How to Dispute an Unauthorized Credit Card Transaction

Have you ever reviewed your credit card statement and wondered where and when a particular charge occurred? Did you make the charge or was your credit card number compromised. There are many ways a charge can occur on a credit card and if you did not initiate or authorize the charge, you may be able to have the charge reversed and not be liable for it.

If you see a charge on your statement that you did not authorize, the first thing you should do is contact your credit card issuer as soon as possible. Explain to them why you think the charge is fraudulent and be ready to provide them with as much information as possible. If you believe the card was stolen, they can immediately make the card inactive and stop any future charges from being made. You may also want to provide them with any information that you might have about how the card may have been obtained or used. The new card they issue to you will have a completely different number.

In addition to reviewing your current credit card statement, you should look at past statements to make sure there were no past charges that may be fraudulent. If you see anything suspicious, you should also report these to your credit card issuer as soon as possible.

In most cases, your credit card issuer will mail you a form with the details of your dispute and require you to sign the form and mail or fax it back. Be sure to make a copy of this form to keep for your own records. Most issuers have a deadline for receiving the signed form, so once you mail or fax the form back to the credit card issuer, you should contact them to verify that they have received the form and are researching your claim.

You should also ask the credit card issuer what the time frame is for reversting the charge. In most cases, the issuer will provide you with provisional credit. This means that they will immediately put the amount of the disputed charge back on your card pending review. After they've reviewed the claim, if they do feel it was a fraudulent transaction, you have already received credit for it. If they find that the charge was legitimate then they will once again charge your card for that amount.

After your dispute has been reviewed and you have been given credit, be sure to contact the credit reporting agencies and review your credit report to make sure there are not any additional issues on your credit report. If there were any other compromises on other cards, you should follow the same process with each creditor to reverse the charges and ask each credit card issuer to issue you a new card with a new card number.

As you are making your claims, be sure to keep track of all paperwork and phone calls you make including the names of people with whom you are working. If you ever need to recall any of the information for verification purposes, you'll be grateful for your organization and will help you resolve the issues more quickly.