Saga Magazine – August 2018

(^2018) I SAGA.CO.UK/AUG-MAG 91
Because chargeback is
not a right given by law,
banks are sometimes
difficult about it – they
should not be
Y
Extra online
More advice
on credit and
debit cards at
saga.co.uk/aug-mag
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for a sofa, for example, on
your credit card and then pay
the rest by bank transfer or
cash or cheque, the s.75 rights
apply to the whole transaction.
This protection covers all
credit cards – including
American Express credit cards
(but not charge cards). There
is no time limit on making a s.75
claim, but it is always best
to make a claim as soon as
possible. The normal time limit
on legal claims is six years, so
a refund may be difficult to get
if you leave it longer than that.
Debit card
You also have rights when
you pay by debit card. It is
called ‘chargeback’ and
is a contractual agreement
between the bank that issues
your card and Visa or
MasterCard. It means that the
bank has to refund your money
where goods or services are
faulty or go wrong. It covers all
the things that s.75 covers but
there is no lower limit (though
MasterCard does not do
refunds under £10). It applies
equally to credit cards, so may
be useful for Visa or
MasterCard transactions up to
£100 that s.75 does not cover.
Because chargeback is not
a right given by law, banks are
sometimes difficult about it.
They should not be – Visa and
MasterCard include it as part
of the contractual deal with
the banks. Sometimes the bank
may say it will refund only if
they can get the money back
from the supplier’s bank. They
will try to do that, but your right
to a refund does not depend
on the bank being successful.
There are time limits for
claiming chargeback – you
Other payment systems
It can be harder to enforce your
rights if you pay by PayPal
or other alternative means. If
your PayPal account has no
credit in it and your payment is
taken directly by PayPal from
your credit card, you are
covered by s.75. But if you have
a balance with PayPal that is
used to pay for the goods, you
are not covered. Many payment
services, including PayPal, have
their own protection schemes if
goods or services are faulty or
not provided. But if you want
statutory or chargeback rights,
it is safer to pay direct with
your own card.
Online
If you buy something online or
by telephone, then you have
an extra right, which is that you
can simply return it within 14
days for any reason – or indeed
no reason – and get a full
refund. You may have to pay
the postage – but if the seller
does not make that clear when
you buy the item, then the
seller must pay for the postage,
though making them do so can
be tricky. If goods you buy
online do not arrive, then that is
the seller’s liability – not yours
or the delivery company’s.
Money
should always claim as soon as
you know something has gone
wrong anyway. Normally you
have to claim within about four
months (120 days) of realising
something has gone wrong.
If you miss that for a good
reason, there is an absolute
time limit of around 18 months.
It is always safest to claim as
soon as you can.
Chargeback rights also
apply to prepaid MasterCard or
Visa cards.
How to claim
Write to your bank or card
provider with full details of
what has happened. State that
you are claiming a full refund
under s.75 of the Consumer
Credit Act or under the
chargeback procedure and
that if you do not get
a satisfactory response within
eight weeks, you will take
the claim to the Financial
Ombudsman Service. You have
six months to do that. The
Ombudsman upholds more
than a third of the claims that
reach it. It costs you nothing,
but the firm will normally have
to pay £550. You must go
to the Ombudsman within six
months of receiving a final
refusal from the card provider.