Dispute Reasons: What Counts and What Does Not

Fraud, wrong amounts, goods that never came, refunds that never appeared. Here is what the law and the CFPB say counts as a reason to dispute a credit card charge.

October 2026

A charge lands on your bill. You look at it and think, no, that is not right. Before you do anything else, you need to know if the law agrees with you. This page walks through the dispute reasons that count, in the words of the rules that back them. If you want the filing steps, that is how to dispute a charge, a separate guide.

What counts as a dispute reason

Two names come up again and again here. The Fair Credit Billing Act is the federal law on billing errors. Regulation Z is the rule that carries it out for credit cards. Both draw a line around the charges you can fight.

Chase's guide says the Fair Credit Billing Act protects consumers against creditors for unauthorized charges and certain billing errors. That word "certain" does a lot of work. Not every charge you dislike is a billing error.

One more thing before the list. Chase's guide says you can only dispute charges that have already been posted. At Chase, a charge still marked pending is not yours to fight yet.

Fraud and unauthorized charges

The first reason is the one most people know. Someone used your card without permission.

Regulation Z says a charge not made by the cardholder or someone allowed to use the card is a billing error. Read that closely. "Someone allowed to use the card" is part of the test. A charge your teenager made on a card you handed them is not fraud under this rule.

That is why the first move on a strange charge is to ask the house. American Express's guide says to check with additional card members or authorized users if you see a charge you do not recognize. The same guide puts the bill on the main holder. Charges run up by additional card members fall to the primary card member. That means spending by an added card member lands on you, the main holder.

The CFPB says to check your credit card agreement to review your rights about unauthorized charges. It says you can find or request your agreement at your credit card company's website or the CFPB's Credit Card Agreement Database.

Wrong amounts and duplicate charges

The next set of reasons is about the bill itself. The charge went through, but the number is wrong.

The Fair Credit Billing Act says a charge for the wrong amount is a billing error. So a shop that charges you more than the agreed price has made a billing error.

Duplicates fall here too. Visa's guidelines say Condition 12.6 covers duplicate processing disputes. That is the card network's name for the same sale charged twice. American Express's guide says you can dispute a credit card charge in cases such as a fraudulent charge or an error. A double charge is the plain kind of error.

Goods and services that did not arrive as agreed

Now the biggest group. You paid, and what you got did not match what you paid for.

Regulation Z says a charge for goods or services not accepted or not delivered as agreed is a billing error. American Express's guide says you may be able to get money back if something you paid for was never delivered or arrived defective or damaged.

Visa's guidelines say a common cause is merchandise not delivered by the agreed-upon date, time or location. So a package that shows up three weeks late, after the event it was bought for, can count. The rule cares about the agreement, not just the arrival.

Defective and misdescribed goods count too. Visa's guidelines say a cardholder may claim merchandise or services did not match the description on the transaction receipt. They say a cardholder may claim the merchandise was received damaged or defective. They even say a cardholder may dispute the quality of the merchandise or services. If you want the full picture on this group, see reason to dispute a charge.

Credits and refunds that never appeared

Sometimes the fight is not about the sale. It is about the fix that never came.

Visa's guidelines say a cardholder may dispute a transaction because they received a credit or voided receipt that was not processed. The shop said yes to a refund, ran it, and the money never landed on your bill. Visa's guidelines say a common cause of this dispute is that the merchant did not issue a credit.

This reason trips people up. A promise of a refund is not a refund. If the shop agreed to send money back and the credit never shows, that is when the dispute reason opens.

Recurring charges you cancelled

A gym keeps billing after you quit. A subscription runs on after you cancel. This is its own reason.

Visa's guidelines name Condition 13.2 as Cancelled Recurring Transaction. They say a cardholder cancelling the card account is a common cause of this type of dispute. So a charge that keeps running after you closed the account can be fought under this condition.

Keep your cancellation record.

Before you file

A family charge by someone allowed to use the card is not fraud, as above. American Express's guide says that once a dispute is resolved, you may need to pay if you are found responsible for the charges. A weak reason does not become strong by filing it.

Before you file anything, gather your side. Chase's guide says you should gather receipts, photos and merchant communications as evidence before disputing a charge.

How Visa sorts these reasons

Visa does not use the law's words. It uses numbered conditions.

Visa's guidelines list dispute conditions in numerical order. Fraud splits by setting. Visa's guidelines name Condition 10.3 as Other Fraud in a Card-Present Environment. They name Condition 10.4 as Other Fraud in a Card-Absent Environment. The card-present one covers a physical card, the card-absent one an online or phone sale.

The rest map to the reasons above. Condition 12.6 is the duplicate one. Visa's guidelines say Condition 13.1 is called Merchandise/Services Not Received. They name Condition 13.2 as Cancelled Recurring Transaction. And they describe Condition 13.3 as Not as Described or Defective Merchandise or Services. Knowing the names helps you speak your bank's language. For the filing itself, see dispute a credit card charge.

Your rights while the dispute is open

Two questions follow every dispute. Do I pay now? Does this hurt my credit?

On the first, Regulation Z is clear. It says the cardholder need not pay the disputed amount or its related charges during the dispute. It also says a creditor may not try to collect the disputed amount during the error resolution period.

On the second, Chase's guide says credit card disputes do not hurt your credit score. Regulation Z adds a guard on reporting. It says a creditor may report that an amount or account is in dispute. But it also says a creditor may report the account as delinquent if undisputed amounts remain unpaid. So keep paying the parts of the bill you do not question. Regulation Z says a creditor may not include finance charges on undisputed balances just because a consumer withheld payment of a disputed amount.

At the end, the CFPB says the charge must be removed from your bill if the card company finds you are correct. It says the card company must tell you in writing why the bill is correct if it says you are incorrect.

The clock on all of this

Every reason above has a deadline attached. Regulation Z gives the cardholder 60 days to get a written notice to the card issuer. It starts the 60 days when the card issuer sends the first statement that shows the error. So the clock begins with the paper, not with the purchase. A charge you spot late can still be in time if the statement just went out. For more on picking the right ground to stand on, see reason to dispute credit card charge.