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Laws > FCBA (1) THE FAIR CREDIT BILLING ACT (FCBA) In 1975, the Fair Credit Billing Act was passed through Congress to create guidelines for dispute resolution for consumers disagreeing with information reflected on their credit card statements. An address is provided on the back of all credit card statements, that a consumer can use if they wish to dispute incorrect information on the statement. . The cardholder has 60 days from receipt of the billing statement to submit the letter disputing the information. The letter must include: The credit issuer has 30 days in which to acknowledge receipt of the dispute letter. The consumer does not have to pay the portion of the bill that is in dispute while it is being investigated. During the investigation, the credit issuer may not report derogatory information to credit agencies concerning information that is relative to the disputed item. After investigating the dispute, if the credit card issuer determines that the information, as originally reflected on the statement is correct, they must send a letter to the cardholder explaining that they found no error in the information as it was recorded on the statement. If requested by the cardholder, the creditor must provide copies of information that they used to support that the information as originally reported was correct. The credit issuer must advise the cardholder of the amount due on their account and the due date by which they need to remit payment. If the cardholder does not pay by the due date, information may be reported to the credit bureau. If the credit card issuer determines that information, as found on the original statement, was reported in error, they must correct the error by crediting the account. In addition, they must provide a letter that confirms their error and summarizes the corrections that will be made to correct it. |