What Is a Chargeback Dispute: Deadlines, Liability, and Filing

A chargeback dispute is a formal request asking your bank or card issuer to reverse a credit or debit card charge you believe is wrong. Two federal laws give you this right: the Fair Credit Billing Act covers credit cards, and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act covers debit cards. Both set strict deadlines, and missing them can turn a recoverable loss into one you have to eat.

Here is what the process actually looks like, what qualifies, and how fast you have to move.

When You Can File a Chargeback

Not every purchase you regret qualifies. A chargeback has to fall into one of a few recognized categories:¹

Unauthorized charges — someone used your card without permission, whether through theft, a data breach, or account fraud.
Billing errors — a double charge, the wrong amount, or a math mistake on your statement.
Non-delivery — you paid for something that never arrived.
Goods not as agreed — what you received is significantly different from what was described, or it arrived damaged.

Which category applies matters, because the evidence your bank needs and the rules the dispute travels under both depend on it.

The Deadlines That Decide the Outcome

Credit Cards: 60 Days

You have 60 days from the date your issuer sends the statement containing the disputed charge to file a written dispute notice. The notice needs your name and account number, the charge and amount you are disputing, and a short explanation of why it is wrong.² Miss the 60-day window and you lose the federal protections for that charge.

Debit Cards: Tiered by Speed

Debit card liability climbs the longer you wait:³

Report the loss or theft of your card within 2 business days of learning about it, and your liability is capped at $50.
Report after 2 business days but within 60 calendar days of the statement showing the unauthorized transfer, and your cap rises to $500.
Wait more than 60 calendar days after that statement, and your liability becomes unlimited for any unauthorized transfers that occur after the window closes.

The jump from $50 to unlimited makes debit card speed critical in a way credit card disputes are not. Call your bank the day you spot an unfamiliar charge.

How Much You Actually Owe for Unauthorized Charges

On credit cards, your maximum liability for unauthorized use is $50, and even that only applies if your issuer already told you about your potential liability and gave you a way to report a lost or stolen card. If those conditions were not met, you owe nothing.⁴ Many issuers voluntarily go further and offer zero-liability policies.

Debit cards follow the tiered structure above. That gap — credit cards capped at $50, debit cards potentially unlimited — is one reason many people prefer credit cards for online purchases and travel.

Quality-of-Goods Disputes Have Extra Rules

If you are disputing a credit card charge because the product or service was unsatisfactory rather than unauthorized or miscalculated, a separate provision applies. You can hold your card issuer responsible for the same claims you could raise against the merchant, but three conditions must be met:⁵

You tried in good faith to resolve the problem with the merchant first.
The original transaction was more than $50.
The purchase took place in your home state or within 100 miles of your billing address.

The dollar and geographic limits drop away if the merchant is affiliated with or controlled by the card issuer, or if you were solicited through the issuer’s own marketing, such as a promotion mailed with your statement. Online purchases from a distant seller may not meet the geographic requirement unless one of these exceptions applies. The most you can recover under this provision is the amount of credit still outstanding on that transaction when you first notify the issuer.

For plain billing errors — unauthorized charges, wrong amounts, non-delivery — you do not need to contact the merchant first.⁶ Go straight to your bank.

How to File

Before you contact your bank, pull together:

The transaction date, the merchant’s name as it appears on your statement, and the exact dollar amount.
Copies of any emails, chat logs, or letters showing you tried to work things out with the merchant.
Supporting evidence — photos of damaged goods, screenshots of the listing versus what arrived, delivery tracking, receipts.

Most issuers accept disputes through an online portal, by phone, or in writing. For credit cards, the Fair Credit Billing Act requires a written notice sent to the address your issuer designates for billing disputes, which is often different from the payment address.² For debit cards, you can notify the bank orally or in writing, though the bank may ask you to follow up in writing within 10 business days.⁷

What Happens After You File

Credit Card Timeline

Your issuer must acknowledge your written dispute within 30 days, unless it resolves the issue within that window. The full investigation has to finish within two complete billing cycles, and no later than 90 days.² While it is open, you can withhold payment on the disputed amount, and the issuer cannot report the balance as delinquent or try to collect it.¹

When the investigation ends, the issuer either corrects the error (including refunding any finance charges that accrued on the disputed amount) or sends you a written explanation of why it thinks the charge was correct. If it rules against you, you have the right to request copies of the documents it relied on.

Debit Card Timeline

Your bank must complete its investigation within 10 business days and report the results. If it needs more time, it can provisionally credit your account for the disputed amount and extend the investigation to 45 days, and you get full use of the credited funds during the extension.⁷

If the bank decides no error occurred, it must notify you within one business day and explain in writing. It can then reverse the provisional credit, but only after giving you at least five business days’ notice.

Don’t File a Chargeback You Know Is False

Disputing a charge you actually authorized and received value for — sometimes called “friendly fraud” — has consequences. Federal law makes fraudulent use of a credit card a crime: knowingly using a credit card to obtain money, goods, or services worth $1,000 or more in a single year through fraudulent means can carry fines of up to $10,000, up to 10 years in prison, or both.⁸

Even short of prosecution, banks and merchants track dispute patterns. Repeated illegitimate chargebacks can lead your bank to close your account, and merchants may add you to industry databases that flag customers with chargeback histories. The system runs on good-faith use, and abusing it puts your banking relationships at risk.

1
Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693g – Consumer Liability
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1643 – Liability of Holder of Credit Card
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666i – Assertion by Cardholder Against Card Issuer of Claims and Defenses
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation Z – 1026.13 Billing Error Resolution
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693f – Error Resolution
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1644 – Fraudulent Use of Credit Cards, Penalties