I Disputed a Fraudulent $500 Charge With My Credit Card Company and They Aren’t Responding. What Should I Do?

If you’ve listened to money expert Clark Howard for any period, you probably know he loves for you to make payments with credit cards.

He cautions against using a debit card to make purchases. He dislikes Zelle with a passion. And he loves to take advantage of cash-back rewards on credit cards.

Consumer protections — or the lack thereof for the alternatives — are his primary reason for recommending credit cards for payments.

You can legally dispute a credit card charge that you didn’t make. But what happens if your credit card company doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain? What do you do then?

I’m Disputing a Credit Card Charge and Citibank Keeps Putting Me Off. What Should I Do?

I disputed a significant credit card charge that I didn’t make. But my credit card company isn’t resolving the dispute. What can I do?

That’s what a listener recently asked Clark.

Asked Andrew in Alaska: “About a month ago I submitted a dispute on my [Costco Citi] credit card for a fraudulent charge for a hotel in California. The amount was nearly $500, and there were two other charges of $6 and $8 that I also disputed.

“They issued me a new card and I received a conditional credit for the smaller charges. But for the bigger charge there’s been no movement whatsoever. I’ve contacted customer no-service three times and was told to be patient.

“As I’ve never submitted a fraud dispute on a credit card, how patient should I be? Is the issuer required to act on this and resolve it within a certain timeframe?”

The credit card issuer is required to give you a provisional credit for the $500 hotel charge, Clark says. He also mentioned a “number of customer no-service complaints recently” about Citibank.

“Citibank tends to wave right through small, disputed charges. And is somewhat difficult to deal with, or in your case very difficult to deal with, on those larger ones,” Clark says.

“But I want you to be active, not passive. File a complaint if in the next couple of weeks if they don’t get their act together. File a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”

Filing a complaint isn’t the only proactive step you can take.

In this case, Clark wants Andrew to contact the hotel in California where the phantom $500 charge stems from as soon as possible. Call the hotel and get in touch with the front desk manager, he says.

“Tell them this is going on. There was a fraudulent charge at the hotel. And you need documentation for Citi and ask them for whatever help they can provide you,” Clark says.

“And hopefully they’ll be able to give you some information. How the hotel was booked, other things like that. Additional pieces of information that help support your situation.”

Clark harkens back to the fact that Andrew lives in Alaska. That’s probably a good defense to these fraudulent charges that Andrew wants to dispute. Especially if he has any hard evidence that he was physically in Alaska at the time of the $500 charge.

“If you weren’t in California at the time, gosh, that’s an awfully great defense against what’s going on here,” Clark says.

Final Thoughts

Most of the time, paying with a credit card offers strong legal protections. Most of the time, disputing a charge is easy.

But occasionally, you’ll need to back up a disputed charge with some evidence. Or at least be persistent enough to make sure your credit card issuer resolves the issue.

Clark wants you to be proactive rather than passive. Especially if your credit card issuer isn’t resolving your problem quickly.