Section 75 & Chargeback

What Section 75 is

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes your credit-card provider “jointly and severally liable” with the seller if there is a breach of contract or a misrepresentation. In plain terms, if the retailer will not put things right — or has gone out of business — you can claim from your card provider instead, for the same amount.

It applies where the cash price of a single item or service is more than £100 and no more than £30,000. It is the price of the item that matters, not how much you put on the card: if you pay only a deposit by credit card for something costing more than £100, the whole purchase can still be covered. Section 75 applies to credit cards; it does not apply to debit cards, and it can be lost where a third party such as a payment service breaks the direct link between your card and the seller.

What chargeback is

Chargeback is not a legal right. It is a process run under the rules of the card schemes — Visa, Mastercard and American Express — that lets your bank try to reverse a payment and reclaim the money from the seller’s bank. Because it is built into the card networks rather than the law, it works on both debit and credit cards and there is no minimum or maximum amount.

Chargeback is useful where Section 75 does not apply — for example a debit-card purchase, or a credit-card purchase of £100 or less. It is not guaranteed: the seller’s bank can dispute the claim, and chargeback does not give you the joint liability that makes Section 75 so powerful.

Section 75 versus chargeback

The two can overlap, but a few differences decide which to use:

• Legal status — Section 75 is a statutory right; chargeback is a voluntary scheme rule
• Cards — Section 75 covers credit cards only; chargeback covers debit and credit cards
• Amount — Section 75 needs a single item priced over £100 and up to £30,000; chargeback has no set limits
• Strength — Section 75 makes the provider equally liable, so you can claim the full amount; chargeback only reverses the payment you made

The time limits

Chargeback normally has to be started within 120 days of the transaction, or of the date you expected the goods or service — for example the date of a cancelled event or a delivery that never came. Because the window is short, raise it promptly.

Section 75 is not subject to the 120-day chargeback rule — a common misunderstanding. As a legal claim it is governed by the Limitation Act 1980, which generally allows six years from the breach in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (five years from awareness in Scotland). You therefore usually have far longer to bring a Section 75 claim than a chargeback.

How to make a claim

Contact the retailer first and give it a chance to fix the problem, keeping a record of what you asked for. If that fails, contact your card provider. For Section 75, tell it you are making a “Section 75 claim” and explain the breach of contract or misrepresentation; for a debit card or a smaller purchase, ask about chargeback instead.

Provide evidence: your order confirmation, receipts, any correspondence, and anything showing the goods were faulty, not as described, or never delivered. You never need to pay a claims company to do this for you — the process is free.