Section 75 or chargeback: which should you use to get your money back?

Section 75 or chargeback: the short rule

Use section 75 when you paid at least part of the price on a credit card and the item cost over £100 and up to £30,000. Use a chargeback for everything else paid by card: debit cards, items of £100 or less, items over £30,000, and credit card claims where section 75 does not fit.

The two routes are different in kind. Section 75 is a legal right under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, so the card company must meet a valid claim. A chargeback is a card scheme process run by Visa, Mastercard and American Express, and the Financial Ombudsman Service says a bank does not have to raise one, although it can be good practice where valid reasons exist.

You can ask for both. If your card provider turns down one, ask it to consider the other, and say so in writing.

Section 75 makes the card company jointly liable with the seller

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives you the same claim against your credit provider that you have against the seller, for misrepresentation or breach of contract. According to legislation.gov.uk, the creditor and the supplier are "jointly and severally liable", which means you can recover the whole amount from the card company, not only a share.

The limits come from section 75(3). The right does not apply to a claim about a single item with a cash price of £100 or less, or more than £30,000. These figures have not changed since 1983 and were current on legislation.gov.uk on 27 September 2026.

A breach of contract covers most everyday problems. The Financial Ombudsman Service says card providers should consider the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which requires goods to be of satisfactory quality and services to be carried out with reasonable care and skill. So section 75 can cover:

• goods or services that never arrive, including when the seller goes out of business;
• faulty goods, or goods that do not match their description;
• a service done badly, such as a kitchen fitted without reasonable care;
• misrepresentation, where the seller told you something untrue that led you to buy.

Section 75 does not cover debit cards, cash, bank transfers or general bank loans, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service. It also does not cover a payment a scammer took from your card without your permission: that is an unauthorised payment, which the Payment Services Regulations 2017 deal with. Under regulation 77, your bank can make you pay at most £35 of such losses unless you acted fraudulently or with gross negligence.

The £100 limit applies to each single item, not your basket

The section 75 thresholds apply to the cash price of a single item, so several cheap items in one order do not add up to a claim. Four £30 chairs bought together for £120 fall outside section 75, because no single item is over £100. A £120 dining table bought on its own is inside.

If you are unsure, check the price the seller attached to each item in your order confirmation, because section 75(3) refers to the cash price the supplier attached to the item.

At the top end, a single item with a cash price over £30,000, such as a new car, is outside section 75 even if you paid only a £1,000 deposit on your credit card. A chargeback is still possible, because card scheme rules have no minimum or maximum.

Paying part of the price on a credit card still counts

Section 75 covers the whole purchase even if you put only part of it on your credit card. According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, "it's the cash price of the goods or services that matters, not what you paid on your credit card".

This is why paying a deposit by credit card is worth doing on large purchases. If a £5,000 conservatory is never built and you paid a £500 deposit on your credit card and £4,500 by bank transfer, the item's cash price is within the limits, so the card company is jointly liable for your claim against the builder, which can be for the full £5,000 you lost.

The same applies when you split a payment between a credit card and a gift voucher, or between two cards. What matters is that some of the money came from the credit agreement and that the item's cash price is over £100 and no more than £30,000.

PayPal and other middlemen can break the section 75 link

Section 75 only works where there is a direct link between you, the lender and the seller, known as a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement. The Financial Ombudsman Service says this "isn't always straightforward" and suggests you ask your bank if you are unsure.

Paying through PayPal with a credit card usually breaks the link. In a published decision from 2020 (reference DRN0795565), an ombudsman explained that where PayPal is used, the bank pays PayPal and PayPal pays the retailer, so the debtor-creditor-supplier link is broken and section 75 does not apply. An earlier decision against NewDay (DRN7573921) reached the same view for a holiday paid through PayPal, even though the website accepted only PayPal.

Booking agents can break it too. In decision DRN-5656073 (August 2025), a customer bought transport tickets through an online ticket retailer. The ombudsman found the retailer and the transport operator were separate businesses, so there was no valid agreement for a claim about the operator.

There are exceptions:

• PayPal Credit is itself a credit agreement. In decision DRN-4705344 (2024), an ombudsman found section 75 could apply to a £1,184 hot tub bought with PayPal Credit on an online marketplace, and told PayPal to refund it.
• Where the middleman is an associate of the seller in the legal sense, the link may survive.

If the link is broken, you still have two routes: a chargeback against the payment to PayPal or the agent, and the platform's own buyer protection, which has its own time limits.

Chargeback: card scheme rules with a time limit of about 120 days

A chargeback asks your card provider to reverse a card payment by claiming the money back from the seller's bank. The Financial Ombudsman Service says a chargeback lets you "challenge and 'claw back' payments made using a debit or credit card", and names Visa, Mastercard and American Express as the main card schemes.

The time limit is the main catch. According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, you usually have around 120 days to raise a chargeback about goods or services, counted from when the goods should have arrived or when you found the problem. The exact limit depends on the scheme and the reason, so contact your card provider as soon as something goes wrong.

The Financial Ombudsman Service gives these as typical reasons for a chargeback:

• the goods or services did not match the description;
• the goods never arrived or the service was never provided;
• the goods arrived broken or defective.

Because chargeback is not a legal right, the ombudsman looks at whether your bank acted fairly: whether it raised a chargeback when there was a reasonable chance of success, and whether it followed the scheme rules and deadlines. A bank that lets a valid chargeback run out of time may have to put things right.

Section 75 against chargeback, side by side

Section 75 is stronger where it applies; chargeback covers more types of payment. This table sets out the differences, using the rules checked on 27 September 2026.

The 6-year figure comes from section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980, which bars actions on a simple contract after six years from the date the cause of action arose. Scotland has its own rules, so check with an adviser there.

Worked examples: which route to use

These examples apply the rules above to common purchases. Your own card provider decides the claim first, and the ombudsman can review it.

Worked example with dates. You pay £1,200 on your credit card on 2 June 2026 for a sofa due on 30 June 2026. It does not arrive and the retailer stops trading on 20 July 2026. On 22 July you write to your card provider asking it to consider a section 75 claim and, as a fallback, a chargeback. Counting 120 days from the 30 June delivery date gives 28 October 2026 as a safe target for the chargeback. The provider rejects the claim in a final response dated 10 September 2026. You then have until 10 March 2027 to take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

How to make a section 75 or chargeback claim

You make both claims to your card provider, in writing, with evidence. Contact the seller first where you can, because a dated message showing they refused or failed to help makes the claim easier to assess.

1. Write to the seller and say what went wrong and what you want: a repair, replacement or refund. Give a short deadline, such as 14 days. Skip this if the seller has stopped trading.
2. Gather evidence: the order confirmation showing the item's price, your card statement, photos of faults, the delivery date promised, and all messages with the seller.
3. Contact your card provider by its claims form, secure message or letter. Name the route: "I am making a claim under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and, if that does not apply, I ask you to raise a chargeback." Say how much you are claiming and why.
4. Keep a record of the date you claimed and any reference number. Chargeback deadlines run whether or not the provider is quick.
5. Complain if refused. If the provider rejects the claim, or offers less than you think is fair, make a formal complaint to it and ask for a final response.

If you paid a scammer rather than a genuine seller, the steps change depending on how you paid. The scam recovery planner sets out the order of calls and each deadline from your payment date.

If your claim is refused, the Financial Ombudsman Service can decide it

The Financial Ombudsman Service reviews section 75 and chargeback complaints for free once your card provider has had its chance to answer. According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, a business has up to 8 weeks to consider most complaints, and only 15 days for complaints about fraud, scams and payment services.

After the provider sends its final response, you have 6 months from the date on that letter to bring your complaint to the ombudsman. If the 8 weeks pass with no final response, you can go to the ombudsman then. You do not need a lawyer or claims management company.

The ombudsman can tell the provider to pay your claim, add interest and pay compensation. For complaints referred on or after 1 April 2026 about acts on or after 1 April 2019, it can award up to £455,000.

Work out whether you are ready to escalate, and the last date to do it, with the complaint route finder. It also covers the other ombudsmen if your dispute is about energy, broadband or a public body.