You have 60 days to dispute a credit card charge, per the Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974. The 60 days starts from the day the statement containing the erroneous charge was mailed to you or made available online (if you're enrolled in paperless billing). So waiting for a paper statement to arrive in the mail could cost you at least a few of those 60 days,whereas you can examine your statement online right away. You can typically start the dispute process online or by giving the card's issuer a call. The issuer must acknowledge your dispute within 30 days of receiving it and resolve the matter within 90.
Here's how long you have to dispute a credit card charge:
You have 60 days from when the relevant monthly statement was sent. That's the postmark date for paper statements or the sent date for an email statement.
The issuer must send a written acknowledgement within 30 days of receiving your dispute. They must evaluate your claim and contact you with their decision within 90 days of receiving the dispute. If they agree with you, you'll get a refund. Otherwise, you'll still have to pay for the charge.
The credit card's issuer may ask you to submit your dispute in writing, along with proof that the charge is incorrect, like receipts or a police report.
Because of the limited time to dispute, you should always go over your statements right after you receive them. Make sure there's no charges you didn't make, no wrong amounts, no inflated tips, and no items that arrived damaged that were not refunded.
If you review your monthly statement online, you may see a button to dispute charges. Otherwise, call the number on the back of your card to reach the issuer's customer service and explain the situation.
While 60 days usually is plenty of time to dispute a credit card charge, it's always a good idea to be proactive. Waiting too long might mean having to pay more than you really owe.