If you learn of a fraudulent credit card or debit card transaction, you may not be responsible for paying that fraudulent purchase.
Credit Cards
As soon as you learn of an improper purchase on your credit card, contact the merchant. Try to resolve it with them. You should also inform your credit card company of the improper or fraudulent transaction. The Fair Credit Billing Act requires that the cardholder contact their credit card company by mail at the address on the credit card statement, not the address for paying bills, to dispute a bill. Moreover, disputes must be received by a credit card company within 60 days of the of the statement date for the statement that showed the fraudulent transaction.
Many credit card companies offer more protections than what the law provides. For example, many credit companies permit customers to dispute purchases online. In addition, many credit cards allow credit card holders to dispute a charge after the 60-day deadline. The additional time to file a dispute varies depending on the type of erroneous charge and the credit card company. Another example of a credit card company offering more protections that the law is as follows. According to the law, if a product or service is not supposed to be received until much later than the original purchase date, card holders still have only 60 days from the receipt of the credit card bill that shows the charge to dispute the purchase. That means you may not know you need to dispute a purchase until it is too late. However, many credit card companies extend the dispute window for goods and services that are supposed to be received at a later date. Thus, allowing consumers to learn that they need to dispute the charge. In fact, many credit card companies will not let merchants charge your account until they are able to deliver the product. It is a good a to check your credit card company’s policy to see if they have afforded you additional protections within the law.
Charges that you should consider disputing are the following:
Charges not made by the credit card holder
Charges for the wrong amount
Charges for a product or service other than what was purchased
Charges for goods or services not received
Charges for goods not delivered as agreed
Charges for goods that were damaged on delivery
Failures to properly reflect prior payments to the credit card company
Calculation errors
Charges that the consumer wants clarified or seeks proof of receipt of services/products
Late fees associated with statements mailed to the wrong address
Debit Cards
If you have a debit card, your debit card company may also afford you more protections than the law to safeguard your from fraudulent purchases. Check with your debit card company to learn what protections they provide to you. If the debit card company does not provide you with additional protections, the law provides debit card holders with the following protections.
·If you report your credit card is lost before a transaction occurs you are not liable for any of the fraudulent purchases.
If you report your credit card is lost within two days, you are liable for $50 in fraudulent purchases.
If you report your credit card is lost within 60 days, you are liable for $500 in fraudulent purchases.
If you report your credit card is lost after 60 days, you are liable for all fraudulent purchases.
Just like for credit cards, as soon as you learn of an improper purchase on your debit card, contact the merchant. Try to resolve it with them. You should also inform your debit card company of the improper or fraudulent transaction.
Debit and Credit Cards
If your credit card or debit card company fails to honor the law, you can sue them for a violation of the Fair Credit Billing Act (credit purchases) or the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (debit purchases). In Maryland, if your credit card or debit card company fails to honor their extended dispute windows, you can sue them under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act for failing to honor their policy, under the theory that their promise to extend the dispute window was false.
Even if you are outside of your credit card or debit card company’s dispute window and do not have a claim against them, you can still sue the merchant if they failed to provide you a good or service, or if you provided you with inadequate or improper goods or services.
