Consumers across the United States disputed $83 billion of credit card charges in 2023, with each cardholder averaging nearly six chargebacks, each of them valued at $76, according to a report issued last week by Chargebacks911.
By The Numbers: Digital wallets, like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, are gaining in popularity, representing about 10% of all payment transactions in 2023, but are still dwarfed by credit and debit card transactions, according to the report. The digital wallets are less an alternative payment method and more just a different way to pay with a card.
- More than half of consumers who filed a dispute over a credit card transaction did so over the phone by speaking with a live customer service representative, according to the report. About 40% used a mobile banking app and significantly fewer did so via email, text message, traditional mail or fax.
- The most popular reason why a transaction was disputed or called out for being potentially fraudulent is because they didn’t recognize the transaction when reviewing their billing statement. Being overcharged or double charged was the next most common complaint, followed by the allowed time limit had lapsed and the return process was too confusing or too much work.
- Consumers are more likely to dispute a transaction with their bank rather than request a refund from a merchant because their bank resolves disputes faster, according to the report.
The Takeaway: Consumers are using their banks to dispute charges more often than they should, according to the report, usually because they don’t understand how the process works. Consumers are becoming comfortable disputing charges beyond what the process was originally intended for — fraud. Not recognizing a name on a statement is not necessarily grounds for a dispute.
- Nearly 87% of consumers say that they are more likely to dispute a charge after successfully doing it once.
