Card and bank billing
Consumer Credit Act 1974 s.75 (and s.75A) — creditor joint and several liability
United Kingdom
- Rule id
- billing.uk-s75
- Version
- 1.0.0
- In force from
- July 1, 1977
- Last read against its sources
- August 5, 2026
- Countries bound
- United Kingdom
In plain language
What this regime says.
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes your credit-card issuer jointly and severally liable with the retailer for misrepresentation or breach of contract, on any single item costing more than £100 and not more than £30,000. You can claim the whole loss from the card company, you do not have to chase the retailer first, and the right lasts six years.
Who is covered
Anyone in the UK who paid for goods or services with a credit card (including in part — a deposit is enough), where the item's cash price is over £100 and up to £30,000. It does not apply to debit cards, and payments routed through certain intermediaries can break the debtor-creditor-supplier chain.
What you get
A claim against the card issuer for the same amount you could have claimed from the supplier — which can exceed what you put on the card, because consequential losses are included. Free escalation to the Financial Ombudsman Service, whose decisions bind the firm.
Where claims go wrong
- Being told the transaction was under £100 when it was a deposit on something more expensive. The test is the cash price of the item, not the card payment.
- Being told to claim from the retailer first. That is s.75A, which only applies above £30,000.
- Accepting a chargeback refusal as the end of the matter. Chargeback is a scheme rule; s.75 is an Act of Parliament.
- Paying through PayPal, a marketplace or a travel agent, which can break the debtor-creditor-supplier link — although the chain often survives where the intermediary acts as agent for the supplier.
- Claiming only the invoice value and forgetting the consequential loss.
Authority
Every citation,
with its pinpoint.
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, s.75Consumer Credit Act 1974s.75(1) — the creditor is jointly and severally liable with the supplier for misrepresentation or breach of contract
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, s.75(3)(b)Consumer Credit Act 1974s.75(3)(b) — s.75 does not apply to a claim so far as it relates to any single item to which the supplier has attached a cash price not exceeding £100 or more than £30,000
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, s.75AConsumer Credit Act 1974 (inserted by the Consumer Credit (EU Directive) Regulations 2010)s.75A — linked credit agreements: the debtor may pursue the creditor where the supplier cannot be traced, has not responded, is insolvent, or where reasonable steps against the supplier have not produced satisfaction
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, s.12Consumer Credit Act 1974s.12(b)-(c) and s.11(1)(b) — the debtor-creditor-supplier agreement on which s.75 depends
- Office of Fair Trading v Lloyds TSB Bank plc [2007] UKHL 48House of Lordss.75 applies to transactions with foreign suppliers, and to four-party card networks
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.
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, s.75legislation.gov.uk
- Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act — Financial Ombudsman Service technical guidanceFinancial Ombudsman Service
- Chargeback — Financial Ombudsman Service technical guidanceFinancial Ombudsman Service
What it imposes
Clocks, defences and the ladder.
Where to take it next
- Notify your card issuer under the Payment Services Regulations 2017Regulation 74 requires notification without undue delay and no later than 13 months after the debit date. Regulation 76 then requires the issuer to refund immediately and in any event by the end of the following business day, restoring the account to the state it would have been in.Claim directtypically 2 days
Documents
What this regime can produce.
The same claim type elsewhere
Other rights in the same countries
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.
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.