How to Remove Charges From Your Credit Card

The Fair Credit Billing Act is a piece of federal legislation that protects credit card holders from being responsible for unauthorized charges in excess of $50. Unauthorized charges may be applied to your credit card account by mistake or due to the unauthorized use of your card by a third party. In order to take advantage of the protections offered by this law, credit card holders must submit their dispute in writing within 60 days of receiving a statement containing an error.

• 1

  Contact your credit card company immediately to report any unauthorized charges that you find on your account statement. Your credit card provider can take immediate steps to freeze your account or reissue a new account number if your account has been compromised. Failing to take immediate action may result in further unauthorized use of your credit card account and may jeopardize your ability to benefit from the protections of the Fair Credit Billing Act.

• 2

  Draft a letter to your credit card provider to dispute the charges and request that they be removed from your account. Your letter should include your full name, address, account number, and the specific charges that you are disputing. If possible provide the location, date, description and amount of the disputed charge or charges. Place your signature and the date at the end of the letter.

• 3

  Contact your credit card company to obtain the correct address for sending your dispute letter. Credit card companies often maintain separate departments to deal with disputes, payments and applications. Therefore, you should not send your letter to the same address that you send your monthly payments to without verifying that this is the correct address. Failing to submit your dispute letter to the correct address will delay the charge removal process. After receiving your dispute letter, your credit card company will conduct an investigation and may contact you for additional information in an attempt to verify your claim. If the credit card company finds that your claim is legitimate, the disputed charges will be removed from your account.