- Section 75 makes your credit card provider jointly liable on purchases over £100.
- It is a legal right, not a favour, and it survives the retailer going bust.
- Chargeback is the debit card fallback — weaker, but useful.
When a company takes your money and fails to deliver, goes bust, or sells you something faulty and refuses to help, how you paid determines what you can do about it. Most people have stronger rights than they realise.
Section 75
Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, where you buy with a credit card the card provider is jointly and severally liable with the retailer for breach of contract or misrepresentation.
In plain terms: if the retailer will not put it right, you can claim the full amount from your card provider instead. You do not have to chase the retailer first, though it is usually sensible to try.
The conditions
- The item or service must cost more than £100 and no more than £30,000. That is the cash price of the single item, not the total basket.
- It applies to credit cards — not debit cards, and generally not prepaid cards.
- You only need to pay part of it on the card. Paying a £100 deposit by credit card on a £3,000 kitchen protects the whole £3,000. This is the single most useful thing to know.
- There must be a direct relationship between you, the retailer and the card provider. Certain third-party payment processors can break that chain, so paying “through” an intermediary sometimes falls outside Section 75.
What it covers
- Goods that never arrive.
- Goods that are faulty, misdescribed or not as advertised.
- A company going out of business before delivering — airlines, tour operators, furniture retailers, tradespeople.
- Services not provided as agreed.
It applies to purchases abroad and online too.
How to claim
- Try the retailer first, in writing, and keep the correspondence.
- Contact your card provider and say explicitly that you are making a Section 75 claim. Using the words matters — front-line staff sometimes try to route you to chargeback instead.
- Provide evidence: order confirmation, receipts, advertising, correspondence, and what went wrong.
- If the claim is rejected and you disagree, complain formally, then escalate free to the Financial Ombudsman Service after eight weeks or a deadlock letter.
There is no fixed statutory deadline, but claims are subject to general limitation periods — broadly six years in England and Wales, five in Scotland. Claim promptly regardless.
Chargeback
If you paid by debit card, or the purchase was under £100, chargeback may apply instead.
Chargeback is not a legal right. It is a scheme run by the card networks under which your bank asks for the payment to be reversed. It works well in practice, but it is discretionary and the retailer can dispute it.
Key differences from Section 75:
- Time limits are strict — commonly around 120 days from the transaction or from when you expected delivery. Do not delay.
- No minimum or maximum value, so it covers small purchases.
- It reverses the payment rather than making the bank liable, so if the retailer has no money and disputes it, recovery is less certain.
Ask your bank for chargeback explicitly, and again, get the request logged.
Practical habits worth adopting
- Put deposits on a credit card. Kitchens, sofas, weddings, building work, holidays. A small deposit on plastic protects the whole contract.
- Clear the card in full each month so protection costs you nothing in interest.
- Avoid bank transfers to unknown sellers. A transfer has none of these protections. If a seller insists on one, treat it as a warning.
- Keep confirmations. Screenshots of the advert, the order page and the delivery promise are what win claims.
If you were tricked into paying
Section 75 and chargeback cover purchases that went wrong. If you were deceived into transferring money to a criminal, that is authorised push payment fraud, and a separate reimbursement framework applies to bank transfers. Report it to your bank immediately and to Action Fraud.
Do not pay a claims company
Firms advertise to make these claims on your behalf for a share of the money. Everything here you can do yourself, free, in a letter or a phone call. The Financial Ombudsman is also free to consumers.
Rules and thresholds can change — check current guidance from the FCA or Citizens Advice before relying on specifics.
