A SumUp charge on your bank statement almost always traces back to a small business — a food truck, market vendor, barber, or independent contractor — that uses SumUp’s portable card readers to accept payments. SumUp is the payment processor, not the seller, which is why the name looks unfamiliar even when the purchase itself was routine.
How the Charge Shows Up
The format depends on the card you used. Credit card transactions typically appear as SUMUP* followed by the merchant’s business name. Debit card charges often show the business name followed by a transaction ID number instead. Either way, the business name is whatever the seller entered when registering their SumUp account, so it may not perfectly match the store’s signage or website.
Then there’s the truncation problem. Banking apps and statements cut long descriptions short, often to somewhere between 18 and 25 characters. That can wipe the business name entirely and leave you with just “SUMUP*” and a string of digits. This is the single biggest reason people don’t recognize what they’re looking at.
What SumUp Actually Does
SumUp provides small, portable card readers to businesses that can’t justify a traditional point-of-sale terminal. The seller plugs a compact reader into their phone or tablet, you tap or insert your card, and SumUp processes the payment behind the scenes. Because SumUp handles the payment infrastructure, its name is what routes through to your bank, not the vendor’s.
The processing fees SumUp charges are paid by the merchant out of their proceeds,1SumUp. POS Solutions with Affordable Credit Card Fees so the amount on your statement should match exactly what you agreed to pay.
Tracing the Charge to a Specific Purchase
Start with the amount and date. Pull up the transaction details in your banking app, note the exact dollar amount, and think back to where you were that day. A farmers market on Saturday? A tip to a mobile barber? Even a partial business name after “SUMUP*” can jog your memory if you look closely.
Search your email and texts for “SumUp” or the exact dollar amount. Merchants using SumUp can send digital receipts that include the business name and a reference number matching the charge. Your phone’s location history and calendar entries for that date can also narrow things down.
SumUp does not offer a public lookup tool where a cardholder can type in transaction details and identify the seller. The transaction search features on its site are built for merchants reviewing their own sales, not for consumers.2SumUp. How to View Your Transactions on Your SumUp POS If your own records lead nowhere, call your bank and ask them to retrieve additional merchant details from the payment network. That usually surfaces information the statement doesn’t show.
If You See a Repeating SumUp Charge
Some SumUp merchants set up recurring invoices for subscription services or ongoing work like weekly cleaning or monthly tutoring. If the same charge is showing up at regular intervals, it likely reflects an arrangement you made with a small business. SumUp has no direct relationship with you as the customer, so canceling a recurring charge means contacting the merchant.3SumUp. Booking Terms
If you can’t reach the merchant, or they refuse to stop billing, contact your bank. On a credit card, you can dispute each new charge as a billing error. On a debit card, ask your bank’s fraud or disputes department to block future transactions from that specific merchant.
Getting a Refund From the Merchant First
Before escalating, try the merchant directly. If the charge was a double-tap or a wrong amount entered, they can issue a refund through their SumUp account. SumUp notes that technical limits may prevent refunds on transactions older than 90 days, so don’t wait months hoping it resolves itself.4SumUp. Refund Payments Once the merchant processes the refund, allow several business days for it to appear. Timing depends on your bank, not on SumUp.
When the Charge Is Genuinely Unauthorized
If you’ve checked your records, retraced your steps, and are confident you never made the purchase, your protections depend on whether the charge hit a credit card or a debit card. Two different federal laws apply.
Credit Card Charges
Credit card disputes fall under the Fair Credit Billing Act. You have 60 days from the date your card issuer sends the statement containing the disputed charge to submit a written notice of the billing error.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors The notice needs your name, account number, the date and amount of the charge, and why you believe it’s an error. Most issuers let you start by phone or in the app, but following up in writing preserves your rights under the statute.
Once the issuer receives your notice, it must acknowledge it within 30 days and resolve the dispute within two complete billing cycles, with an outside limit of 90 days.6eCFR. 12 CFR 1026.13 – Billing Error Resolution During the investigation, the creditor cannot try to collect the disputed amount or report it as delinquent. Your maximum liability for unauthorized credit card charges is $50 under federal law, and most major issuers waive even that.
Debit Card Charges
Debit card disputes are governed by the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and its implementing rule, Regulation E. The rules are more time-sensitive because the money has already left your checking account.
Your bank has 10 business days to investigate after you report the error. If it needs more time, it can extend to 45 days, but only if it provisionally credits your account within those first 10 business days.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
How quickly you report determines what you’re on the hook for if the bank confirms the transfer was unauthorized:
- Report within 2 business days of learning about it, and your liability caps at $50 or the amount of the unauthorized transfer, whichever is less.
- Report after 2 business days but within 60 days of receiving the statement, and your liability can rise to $500.
- Report after 60 days, and you could lose the entire amount of unauthorized transfers that occur after the 60-day window, with no cap.
The 60-day outer boundary applies to transfers that appear on your periodic statement. Missing it can mean the bank has no obligation to reimburse losses it can show would have been prevented by earlier reporting.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693g – Consumer Liability With debit fraud, speed is the whole game.