To stop or dispute a credit card payment, contact the merchant while the charge is still pending, or file a written dispute with your card issuer within 60 days once the charge has posted. Federal law caps your liability for unauthorized charges at $50, requires issuers to investigate billing errors on a set timeline, and lets you withhold payment for goods or services that weren’t as promised, subject to some conditions.115 U.S.C. § 1666215 U.S.C. § 1666i
Pending Charges Versus Posted Charges
A charge usually shows as “pending” for a few days after a merchant requests authorization. It reduces your available credit but is not yet part of your balance and does not accrue interest. Once it posts, it becomes final.
While a charge is pending, your card issuer generally cannot cancel it for you. Call the merchant and ask them to release the hold or reverse the authorization. Some pending charges, like hotel or rental car deposit holds, drop off on their own once the reservation ends. If the merchant won’t cooperate and the charge posts, you move to the formal dispute process.
Grounds for Disputing a Posted Charge
The Fair Credit Billing Act gives you the right to dispute specific categories of billing errors within 60 days of the statement date.115 U.S.C. § 1666 Those categories are:
- Charges you did not make, or charges made in a different amount than you authorized.
- Charges for goods or services you never received, or that weren’t delivered as agreed.
- Math or accounting mistakes on the statement.
- Payments or credits the issuer failed to record.
- Charges you need more information or documentation about.
- Failure to send your statement to the address you provided at least 20 days before the end of the billing cycle.
Quality Complaints About Goods or Services
A separate provision, 15 U.S.C. § 1666i, lets you withhold payment when the product or service itself was defective, substandard, or unfulfilled by the merchant.215 U.S.C. § 1666i This right goes further than a billing error claim, but it comes with three conditions:
- You must first make a good-faith effort to resolve the problem directly with the merchant.
- The transaction must be for more than $50.
- The purchase must have been made in your home state, or within 100 miles of your billing address.
The dollar and geographic conditions do not apply when the merchant is the card issuer itself, is controlled by or affiliated with the issuer, or solicited the purchase through the issuer’s own marketing. The amount you can withhold is limited to whatever remains unpaid on that transaction when you first notify the issuer, so acting quickly matters.
Your Liability for Unauthorized Charges
If someone uses your card without permission, federal law caps your liability at $50 under 15 U.S.C. § 1643, and only if the issuer met its own conditions: the card was an accepted credit card, you were given adequate notice of potential liability, and the issuer provided a way to report loss or theft.315 U.S.C. § 1643 Once you notify the issuer, you owe nothing for any charges made after that point.
Most major issuers advertise zero-liability policies that go beyond the $50 minimum, so in practice you usually pay nothing. Reporting the problem quickly protects you under both the statute and the issuer’s own policy.
How to File the Dispute
The statute requires your billing error notice to be in writing and sent to the address the issuer designates for billing inquiries, which is not the same as the payment address. That address is printed on your monthly statement. Your notice has to reach the issuer within 60 days of the date the statement was sent.
The notice needs three things: information identifying you and your account, a description of the error and the dollar amount, and your reason for believing there is an error. Certified mail with a return receipt creates proof the issuer got it in time.
Most issuers now let you file disputes through their website or mobile app, and that is the fastest way to start. Online submission through the official portal is widely accepted. For the strongest legal footing, follow up an online or phone dispute with a written notice to the billing inquiries address.
Before you file, gather the merchant name exactly as it appears on your statement, the transaction date, the exact dollar amount, and any reference or transaction ID your online banking shows. Mismatched details are a common reason disputes stall.
What Happens After You File
Once the issuer has your notice, the law sets firm deadlines. The issuer must acknowledge your notice in writing within 30 days, unless it resolves the dispute in that same window. The full investigation must be completed within two billing cycles, and in no case more than 90 days after the issuer received your notice.
Protections While the Investigation Runs
You don’t have to pay the disputed amount while the investigation is open, and the issuer cannot try to collect it. That includes any finance charges tied to the disputed charge. You still owe the rest of your bill, including interest on undisputed amounts.
The issuer cannot report the disputed amount as delinquent to the credit bureaus during the investigation, and it cannot close or restrict your account just because you filed a good-faith dispute. If you have automatic payments set up, the issuer cannot pull the disputed amount from your bank account, provided you filed your notice at least three business days before the scheduled payment date.
How It Ends
If the issuer finds the dispute valid, it must remove the charge and any related finance charges. If the issuer decides you owe some or all of it, it must explain the outcome in writing, state what you owe, and give you a due date. If you had a grace period on the original charge, you get the same grace period again to pay without new finance charges. An issuer that skips these resolution steps loses the right to collect up to $50 of the disputed amount, even if the underlying charge was legitimate.
Stopping Recurring Charges and Subscriptions
Recurring charges call for a different approach. Cancel directly with the merchant first, following whatever cancellation steps the merchant requires, and save confirmation emails or screenshots.
If the merchant keeps charging after you canceled, those charges are unauthorized and qualify as billing errors, so you can dispute them through the process above. When you tell your card issuer that authorization for a recurring charge has been revoked, the issuer should block future payments from that merchant. Some issuers will also issue you a new card number so the merchant can’t keep billing the old one.
Credit Cards Versus Debit Cards
The rules above apply to credit cards. Debit card disputes fall under a different federal regulation and don’t work the same way. For unauthorized use, credit card liability is capped at $50 no matter when you report. Debit card liability is $50 only if you notify the bank within two business days of learning about the problem, and can rise to $500 if you wait longer.
Stopping a preauthorized recurring bank transfer requires notice to the bank at least three business days before the next scheduled transfer. Oral notice works, but the bank can require a written follow-up within 14 days, and the oral stop-payment order expires without it.
There is also a cash-flow difference: a disputed credit card charge sits on your credit line while the investigation runs, but a disputed debit card charge has already left your checking account, and you wait to get the money back.
When the Merchant Can Still Come After You
Winning a chargeback with your card issuer does not extinguish the underlying debt. The merchant keeps the right to pursue payment directly, which can mean a collection agency or a lawsuit, especially on larger amounts where the merchant believes you actually received what you paid for.
During the investigation, the merchant gets a window, typically 20 to 45 days depending on the card network, to submit evidence that the charge was valid: a signed delivery receipt, a purchase agreement, proof of service. Persuasive evidence can lead the issuer to deny your dispute and reinstate the charge.
Risks of a Bad-Faith Dispute
The Fair Credit Billing Act protects consumers who dispute in good faith. Disputing a charge for something you actually received and owe, sometimes called friendly fraud, is not protected. If the issuer denies your dispute and you refuse to pay the reinstated charge, the amount can be reported as delinquent and sent to collections. Repeated false disputes can lead to account closure, and in serious cases merchants have pursued civil litigation. Use the dispute process for genuine errors and legitimate complaints.