Fair Credit Billing Act -- It's The Law 

The Fair Credit Billing Act became US law in October, 1974 and is designed to protect consumers from unfair credit practices. Know your rights!   Following are highlights of the Fair Credit Billing Act.  For full details, please visit the official site:  www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fcb.shtm

Have you ever been billed for merchandise you never ordered, returned, or never received? Has your credit card company ever charged you twice for the same item or failed to credit a payment to your account? These errors can be corrected, but it requires a little patience and knowledge of the dispute settlement procedures provided by the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA).

The law applies to "open end" credit accounts, such as credit cards, and revolving charge accounts - like department store accounts. It does not cover installment contracts - loans or extensions of credit you repay on a fixed schedule. Consumers often buy cars, furniture, and major appliances on an installment basis, and repay personal loans in installments as well.

What types of disputes are covered?

The FCBA settlement procedures apply only to disputes about "billing errors." For example:

• unauthorized charges. Federal law limits your responsibility for unauthorized charges to $50
• charges that list the wrong date or amount
• charges for goods and services you didn't accept or weren't delivered as agreed; math errors; failure to post payments and other credits, such as returns
• failure to send bills to your current address - provided the creditor receives your change of address, in writing, at least 20 days before the billing period ends; and
• charges for which you ask for an explanation or written proof of purchase along with a claimed error or request for clarification.

Before lodging an official dispute, we strongly recommend:

• Call the credit card company and talk to a representative to get more information on the charge. Sometimes the merchant name that appears is different from the one you remember. You can often get a telephone number for the merchant to call and enquire about the charge yourself. In many cases, this call will clarify to you whether the charge is valid or not.

To take advantage of the law's consumer protection:

• write to the creditor at the address given for "billing inquiries," not the address for sending your payments, and include your name, address, account number and a description of the billing error.