Credit Card Help Center: Billing Errors
How to fix a billing error that appears on your statement.
Your credit card statement may include information that contains errors.
The account holder has the right to file a dispute under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act, which is a part of the Truth in Lending Act, if the credit card statement:
- Lists a charge for something you did not buy,
- Lists a charge you cannot figure out what for,
- Lists a charge for goods or services that was not accepted by you,
- Lists a charge for goods or services which were not delivered according to your deal with the seller,
- Lists incorrect credits for payments made or refunds,
- Lists incorrect amount of charges
- Was not mailed or delivered to your current address - given that the credit card company got written notice of your new address at least twenty days before the closing date of the statement,
- Contains anything that looks wrong to you. If you call anything a 'billing error', the law says the credit card company has to treat it as a billing error.
In order to fix a billing error, you have to contact the credit card company in writing within 60 days of the mailing of the statement with the error on it. The address to mail your letter to is required by law to be stated on the statement. The credit card company is in a position to either fix the problem in 30 days or write back to you telling that it will investigate and resolve the issue within 90 days from the day it received your letter.
After you receive the final response from the credit company, if you, for some reason, do not agree with the resolution, you have 10 days to write back and say that you do not agree. If you do that, the company has to notify you in writing of the identity of any credit reporting agencies it tells you are delinquent on that payment and must also tell the agencies that you dispute the charges.
It is also good to have some sort of a proof that you sent the letter. Sending the letter via 'certified mail' can be a good way to ensure that.
While your dispute remains unresolved, you do not have to pay any of the disputed amount.
If the credit card company does not correct the error, you still have the right to send them another letter saying that you 'still' dispute the issue. Even though this does not get you back your disputed charge, you gain several things:
- The credit card company cannot report you as delinquent to any credit bureau unless it also reports that there is a dispute.
- It must tell the credit bureau that you say you do not owe the disputed amount.
- It must give you the name and address of anyone or any credit bureau it tells about your alleged debt.
Although this is better than nothing, it may not be the best thing to have adverse information on your credit report regardless of whether a dispute is mentioned or not. In addition, sending another letter will not stop the credit card company from trying to collect the amount you say you do not owe.
The last resorts are taking the issue to the court or filing a compaint with certain federal agencies. Sending a written complaint to the franchising Visa and MasterCard organizations in order to get them to pressure the card-issuing bank is another option. That may work, because Visa and Mastercard are concerned with protecting the value of their trademarks, when the card-issuing bank mainly focuses on not having to pay the disputed charges. Credit card account holders do not really know the details of the operating regulations the card-issuing banks have to abide by. These regulations are enforced by Visa and MasterCard, and provide greater protection for the consumer than for the card-issuing bank.