Can you successfully dispute credit card charge after paying the bill?

[Anonymous]

DH thinks you can, I thought you're out of luck once the bill is paid, because that implies you verified and approved the charges.

We pay our cc bill in full, monthly. The dispute would concern purchases of future services (like travel), not yet rendered by billing time. If a fly-by-night operator goes bust before providing the service, would we be stuck with the charge, if we already paid the credit card?

Does anyone know the answer? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Your husband is right; you can. Same with a debit card (where the money is taken out right away and "paid").

re: the possible shaky operator...that's another story. I know in a typical cc dispute, the credit card company gets the money back from the merchant. Not sure what happens when that merchant goes bust. Maybe someone else will chime in.

[Anonymous]

Depending on the credit company you may be protected through them. This is why using a credit card can be better than a debit card, you often have insurance of sorts for your purchases. American express seems to be best.

[Anonymous]

Yes you can and this happened to me.

I purchased honeymoon flight tickets to Mexico and the airline Mexicana air was filing bankruptcy and cutting flights but they kept telling me there was a "chance" mine would not be cancelled.

Not willing to risk it, I purchase other tickets and disputed the Mexicana air ones with my VISA card. BAsically the credit card company filed the dispute due to the pending bankrupcy and I had to wait and see if the airline responded to the dispute. However, after I think its 3 months with no response, the credit card company will basically refund your money and puts in a claim against the other company.

So I got the money back in the end from VISA and never heard back from the airline.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely. And you have to keep paying the bill even if you're disputing the charge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes you can and this happened to me.

I purchased honeymoon flight tickets to Mexico and the airline Mexicana air was filing bankruptcy and cutting flights but they kept telling me there was a "chance" mine would not be cancelled.

Not willing to risk it, I purchase other tickets and disputed the Mexicana air ones with my VISA card. BAsically the credit card company filed the dispute due to the pending bankrupcy and I had to wait and see if the airline responded to the dispute. However, after I think its 3 months with no response, the credit card company will basically refund your money and puts in a claim against the other company.

So I got the money back in the end from VISA and never heard back from the airline.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely. And you have to keep paying the bill even if you're disputing the charge.

I thought you shouldn't pay for a disputed charge (but pay the rest of the bill).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely. And you have to keep paying the bill even if you're disputing the charge.

I thought you shouldn't pay for a disputed charge (but pay the rest of the bill).

That is not always the case. If you catch a fraudulent charge in time before you pay they might put payment on hold for the dispute investigation. But what OP is asking for is if you already paid the amount, can you get your money back when you dispute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes you can and this happened to me.

I purchased honeymoon flight tickets to Mexico and the airline Mexicana air was filing bankruptcy and cutting flights but they kept telling me there was a "chance" mine would not be cancelled.

Not willing to risk it, I purchase other tickets and disputed the Mexicana air ones with my VISA card. BAsically the credit card company filed the dispute due to the pending bankrupcy and I had to wait and see if the airline responded to the dispute. However, after I think its 3 months with no response, the credit card company will basically refund your money and puts in a claim against the other company.

So I got the money back in the end from VISA and never heard back from the airline.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

No problem! It was the first time I had to dispute and had NO idea how it worked but if you call the credit card company they will work with you to try and get it fixed, there are special claim dispute departments that take on these cases and I had my contact and everything so it made it much easier.

[Anonymous]

All of my credit cards require full payment, even if disputing a charge. I have disputed a few (after paying them) for legit reasons and every time, "won" the dispute.

[Anonymous]

Yes. This happened to my husband. He still had to pay the bill and the credit card company eventually refunded his money. There had to be an investigation first.

[Anonymous]

OP here - from FTC Fair Credit Billing Act: What happens while my bill is in dispute?

You may withhold payment on the disputed amount (and related charges), during the investigation. You must pay any part of the bill not in question, including finance charges on the undisputed amount.

It doesn't say what your rights are if you already paid, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - from FTC Fair Credit Billing Act: What happens while my bill is in dispute?

You may withhold payment on the disputed amount (and related charges), during the investigation. You must pay any part of the bill not in question, including finance charges on the undisputed amount.

It doesn't say what your rights are if you already paid, though.

OP they have to do an investgation on the matter. You cannot just get the money back. You have a right to have the charge investigation. You have to submit your evidence of the fraudulent payment or what happened and then they look into the dispute. If it does not come out in your favor then its probably a matter for the better business bureau.

[Anonymous]

Rules are set by Visa/MC, so should be the same for all credit card companies. Good luck, OP!

[Anonymous]

I have done this with Discover. Paid the bill but disputed a charge.