This article covers :
What is a dispute
A chargeback is the reversal of a credit card payment that comes directly from the bank. It is the process of debiting the merchant account to credit the cardholder account.
A dispute occurs when a debtor disputes a payment and contacts their issuer to initiate a chargeback. It is a dispute between a merchant and a debtor around a card transaction, and it's the bank’s duty to determine whether such a request was reasonable or not.
Disputes can be categorized into the following groups:
- Fraud
- Consumer disputes
- Processing errors
- Authorization
Dispute flow
The dispute flow consists in 4 main stages after a payment has been processed :
-
Chargeback - The disputed amount is withdrawn from your account. If you accept the dispute, or fail to upload your defense documents, this is the final status.
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Information provided - SlimPay receives the supporting documents and forwards them to the schemes. It is no longer possible to change these documents.
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Chargeback Reversed - The disputed amount is transferred back to your account. In this stage, the issuer reviews the defense. If they accept the defense, this is the final status.
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2nd Chargeback - If the issuer declines your defense, a second chargeback occurs. You can not upload anymore defense documents. This is the final status.
Dispute defense timeframes
Here is the timeframe to defend a chargeback:
| Event |
Visa (days) |
Mastercard (days) |
|---|---|---|
| Bank exercise 1st chargeback (from transaction date) | 120 | 120 |
| Your response to 1st chargeback (from chargeback date) | 18 | 40 |
| Bank exercise 2nd chargeback (from defense date) | 30 | 45 |
| Dispute closure (from defense date) | 60 | After 2nd Chargeback |
Defend against a dispute
Disputes management will soon be available. Each one includes all relevant information about the payment being disputed and the reason the cardholder reported to the card issuer. When you receive a dispute, you have the opportunity to respond to it and submit the appropriate evidence or accept it.
The requirements for defending against disputes vary depending on the reason for the dispute. For all types of dispute, you must provide documents with details of transactions to help you build a strong case to challenge the dispute.
If you receive a dispute, you may want to first get in touch with the customer and discuss it before you respond. It’s possible that they simply did not recognize or remember the transaction when they viewed their statement.
Submitting evidence begins the response process and provides additional information about the type of dispute and what steps you should take. If you have any information you think the card issuer might want to see, you should submit it as dispute evidence.