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Coverage

Card and bank billing

Card scheme chargeback rules (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover)

SupranationalSCHEMEDerived or secondary source

Card scheme rules (private rulebooks, not the law of any jurisdiction)

Rule id
billing.chargeback-networks
Version
1.0.0
In force from
April 14, 2018
Last read against its sources
August 5, 2026
Countries bound
None listed — a treaty whose party states are set by accession

In plain language

What this regime says.

A chargeback is your bank reversing a card transaction under the private rulebook of Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover. It is fast, free and often works — but it is not a legal right, the windows are short (usually 120 days, occasionally up to 540), and a refusal decides nothing about the law.

Who is covered

Anyone who paid by credit or debit card on one of the major networks, anywhere in the world. Bank transfers and most wallet balances are outside it.

What you get

Reversal of the transaction, in whole or in part, usually with a provisional credit while the dispute runs. No damages, no interest, no costs — chargeback is restitution and nothing more.

Where claims go wrong

  • Asking for "a refund" instead of naming a dispute reason code. Requests without a code get logged as enquiries.
  • Letting the issuer run the 120 days from the transaction when the goods were due later.
  • Treating a failed chargeback as the end of the matter. It is not; the statutory route is separate and usually longer.
  • Not keeping one dated email to the merchant. It is the single most useful piece of evidence in a consumer-dispute chargeback.
  • Recovering through chargeback and then pursuing the same loss again. You may run both routes, but you may not keep the money twice.

Authority

Every citation,
with its pinpoint.

A claim that cites “EU law” gets filed. A claim that cites Article 7(1)(c) gets answered. These are the exact coordinates this entry rests on.
  1. Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service RulesVisa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules (Visa Claims Resolution dispute framework)Dispute categories 10 (Fraud), 11 (Authorization), 12 (Processing Errors) and 13 (Consumer Disputes)
  2. Mastercard Chargeback GuideMastercard Chargeback GuideMessage reason codes 4837, 4841, 4853, 4855, 4860
  3. American Express Merchant RegulationsAmerican Express Merchant Regulations (US) — dispute chargeback reason codesCategories C (Cardmember Dispute), F (Fraud) and P (Processing Error)
  4. Discover Network Dispute RulesDiscover Network Operating Regulations — dispute reason codesCodes RG, RM, AP, DP, AW, NC and the UA fraud series

Sources

Where a figure is indexed, converted or published by a regulator rather than fixed in the instrument, the provenance is recorded separately. Anything marked as a modelled estimate is exactly that — a model, not a statutory number.

What it imposes

Clocks, defences and the ladder.

A rule module builds these while it evaluates, because a limitation period depends on which forum is open to you. What follows is the structure this regime produces — deliberately with no dates and no figures, because those belong to your facts rather than to the law.

The clocks it starts

  • Scheme dispute window (120 days)Fatal if missedThe 120-day window runs from the transaction processing date, 2026-07-09. Where delivery or performance was scheduled for later, the clock runs from that later date instead — tell your issuer the promised date if there was one.Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules — Dispute categories 10 (Fraud), 11 (Authorization), 12 (Processing Errors) and 13 (Consumer Disputes)Filing window
  • Outer bound from the transaction (540 days)Fatal if missedWhere the clock starts from a delivery or service date, the schemes cap the total at 540 days from the transaction — the rule that catches interrupted services, memberships and long-lead orders. Beyond it no dispute code is available whatever the delivery date was.Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules — Dispute categories 10 (Fraud), 11 (Authorization), 12 (Processing Errors) and 13 (Consumer Disputes)Filing window

What it entitles you to, beyond money

  • Provisional credit while the dispute runsMost issuers credit the disputed amount at the point the dispute is raised and reverse it if the merchant successfully represents. Ask for it. In the United States this overlaps with the Regulation E provisional-credit obligation, which is a legal duty rather than a courtesy.
  • Block further payments to the same merchantA chargeback recovers what has gone; it does not stop what is coming. Ask the issuer at the same time to block future authorisations from that merchant, and cancel any continuous payment authority in writing.

What the other side will say

Each of these is a refusal this regime lets a counterparty attempt, paired with the answer to it. Reading them before you write is worth more than any amount of polish on the letter itself.

"The merchant supplied compelling evidence"

high likelihood

On a fraud dispute the merchant produces prior undisputed transactions, an IP address, a device fingerprint or a delivery address matching yours, and the dispute is closed against you.

What answers it

Compelling-evidence rules address whether you transacted, not whether the goods arrived. Answer the specific artefact: prior transactions with the same merchant do not prove this one, an IP address proves a network, and a delivery address on file proves the merchant had it. If the goods genuinely did not arrive, ask for the dispute to be re-raised under the non-receipt code instead of the fraud code.

Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules — Dispute categories 10 (Fraud), 11 (Authorization), 12 (Processing Errors) and 13 (Consumer Disputes)

"The cardholder agreed to a no-refund policy"

high likelihood

The merchant produces terms it says you accepted at checkout.

What answers it

Scheme rules generally require a cancellation or refund policy to have been disclosed at the point of sale and acknowledged, and in most consumer jurisdictions a no-refund term cannot exclude statutory rights in any event. Ask the issuer to produce the evidence that the policy was disclosed before the transaction, and point at your local consumer statute.

Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules — Dispute categories 10 (Fraud), 11 (Authorization), 12 (Processing Errors) and 13 (Consumer Disputes)

"You are outside the dispute window"

high likelihood

The issuer counts 120 days from the transaction and refuses.

What answers it

For non-delivery and interrupted-services codes the schemes start the clock at the date delivery or performance was due, not the transaction date, subject to an outer bound measured from the transaction. Give the issuer the promised delivery date in writing. And if the window really has closed, pivot to the statutory route, which is longer everywhere it exists.

Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules — Dispute categories 10 (Fraud), 11 (Authorization), 12 (Processing Errors) and 13 (Consumer Disputes)

"The chargeback failed, so there is nothing more we can do"

high likelihood

The issuer treats the scheme outcome as determinative of your rights.

What answers it

The scheme rulebook is a contract between banks. It does not bind you, it cannot extinguish a statutory right, and the issuer's duties under the Fair Credit Billing Act, Regulation E, s.75 of the Consumer Credit Act or PSD2 are unaffected by how the scheme allocated the loss between two banks. Ask the issuer to answer the statutory claim separately and in writing.

Where to take it next

  1. Raise the dispute with your issuer, by reason codeAsk, in writing, for a dispute to be raised and ask the issuer to tell you which reason code it has used. Include the transaction date and amount, the merchant descriptor, what was promised, what happened, and your dated attempt to resolve with the merchant.Claim directtypically 45 days
  2. Challenge a representmentIf the merchant represents, you normally get one chance to answer before the issuer decides whether to take the case to pre-arbitration. Answer the specific evidence: a tracking number to the wrong address, a terms page you never saw, a "delivery confirmation" with no signature. Ask the issuer to escalate to pre-arbitration and record its answer.Internal appealtypically 45 days
  3. Complain about how the issuer handled the chargebackThis is where the scheme rules become legally relevant. Ombudsman and regulator schemes — the Financial Ombudsman Service in the UK, the CFPB in the US, AFCA in Australia, the RBI Ombudsman in India — will not enforce the rulebook, but they will decide whether the issuer treated you fairly, and an issuer that refused an obviously good chargeback loses those complaints.Ombudsmantypically 120 days
  4. Statutory claim against the merchant or issuerA closed chargeback window says nothing about your legal rights. Look at the statutory result for your country in these results before you conclude the money is gone.Small claimstypically 180 days

Documents

What this regime can produce.

Every one of these is a document you send yourself, in your own name. Duesday never writes to anybody on your behalf and is never anyone’s agent.

The same claim type elsewhere

PSD2 — unauthorised transactions and direct-debit refunds (Directive (EU) 2015/2366)EUSupranational — 30 countriesDirective (EU) 2015/2366 (PSD2)Confidence: highNorway — Financial Contracts Act 2020 and FinansklagenemndaNONational — NorwayLov om finansavtaler (finansavtaleloven), LOV-2020-12-18-146Confidence: mediumRussia — Federal Law 161-FZ on the National Payment System and the financial ombudsmanRUNational — RussiaФедеральный закон от 27.06.2011 № 161-ФЗ «О национальной платежной системе», ст. 9Confidence: mediumSwitzerland — Financial Services Act ombudsman affiliation and the Swiss Banking OmbudsmanCHNational — SwitzerlandFinancial Services Act (FinSA / FIDLEG), SR 950.1Confidence: mediumTürkiye — Bank Cards and Credit Cards Law No. 5464 and the Consumer Arbitration CommitteesTRNational — TürkiyeBanka Kartları ve Kredi Kartları Kanunu No. 5464Confidence: mediumConsumer Credit Act 1974 s.75 (and s.75A) — creditor joint and several liabilityGBNational — United KingdomConsumer Credit Act 1974, s.75Confidence: highCanada — payment card codes of conduct, provincial consumer protection and OBSICANational — CanadaCode of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in CanadaConfidence: mediumFair Credit Billing Act (Regulation Z billing-error resolution and claims-and-defences)USNational — United StatesFair Credit Billing Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1666Confidence: high

Does this one reach your facts?

The engine runs every regime that could apply at once and reconciles them, rather than making you guess which page to read.

Run your factsBack to the catalogue

Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You send it yourself. This page describes a law; it is not advice about your situation and no outcome is promised.