WordsReversing a charge
Chargeback
When you dispute a card payment, your bank can send it back to the shop’s bank through the card network, and that return is the chargeback. Visa’s guide for merchants, for example, says the bank does this when a dispute right applies, and the shop can respond before it loses the money.
RBI’s rules add timelines: a bank has to answer a billing complaint within 30 days. For a charge you didn’t make, telling your bank within three working days of its alert can mean you owe nothing, and the bank has to credit it back provisionally within 10 working days. For transactions from 1 January 2027, both become five calendar days, yours counted from the transaction.
Where this comes from
- Visa, Dispute Management Guidelines for Visa MerchantsJune 2024, section 1, what is a dispute?
- RBI, Credit Cards and Debit Cards: Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2025Paragraphs 25 and 27, as updated 1 October 2026
- RBI, Responsible Business Conduct Directions, 2025Paragraphs 67, 70, 72 and 73; for transactions from 1 January 2027, paragraphs 76M and 76R, as amended 24 June 2026
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