Banking & credit disputes

Banking is the one area where US consumer law is genuinely strong, specific, and better than most people realise. Unlike faulty goods or utility shut-offs, you are not relying on a patchwork of state rules here — there are federal statutes with hard deadlines attached, and the deadlines run against the bank, not against you.

For a credit card charge, the Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the statement to dispute in writing. Once you do, the issuer must acknowledge within 30 days and resolve within two billing cycles, and cannot report the amount delinquent while it investigates. For a debit card or electronic transfer, Regulation E gives you 60 days from the statement to report an unauthorised transaction, and the bank generally has to provisionally credit your account while it investigates. Note the difference in what each covers, and note that both clocks run from the statement date rather than from when you noticed.

For credit reporting, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a bureau to investigate a disputed item, usually within 30 days, and to delete anything it cannot verify. Disputing with the bureau and with the furnisher who reported it is more effective than either alone. For debt collectors, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Regulation F restrict when and how often they can contact you, require a validation notice, and let you demand verification of the debt in writing.

The escalation that works is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Its complaint process is free, it forwards your complaint directly to the company, and companies are expected to respond substantively — typically within 15 days. Complaints and company responses are published in a public database, which is a large part of why they get answered. Your state attorney general and, for a national bank, the OCC are additional routes.