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The Daily Insight Hub

What do you do with an unauthorized transaction on a credit card?

Author

Jackson Reed

Updated on January 31, 2026

Inform the bank call centre immediately The moment you find an unauthorized transaction on your card, immediately inform the call centre without any delay. When you dial the bank’s call centre and register the complaint, you are assigned a complaint file number and confirmation SMS is sent.

What is unauthorized usage?

An unauthorized transaction is any transaction that you didn’t make and you didn’t permit anyone else to make. Unauthorized transactions could be made by someone you don’t know, who finds or steals your card or your account information. In either case, you would have to dispute the transactions with your card issuer.

Can I get my money back if someone used my credit card?

In the event of the theft or unauthorized use of your credit card, federal law states that you’re liable for a maximum of $50 in fraudulent charges. However, if you report the loss of your card before any fraudulent charges appear, you’ll bear no financial responsibility whatsoever.

What does it mean to have an unauthorized charge on your credit card?

Unauthorized credit card charges include any type of charge to your account for which you didn’t give permission. 1  Often, unauthorized charges result from credit card theft —either from a stolen credit card or a compromised card number. Sometimes, unauthorized charges result from clerical error or a computer glitch.

What to do if your credit card is not authorized?

The easiest way to find out is to telephone your card company who will usually tell you the reason. Sometimes your card may not authorize and the card company may not record the reason. This would happen if you simply typed in the card number incorrectly (for example). Here are all of the reasons why your card may be not be authorized:

When does an authorized user card fall off the credit report?

This presents two possible scenarios: If the authorized user card falls off of her credit report before any newly added account reaches six months old, no score will be calculated.

How does an authorized user get a credit score?

Here’s the reason why this way of establishing a credit score can work so easily: Most credit card issuers not only report account information monthly to the credit bureaus in the names of their primary account holders, but also in the names of the authorized users of those cards.