The FCBA 60-day window for credit card billing errors

What counts as a billing error

The Fair Credit Billing Act covers a defined list: unauthorized charges, charges with the wrong date or amount, charges for items you did not accept or that were not delivered as agreed, duplicate charges, and payments or credits the issuer failed to post. Disputes about the quality of an item are not billing errors.

Unauthorized charges get extra attention because they can be a sign of identity theft. The FTC points cardholders to IdentityTheft.gov for that situation while still treating the charge as a billing error under the law.

The sixty-day clock

The window runs from the date the first statement containing the error is sent to you, not from the date of the purchase. Send your dispute letter to the address your issuer lists for billing inquiries — usually different from the payment address — within sixty days of that statement.

Include your name, account number, the disputed amount, and a description of the mistake. Send copies of receipts, not originals, and keep a copy of everything. Certified mail with a return receipt gives you proof of what the issuer received.

What the issuer must do

Within thirty days of receiving your dispute, the issuer must acknowledge it in writing, unless the problem is already resolved. Within two billing cycles, and no more than ninety days, it must resolve the dispute — either correcting the error and removing related finance charges, or explaining in writing why it believes the bill is correct.

If the issuer determines you owe part or all of the disputed amount, it must tell you in writing how much, why, and when it is due, and give you the same grace period you would normally have had.

Your rights during the investigation

While the investigation runs, you can withhold payment on the disputed amount and any related finance charges, though you are expected to pay the undisputed portion of the bill. The issuer may not close your account, report you as delinquent, or take collection action over the disputed amount.

The issuer can apply the disputed amount against your credit limit and can tell the credit bureaus that the amount is in dispute, but it cannot use the dispute as a reason to damage your standing.

1. Find the billing-inquiries address It is usually printed on your statement and differs from the payment address. Online disputes are fine to start, but a letter preserves your full legal protection.
2. Write within 60 days of the first statement The clock starts on the statement, not the purchase. Include account number, amount, date, and why the charge is wrong.
3. Keep proof of delivery Certified mail with a return receipt documents when the issuer received your letter.
4. Pay the undisputed portion Withholding only the disputed amount protects your rights; skipping the rest invites normal late fees.

If the issuer says you owe it

You can appeal the result within the payment deadline the issuer gives you, or within ten days of its explanation, whichever is later. Write to say you still dispute the error. At that point the issuer can begin normal collection procedures, and the matter is outside the dispute process.

Issuers that break the process lose some rights themselves: if the issuer does not acknowledge your dispute in time, takes more than two billing cycles to resolve it, or threatens your credit over a disputed amount, it forfeits up to fifty dollars of the disputed amount it would otherwise be owed.