Section 75 vs Chargeback: Which One Gets Your Money Back?

You have paid for something and it has gone wrong. The retailer is ignoring you, has gone bust, or sent you something nothing like the description. Your card provider has two completely separate mechanisms that might get your money back, and almost nobody explains the difference clearly.

The short version: Section 75 is a legal right that only applies to credit cards. Chargeback is a scheme rule that works on debit cards too but gives you weaker protection. If you paid by credit card for something over £100, Section 75 is almost always the stronger route.

The difference in one table

How Section 75 actually works

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 creates something called joint and several liability. When you buy something on a credit card, your card issuer becomes equally responsible for the retailer's side of the bargain. If the retailer breaches the contract or misrepresents what they sold you, you can pursue the card issuer instead — and they cannot tell you to go after the retailer first.

This is unusually strong consumer protection, and it catches people out in both directions.

The £100 threshold is per item, not per transaction

This is the single most misunderstood part. The cash price of the single item must be over £100. Buying five items at £40 each in one £200 order does not qualify. Buying one £150 item does — even if you only paid a £10 deposit on the card and the rest by another method.

That last point matters enormously. If you put a deposit on a credit card and paid the balance by bank transfer, the whole purchase is still covered, because the card was used as part-payment for an item priced above the threshold. People routinely write off claims worth thousands because they assume the card had to cover the full amount.

You need an unbroken chain

Section 75 requires a direct link between you, the retailer, and the card issuer. If a third-party payment processor breaks that chain, the claim can fail. This has historically caused friction with PayPal, though claims are often accepted where PayPal simply passed the payment through. Buying through a marketplace where the seller is a separate trader can complicate matters in the same way.

How chargeback actually works

Chargeback is not law. It is a rule inside the Visa, Mastercard and Amex schemes that lets your bank reverse a payment by pulling money back from the retailer's bank. There is no statutory right to it, and your bank is not obliged to succeed.

It is still genuinely useful, because it covers debit cards, which Section 75 does not, and it has no minimum value. For a £30 item that never arrived, chargeback is your route.

The usual grounds are: goods or services not received, goods not as described, a duplicate charge, a payment taken after you cancelled, or the retailer ceasing to trade before delivering.

The time limit is tighter than people expect

You generally have around 120 days, but the clock does not always start at the transaction date. For goods due to arrive later, it typically runs from the date delivery was expected. For a subscription service that stops working, it runs from when the service failed. Schemes vary and outer limits apply, so the practical advice is simple: claim as soon as you know there is a problem.

Which one should you use?

1. Did you pay by credit card? If not, chargeback is your only card-based route. Go straight there.
2. Was the single item over £100? If yes, use Section 75. It is stronger, lasts years rather than months, and survives the retailer going bust.
3. Credit card but under £100? Chargeback. Section 75 does not apply below the threshold.
4. Genuinely unsure? Raise both. Banks will usually assess a complaint under whichever route gives the better outcome, and raising chargeback does not forfeit a Section 75 claim.

Making the claim

Contact your card provider through their app or the number on the back of your card. Say explicitly which route you are claiming under — front-line staff sometimes default to chargeback because it is the process they handle most often, even when Section 75 clearly applies.

Have ready: the transaction date and amount, what you bought, what went wrong, and evidence that you tried to resolve it with the retailer first. Screenshots of a listing that misdescribed the item, or of a support conversation that went nowhere, carry real weight.

If your provider rejects the claim and you believe they are wrong, escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service. It is free to use, and card providers do get overturned.