.
Attach anything that backs up your version: receipts, order confirmations, screenshots of listings, shipping tracking, or photos showing damage or a mismatch with what was advertised. Specific evidence produces stronger outcomes.
What Happens After You File
Once your notice arrives, the investigation timelines diverge sharply by card type.
Credit Card Investigation
Your card issuer must acknowledge your dispute in writing within 30 days of receiving it. From there, the issuer has two complete billing cycles, and no more than 90 days total, to finish investigating and either correct the error or send you a written explanation of why the charge stands.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors Many issuers voluntarily apply a provisional credit while they investigate, but federal law doesn’t require it.
Debit Card Investigation
Debit disputes move faster. Your bank must investigate and resolve the error within 10 business days of receiving your notice. It can extend the investigation to 45 days, but only if it provisionally credits your account within those first 10 business days for the disputed amount.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
The Merchant’s Response
You deal only with your bank, but the merchant gets a turn. Your bank contacts the merchant’s bank (the acquirer), which notifies the merchant and gives them a chance to submit evidence defending the transaction, a process sometimes called representment.5Fiscal.Treasury.Gov. Chargeback and Exception Processing Guide If the merchant produces persuasive proof (a delivery confirmation, a signed receipt, a contract), your bank can reverse its initial decision.
Your Money and Your Account During the Dispute
How much you can be on the hook for while things get sorted out depends on the card type.
Credit Card Liability
Federal law caps your liability for unauthorized credit card charges at $50 total, no matter how much was actually spent.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1643 – Liability of Holder of Credit Card Once you notify the issuer that the card was lost, stolen, or compromised, you owe nothing for charges made after that notification. Most major issuers voluntarily go further with zero-liability policies, but the $50 cap is the federal floor.
Debit Card Liability
Debit exposure works on a tiered timing rule:7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1693g – Consumer Liability
- Report within 2 business days of learning about the loss or theft, and your liability is capped at $50.
- Report after 2 business days but within 60 days of your statement, and liability can reach up to $500 for unauthorized transfers that occurred after those first two days.
- Report after 60 days from your statement, and you face unlimited liability for unauthorized transfers that occur after the 60-day window closes.
The money comes straight out of your checking or savings account, and recovering it depends on how fast you speak up.
Credit Card Protections While the Dispute Is Open
For credit card disputes, the issuer cannot try to collect the disputed amount or any part of it until the investigation is complete and it has sent you a written explanation.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors It cannot report the disputed amount to credit bureaus as delinquent, and if it does report your account, it must note that the amount is in dispute.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1666a – Regulation of Credit Reports It also cannot restrict or close your account solely because an open dispute exists.
These specific protections come from the Fair Credit Billing Act and apply to credit cards. The Electronic Fund Transfer Act gives debit customers error-resolution rights but does not include the same explicit prohibitions on adverse credit reporting during the investigation.
Disputes About Product Quality
If your complaint is about the quality of what you bought (an appliance that stopped working after a month, for example), you’re not using the billing-error rules described above. You’re asserting claims and defenses against your card issuer for problems with a purchase, a separate legal right under the Fair Credit Billing Act.2Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
Three extra requirements apply:9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer of Claims and Defenses
- The transaction must have been for more than $50.
- The purchase must have occurred in your home state or within 100 miles of your current billing address.
- You must have made a good-faith attempt to resolve the problem with the merchant first.
The dollar and distance requirements drop away if the seller is the same company as the card issuer, is controlled by the issuer, or solicited the transaction through a mailing the issuer participated in.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer of Claims and Defenses A purchase on a store-branded credit card, for instance, would generally fall outside those geographic limits.
One more limit: what you can recover through this type of claim cannot exceed the balance still outstanding on that specific transaction at the time you notify your card issuer.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer of Claims and Defenses Pay the purchase off, and your potential recovery shrinks with it.
If the Bank Rules Against You
When the investigation ends and your bank finds no error, it has to send you a written explanation. For credit cards, the issuer must provide copies of documentary evidence of the charge if you ask.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors For debit cards, if the bank provisionally credited you during the investigation, it must notify you at least three business days before pulling those funds back.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
A denial isn’t necessarily the end. You can ask your bank to reopen the case if you have new evidence, or if you think the bank made a procedural mistake. If the bank won’t move, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which oversees both credit card and debit card dispute regulations. You also keep the right to sue the merchant directly in court.