How to Dispute a Credit Card Charge: Deadline, Steps, and Rights

To dispute a credit card charge, send a written notice to your card issuer’s billing inquiries address within 60 days of the statement date that contains the error. The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) requires the issuer to acknowledge your dispute within 30 days and finish its investigation within two billing cycles, and no longer than 90 days.¹ While the investigation is open, you don’t have to pay the disputed amount, and the issuer cannot report it as delinquent.

Charges You Can Dispute

Federal law defines specific categories of billing errors. Your situation likely falls into one of these:¹

Charges you never authorized, or charges posted in an amount different from what you agreed to pay.
Goods that never arrived, services never performed, or items that didn’t match what was described at purchase.
Math or accounting mistakes, such as miscalculated interest or an incorrect late fee.
Missing credits for returns or refunds the merchant agreed to.
Statements the issuer failed to deliver to your current address, provided you gave that address at least 20 days before the billing cycle ended.
Charges you don’t recognize and want additional documentary information about, even if they turn out to be legitimate.

The 60-Day Deadline

The clock starts on the date the issuer sends the statement containing the error, not the day you open it. Get your written notice to the issuer within 60 days of that date.¹

Missing this deadline means you lose the FCBA’s protections, including the right to withhold payment during the investigation and the prohibition on delinquency reporting. Your issuer may still investigate through its own internal chargeback process, but it has no legal obligation to do so.

How to File the Dispute

The FCBA’s protections are triggered by a written notice sent to the address the issuer designates for billing inquiries, which is not the same as the payment address.² Look for it on your monthly statement, usually near the payment coupon or in the disclosures. Sending your letter to the wrong address can delay the process or fail to start the legal clock at all.

Send the notice by certified mail with a return receipt so you have proof of when the issuer received it. Many issuers also offer online dispute portals. Those can be a useful first step, but the FTC recommends following up in writing to fully protect your rights.³

What to Include in the Letter

Your notice needs three things: your name and account number, a statement that you believe a billing error exists along with the dollar amount, and an explanation of why you believe there’s an error.¹ Write out the merchant’s name exactly as it appears on the statement, give the transaction date, and specify the disputed amount to the penny.

Attach copies (never originals) of supporting evidence:⁴

Receipts or order confirmations showing what you agreed to pay.
Shipping tracking records showing a delivery failure.
Emails, chat logs, or other written communications with the merchant.
Photos of damaged goods or screenshots of advertised prices that differ from what you were charged.

If you’re disputing a math error by the issuer, highlight the specific calculation on a copy of the statement. Keep everything you send in a file you can return to.

Your Rights During the Investigation

Once the issuer receives your notice, two deadlines apply. It must send you a written acknowledgment within 30 days, unless it resolves the dispute entirely in that window. It must then complete the investigation and either correct the error or explain its findings within two complete billing cycles, and never more than 90 days.⁴

You do not have to pay the disputed amount or any finance charges tied to it while the investigation is open. You still owe the rest of your bill. If you dispute a $200 charge on a $1,500 statement, you owe $1,300 by the due date. Withholding more than the disputed amount can trigger late fees on the undisputed balance.⁵

Your issuer cannot report the disputed amount as delinquent to any credit bureau during the investigation, and it cannot threaten your credit rating because you haven’t paid it. If the investigation ends and you still disagree, the issuer must give you at least 10 days to pay before reporting the amount as past due.⁶ If you send a second written notice within that window stating the amount is still in dispute, the issuer can report the delinquency only if it also reports that the amount is disputed and tells you every party it notified.

The issuer also cannot close or restrict your account solely because you filed a dispute, at least not until it sends its written explanation of the results.¹

What Happens After the Investigation

If the issuer agrees a billing error occurred, it must remove the disputed charge along with any finance charges or late fees that resulted from it, and send you written notice of the corrections.¹

If the issuer concludes the charge was correct, it must send you a written explanation, the amount owed, and the due date. On request, it must also provide copies of documents proving you owe the debt.⁵ You are not required to accept the outcome. You can file a formal complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint, which will forward it to the issuer and require a response. You can describe the problem, provide account details, and attach up to 50 pages of supporting documents.⁷

If the Charge Was Unauthorized

Unauthorized use of your card is governed by a separate federal provision. Your personal liability is capped at $50, and only for charges made before you notified the issuer. Once you report the loss or theft, you owe nothing for charges after that point. Report before any unauthorized charge occurs and you owe nothing at all.⁸

In practice you’ll almost certainly pay nothing. Both Visa and Mastercard offer zero-liability policies covering unauthorized transactions in stores, online, over the phone, and at ATMs.⁹¹⁰ These policies don’t cover certain commercial cards or anonymous prepaid cards like gift cards, and you must have taken reasonable care to protect the card and reported the problem promptly. If the charges stem from identity theft, you can generate the affidavit most issuers require at IdentityTheft.gov.¹¹

Disputes About Merchant Quality or Service

When the charge itself is accurate but the merchant sold you defective goods or failed to perform, a separate FCBA right lets you assert claims against the card issuer as if it were the merchant.¹² Three conditions apply:

You must have made a good-faith effort to resolve the problem with the merchant first.
The purchase must have been more than $50.
The transaction must have taken place in your home state or within 100 miles of your mailing address.

The dollar and geographic limits do not apply if the merchant is the same company as your card issuer, is controlled by the issuer, or obtained the transaction through a solicitation the issuer participated in. The most you can recover is limited to what you still owe on that specific transaction when you first notify the issuer.

When the Issuer Breaks the Rules

If your issuer ignores your notice, misses the 90-day deadline, or reports the disputed amount as delinquent during the investigation, it forfeits the right to collect the disputed amount and related finance charges up to $50, regardless of whether the original charge was valid.¹

You can also sue. For violations involving a credit card account, you may recover actual damages plus statutory damages of twice the finance charge involved, with a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $5,000. The court can order the issuer to pay your attorney’s fees and court costs, which is why a consumer protection attorney may take a case even when the disputed amount was small.¹³

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
2
eCFR. 12 CFR 1026.13 – Billing Error Resolution
3
Federal Trade Commission. Sample Letter for Disputing Credit and Debit Card Charges
4
Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
5
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation 1026.13 – Billing Error Resolution
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666a – Regulation of Credit Reports
7
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1643 – Liability of Holder of Credit Card
9
Visa. Visa Zero Liability Policy
10
Mastercard. Zero Liability Protection
11
Federal Trade Commission. Identity Theft Recovery Steps
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer of Claims and Defenses
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1640 – Civil Liability