Pillar Guide · Updated July 2026
UK Chargeback vs Section 75: A Practical Guide for 2026/27
When a purchase goes wrong — goods never arrive, a company collapses, or a service is never delivered — two separate card-based protections can help you get your money back, and knowing which applies can be the difference between a full statutory refund and an uncertain, voluntary process. This pillar guide explains Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which makes credit card providers jointly liable for purchases between £100 and £30,000, the voluntary chargeback scheme available on both debit and credit cards with no minimum value, the crucial differences between the two, the time limits that apply, and exactly how to make a claim.
What Is Section 75
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 is a piece of UK statute law that makes a credit card provider jointly and severally liable, alongside the retailer or supplier, for a breach of contract or a misrepresentation connected to a purchase. In plain terms: if something you bought on a credit card goes wrong and the retailer will not put it right, you can claim the money back directly from your card provider instead, and the card provider has exactly the same legal responsibility as the retailer did.
This is not a courtesy or a marketing feature — it is a hard legal right created by Parliament, and card providers cannot lawfully refuse a valid Section 75 claim that meets the eligibility criteria. It exists because Parliament recognised that credit card providers, by extending credit specifically to fund a purchase, take on some of the risk of that purchase going wrong.
To qualify, three conditions must be met: the payment method must be a credit card or a regulated credit agreement (not a debit card); the cash price of the goods or service must be more than £100 and not more than £30,000; and there must be an actionable breach of contract or misrepresentation by the supplier — simply changing your mind is not covered.
What Is Chargeback
Chargeback is a dispute-resolution process built into the rules of card payment networks — Visa, Mastercard and American Express each run their own version. It allows your card issuer to reverse a transaction and pull the money back from the retailer’s bank (the “acquirer”) when something has gone wrong, such as goods never arriving, goods being significantly not as described, a duplicate or fraudulent charge, or a retailer ceasing to trade before fulfilling an order.
Unlike Section 75, chargeback is not created by UK statute — it is a contractual arrangement between banks under the card scheme rules, and there is no legal obligation on your card provider to pursue it, although in practice UK banks generally do attempt chargeback where a claim looks reasonable, partly due to Financial Conduct Authority expectations around fair treatment of customers.
Chargeback’s major advantage is breadth: it applies to both debit and credit cards, and there is no minimum transaction value, meaning a £15 item that never arrived can be disputed just as a £1,500 item can. Its major disadvantage is that it can be contested by the retailer’s bank, has firm time limits, and is not a guaranteed legal entitlement in the way Section 75 is.
Key Differences
| Feature | Section 75 | Chargeback |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Statute (Consumer Credit Act 1974) | Card scheme rules (voluntary) |
| Card type | Credit cards / regulated credit only | Debit and credit cards |
| Minimum value | £100 (cash price of item) | None |
| Maximum value | £30,000 | None (subject to scheme rules) |
| Typical time limit | 6 years (contract limitation) | ~120 days from transaction/delivery |
| Guarantee | Legal entitlement if criteria met | Discretionary, can be disputed |
As a rule of thumb: for credit card purchases over £100, Section 75 is the stronger and more reliable route. For debit card purchases, or credit card purchases of £100 or less, chargeback is the only card-based option available.
Value Limits and the Deposit Rule
Section 75 applies where the cash price of the individual item or service is more than £100 and not more than £30,000. The most valuable and least understood feature is the “deposit rule”: the £100 threshold looks at the price of the item itself, not the amount actually charged to the credit card. Paying a deposit of as little as £1 by credit card on an item costing £5,000, with the balance paid by bank transfer or cash, still brings the full £5,000 purchase within Section 75 protection, because the item’s cash price exceeds £100.
This rule, confirmed in the House of Lords case of Office of Fair Trading v Lloyds TSB Bank plc, is particularly valuable for holidays, weddings, building work and large furniture purchases, where only a deposit is typically charged to a card. Chargeback has no equivalent value threshold at all — any value of disputed transaction can potentially be raised, though very small amounts may not be worth the administrative effort for either the cardholder or the bank.
What Is Covered
Section 75 covers breach of contract (goods never delivered, goods significantly faulty, a service not performed to a reasonable standard, or the supplier entering insolvency before completing the contract) and misrepresentation (false statements that induced the purchase). Frequent successful claims involve travel companies and airlines collapsing after payment but before the trip, builders who take a deposit and never complete work, and online retailers who simply vanish.
Chargeback reason codes cover broadly similar ground — goods or services not received, not as described, duplicate charges, or a merchant going out of business — plus some categories unique to card fraud, such as an unrecognised or unauthorised transaction, which is a chargeback matter rather than a Section 75 one since fraud is not a contractual dispute with the retailer.
Time Limits
Section 75 claims are not subject to a fixed statutory deadline in the same sense as chargeback; the general contract limitation period of 6 years from the breach applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (5 years from discovery in Scotland under different limitation rules). In practice, card providers may query claims made many years after the event due to difficulty verifying records, so claiming promptly is still sensible.
Chargeback is far more time-sensitive: card scheme rules generally require a chargeback to be raised within 120 days of the transaction date, or 120 days from the expected delivery date for goods that never arrive, though certain dispute categories allow extensions up to 540 days in defined circumstances. Missing the chargeback window does not affect a Section 75 claim on the same purchase, provided the purchase otherwise qualifies.
PayPal and Payment Processors
Paying through PayPal, Klarna or a similar intermediary can complicate a Section 75 claim. Courts have found that in some payment structures, the relevant credit agreement exists between the cardholder and the payment processor rather than directly with the retailer, which can break the “debtor-creditor-supplier” chain Section 75 requires — though this depends heavily on the exact technical structure of the transaction and has been the subject of ongoing legal debate.
Chargeback generally remains available in these situations if the underlying funding came from a card, since the dispute can still be raised with the card issuer against the payment processor’s merchant account. PayPal also separately offers its own Buyer Protection programme, which operates independently of both Section 75 and card scheme chargeback and has its own eligibility rules and time limits.
How to Make a Claim
Start by contacting the retailer directly and giving them a fair opportunity to put things right, unless the retailer is insolvent or entirely unreachable. If that fails, contact your card provider’s disputes or claims team and specify clearly whether you are making a Section 75 claim or requesting a chargeback — many banks handle these through different internal teams. Provide full evidence: order confirmations, receipts, delivery tracking, correspondence with the retailer, and photographs if the issue is a faulty or not-as-described item.
If your card provider wrongly rejects a valid claim, you can escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge. The Ombudsman handles a substantial volume of Section 75 and chargeback complaints each year and has the power to direct the card provider to pay out where the claim should have succeeded. Keep all paperwork and correspondence, since evidencing the original purchase and the nature of the breach is usually the deciding factor in these disputes.