How to Dispute Charges on Your Credit Card Statement
Written by James Chan
When you see charges on your credit card statement on purchases you clearly don’t remember making, it is likely that someone stole your card identity and is making purchases on it. In this case, don’t panic; follow this guide to dispute the charges on your statement in an effort to cancel them.
There are 2 ways to find out that there are error charges: looking at your account activity online or reading your monthly statement when you receive it. You should obtain online access to your credit card accounts to make this easier. To do that you will need to:
Go to the websites of the banks that issued your credit cards,
Register an account with each of them, and
Add your credit card to your account.
This allows you to view activities on your accounts at any time. An alternative approach is to buy software such as Microsoft Money or Quicken that will download your credit card activities automatically when you link your accounts with them. Either case, you will be able to see and identify any charges that don't belong to you.
Now, to dispute a charge that is not incurred by you, you can follow the following steps:
Write down the date, transaction number, merchant name, and charge amount.
Double check with your own records that the transaction in step 1 is indeed not yours.
Call your credit card number using the number on the back of the card and ask to speak to a customer representative. Request for someone in the department for credit card fraud if necessary.
Explain to the service representative by giving him/her the information you have in hand from step 1. He/she will typically put that transaction on hold until further investigation.
You will be told to mail in a letter stating your dispute or told to fill out and sign the back of your credit card statement (form on the back) and mail it back. In some cases they will mail you a form that contains your dispute claim and you will need to sign and mail it back. Make sure this gets emailed to the address that handles billing disputes if it is separate from the payments address, or the letter may get lost in a bureaucratic mess.
You should know of the dispute resolution in 4 to 8 weeks. At this point, two scenarios can occur:
The creditor agrees with you and will correct the bill, turning any late fees, charges, etc into credits to use for future card payments, or
The creditor explains why the bill is correct and informs you of the amount you owe, along with an explanation of why you owe that amount. In this case, you have 10 days to re-dispute the charge or make the payment.
Tip:Always be polite when you are working with the representative. Getting frustrated and upset about the charges don’t solve the problem. Be reasonable and at the same time firm on your position is the fastest route to solve it.
