How to claim money back from your credit card provider

Bought a defective product but you cannot return it because the merchant has ceased operation? What can you do?

14:13 19 October 2013

A product that you bought using your credit card has malfunctioned but the merchant which sold you the item has already ceased its operation. What can you do about it? Well, you can claim your money back from your credit card provider.

Here is how you may claim back your money.

Equal Liability Claims

• You may claim back your money through Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 which enables you to make an equal liability claim with your credit card provider for defective goods as long as it costs more than  £100 but less than £30,000.

 

• You may also make an equal liability claim from another credit lender as long as the merchant is the one who facilitated the payment.

 

• However, you won’t be able to make a claim against a loan company you found yourself if you pay for the goods using a loan from said company.

 

• Likewise, if you bought the defective goods from a conditional sale, you cannot make an equal liability claim.

 

• You can actually claim against your credit card provider rather than the merchant who sold you the item or you can also claim against both of them jointly.

 

• Before claiming from your credit card provider, you must exhaust all efforts to claim from your trader.

 

• It is only possible to make an equal liability claim if you bought the item after February 1, 2011.

Claiming from your credit card provider is possible when your merchant does not want to pay you back or you can no longer reach them, or when it has already ceased operation.

Charge back

• You can still claim your money back through charge back which is a scheme practised by some credit lenders.

 

• You are not given an automatic right to use a charge back scheme and it is best that you contact your card provider and confirm if you could make a claim. This is chiefly because such processes should be initiated within a time frame.

Furthermore, you could request for a charge back when you have settled the payments for the goods and they have not arrived or they are damaged or when the description of the goods didn’t match its description.