If my credit card company refuses to remove an unauthorized charge, can I refuse to pay them?
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If my credit card company refuses to remove an unauthorized charge, can I refuse to pay them?
OK, so here’s the situation: I have a credit card that Ive had for about 7 months. There were several unauthorized charges made in march for a total of over $900. My credit limit is only $5000, so that is a significant chunk of my limit.I called customer support and submitted a dispute and all that to have the charges removed. A week or so later, they were successfully removed. Now, nearly 3 months later, the merchant has re-submitted the charges, and I have been re-charged that $900 that was removed when I submitted the dispute.
Asked on May 31, 2012 under Bankruptcy Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
If you refuse to pay them, you will be in default of your obligations to the credit card company and could face all the consequences that entails: higher interest rate and late fees, collections efforts, lawsuit. The credit card company *can't* remove charges is the party billing you can provide some evidence that the charge was validly placed on your card--otherwise, the credit card company could be sued by them for failure to pay. The credit card company's job is not to determine the truth of the charges; it's to pay all charges that, at least on their face, appear to have validity.
Your recourse is to sue the person(s) who placed the unauthorized charges and/or file a police report as to the action.
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