What happens if you dispute a charge?
Jackson Reed
Updated on February 05, 2026
Your credit card company will likely remove the charge from your statement during the dispute process. You won’t need to pay it until a decision is reached regarding the dispute, and if you win, you won’t need to pay it at all.
What happens to the vendor when you dispute a charge?
If your issuer accepts the dispute, they’ll pass it on to the card network, such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover, and you may receive a temporary account credit. The card network reviews the transaction and either requires your card issuer to pay or sends the dispute to the merchant’s acquiring bank.
Can you dispute a charge for a bad product?
Consumers have the right to dispute a credit card charge, whether it was posted in error, fraudulent in nature or if the merchant didn’t provide satisfactory goods or services.
What happens when you dispute a charge on your debit card?
Disputing a debit card charge involves contacting your bank and asking it to cancel the error, which restores your balance to its previous level. The bank’s final decision can take up to 10 business days. Call your bank’s customer service hotline, which you can usually find online or on the back of your debit card.
How long does it take for a dispute to be resolved?
Disputes are involved in a complex process that may involve different time limits. Typically, disputes that reach the chargeback stage will take between 30 days to 45 days to be resolved.
What are reasons to dispute a transaction?
Valid Reasons to Dispute a Credit Card Charge
- Charges with wrong date or dollar amount.
- Math errors (such as an incorrect total after adding a tip)
- Failure to post payments or credits.
- Failure to deliver the bill to your current address (assuming you provided it 20 days before the billing cycle closing date)
How long do you have to dispute a charge on your bank account?
60 days
Oftentimes, you can dispute a charge with your bank or credit card company by filling out a form online and providing some information about the fraudulent charge. You may also have to go into your bank and physically fill out a dispute form. You have 60 days to dispute the charge formally.
Can a merchant refund a customer after a dispute?
After a dispute is already filed, merchants should not refund the transaction. Because if the customer wins the dispute and you have refunded them, they will receive two credits. The credit that was pulled from the merchant account when the dispute was filed and the refund you credited them.
What happens when a customer disputes a charge?
That means the majority of people that do not recognize a transaction head straight to the bank to dispute a charge. As a result, the merchant is unable to remedy the situation until after the dispute. With Real-time Resolution (RTR) merchants are able to intervene before the dispute ever happens.
Can a merchant dispute the validity of a chargeback?
Merchants can dispute a chargeback, but they might not prevail, especially if they can’t prove the charge was valid. It’s easy to think your dispute is legally valid when it isn’t. Here are a few examples of illegitimate chargebacks that might surprise you: The “unauthorized purchase” was made by a friend or family member.
What happens if I dispute a bank transaction?
If the bank decides your dispute was warranted, they’ll replace the funds in your account that you spent on the transaction in question. They may do this by forcefully withdrawing the funds back from the merchant’s account. For this reason, getting your refund may take a while.