What is the Fair Credit Billing Act?
Definition of the Fair Credit Billing Act
The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) is an amendment to the Truth in Lending Act and was enacted by the United States government in 1974. The purpose of the Fair Credit Billing Act is protect consumers from unfair credit billing practices. If a consumer receives his or her credit card statement to find incorrect information regarding charges that the consumer made, the consumer has the right to dispute that charge with the credit card issuer.
Examples of billing errors as defined by the FCBA:
- Charges not authorized by the consumer
- Charges in the wrong amount
- Charges for goods or services not received by the consumer
- Charges for goods not delivered as agreed
- Charges for goods that were damaged on delivery
- Failures to properly reflect payments or credits to an account
- Calculation errors
- Charges that the consumer wants clarified or requests proof of
- Statements mailed to the wrong address
- Significantly not as described product/goods
Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Billing Act
A consumer can file a dispute with the card issuer regarding an error on his or her credit card bill. The consumer has 60 days from the statement date for the card issuer to receive the consumer’s dispute. Consumer must make the dispute in writing and mail it to the issuer.
Card issuer has 30 days to acknowledge receipt of a complaint, and two billing cycles to complete the investigation of the complaint. During this time, the issuer is not allowed to try to collect the disputed payment, charge interest on it, or report it to credit bureaus as late.
If the investigation verifies that the disputed charge is invalid, the card issuer must correct the errors and refund any fees or interest charged as a result. If the investigation concludes that there is no error, the card issuer must explain the findings and provide documentation as back up, upon request.
In the case of credit card fraud, such as if a card was lost or stolen, the consumer may dispute charges by phone rather than in writing.
Hire A Consumer Protection Law Firm
If you feel that your rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act have been violated, you may be entitled to damages. The consumer protection lawyers at Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C. are ready to fight for you. Fill out your free case review form now or call us at 1-877-735-8600 today!
