How to Dispute a Credit Card Billing Error

If your credit card statement shows a charge or fee that’s wrong, call the issuer, and then put the dispute in writing. The written notice is what triggers your rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act, and it has to reach the issuer within 60 days of the statement that first showed the error. Keep paying the part of the bill you don’t dispute.

Make sure it’s really an error

Before you call, compare the charge with your receipts, order confirmations, and last month’s statement. Common billing errors include:

• the same charge posted twice
• a charge for the wrong amount
• a payment or return that was never credited
• a charge for something you ordered but never received
• a fee that doesn’t match your card agreement

Unfamiliar merchant names cause a lot of false alarms. A restaurant might bill under its parent company’s name, or an online store under its payment processor’s. Tap the transaction in your app for details, or search the name, before you assume fraud. If it really is a charge you didn’t make, lock the card and report it right away; Credit Card Security and Fraud Prevention covers that process.

Save copies of the statement, receipts and emails, and jot down when you noticed the problem.

Call first, then write

Calling (or using the dispute button in the app) gets the issuer looking at it quickly, and many disputes are settled on that first contact. But a phone call alone may not protect your legal rights. To do that, send a written billing-error notice to the billing inquiries address on your statement. It’s often different from the address where you send payments.

Your letter should include your name, account number, the date and amount of the charge, and a short explanation of why it’s wrong. Attach copies (never originals) of your evidence. The FTC has a sample letter you can adapt. Send it by certified mail with a return receipt, or follow the issuer’s instructions if it accepts written disputes online, and keep proof of when it arrived.

The deadline: the issuer has to receive your letter within 60 days after it sent the first statement with the error. If you’re reading this on day 50, don’t wait for the next statement.

What the issuer has to do

Once it gets your written notice, the issuer must acknowledge it in writing within 30 days, unless it fixes the problem sooner. It then has two billing cycles, and no more than 90 days, to resolve it.

While the investigation runs, you don’t have to pay the disputed amount or interest on it, and the issuer can’t report that amount as late or try to collect it. You do still owe everything else on the bill, so pay at least the minimum on the undisputed part by the due date.

If the issuer decides the charge was correct, it has to explain why in writing and tell you what you owe. If you still disagree, write back promptly with your evidence and ask how to escalate. Managing Credit Card Fees and Charges can help if the disputed item is a fee.

Billing errors vs. problems with a purchase

A billing error is something wrong with the bill itself: a charge you didn’t make, the wrong amount, or goods that never arrived. A dispute over quality, like a sofa that arrived damaged or a repair that didn’t fix anything, works differently. You first have to try to resolve it with the seller, and the purchase generally has to meet a minimum amount and have been made in your home state or within 100 miles of your billing address. Ask the issuer which process it’s using for your case.

A five-minute habit catches most of these problems: before paying each month, scroll through the statement and match anything over a set amount, say $50, to a receipt or email.

Sources

• FTC: Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
• OCC HelpWithMyBank: What do I do if I dispute a charge on my credit card account?
• CFPB: How to fix mistakes in your credit card bill

This article is for educational purposes and is not financial advice.