Free interactive tool
Dispute Deadline Calculator: Credit Card, Debit and ACH
For a credit card, a written billing-error notice must reach the card issuer within 60 days after it sent the first statement that shows the charge (Regulation Z). For an unauthorized or incorrect debit card, ACH or other transfer from a bank account, the notice can be made by phone and must reach the bank within 60 days after the statement was sent (Regulation E). This calculator turns your statement date into those exact days, then lists what the issuer or bank must do after your notice and by when, the most you can be made to pay for fraud, and the later limit Visa sets for card issuers. It also drafts the notice.
Enter your dates
Runs in your browser. The dates you enter are not sent to us or recorded. Do not enter card or account numbers.
Your deadlineEnter the statement closing date to see your deadline.
Draft the notice
Fill in the [brackets] yourself after you copy the text. Keep a copy and proof of the date it was sent.
Subject: Billing error notice, account ending [last 4 digits] [Your full name] [Your mailing address] [Date] To: [billing-error address printed on the statement] I am writing about a charge on my credit card ending in [last 4 digits], statement dated [statement date]. Merchant: [merchant name as it appears on the statement] Charge date: [charge date] Amount: [$ amount] I did not make or authorize this charge, no one with my permission made it, and I received nothing from it. I believe this is a billing error under 12 CFR 1026.13. Please correct it, credit the amount and any related fees or interest, and do not report the disputed amount as delinquent while you investigate. Please send me a written acknowledgement. Attached: [statement page with the charge], [receipt, cancellation confirmation or messages with the merchant]. [Your signature]
The rules behind each date (read September 28, 2026)
Every date the calculator shows comes from one of these rules. Credit cards and bank accounts follow different regulations, so the columns stay apart. The Visa row is a rule Visa sets for the banks that issue its cards, not a right you can enforce yourself.
| Step | Credit card (Regulation Z) | Debit card or bank account (Regulation E) |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | Unauthorized charges, wrong amounts, charges for goods or services not accepted or not delivered as agreed, missing credits and similar errors (1026.13(a)). | Unauthorized or incorrect transfers, missing transfers and similar errors, not disputes about what a merchant delivered (1005.11(a)). For those, a bank may still open a card-network dispute for a debit card purchase if it chooses. |
| Your notice must arrive | Within 60 days after the first statement showing the error was sent, in writing, at the billing-error address (12 CFR 1026.13(b)). Online forms count only if the billing-rights statement says so (comment 13(b)-2). | Within 60 days after the statement was sent, by phone, in person or in writing (12 CFR 1005.11(b)). The bank may ask for written confirmation within 10 business days of a call. |
| First response | Written acknowledgement within 30 days (1026.13(c)(1)). | A decision within 10 business days, or the money put back provisionally by then; 20 business days for an account opened within 30 days of the transfer. No provisional credit is due if the bank asked for written confirmation of a phone notice and did not get it in 10 business days (1005.11(c)). |
| Final answer | Within two complete billing cycles, never later than 90 days (1026.13(c)(2); comment 13(c)(2)-1 counts the rest of the current cycle plus two full cycles). | Within 45 days; 90 days for a point-of-sale debit card transaction, a transfer started outside the US, or a new account (1005.11(c)(2), (c)(3)). The rule does not define point-of-sale, so ask your bank whether an online purchase counts. |
| While it is open | You need not pay the disputed amount, and the issuer may not report it as delinquent (1026.13(d)). | You get full use of any provisional credit; up to $50 may be held back for an unauthorized transfer (1005.11(c)(2)). |
| Fraud: the most you pay | $50 or the amount charged before you reported, whichever is less (12 CFR 1026.12(b)); nothing if only the card number was used online or by phone. This cap does not depend on the 60 days (comments 12(b)(2)(iii)-3 and 12(b)(3)-3). | $50 if you report a lost or stolen card within 2 business days of learning of it; up to $500 after that; and, for transfers after the 60 days following a statement, any amount the bank shows an earlier report would have stopped (12 CFR 1005.6(b)). Transfers made without your card or PIN, such as an ACH debit using your account number, cost you nothing if you report within 60 days of the statement (comment 6(b)(3)-2). |
| Visa’s limit for the issuer | Most disputes: 120 days from the date Visa processed the charge. Goods or services not received, or not as described: 120 days from the expected or received date if that is later, never more than 540 days after processing. A refund with a credit receipt that never posted: 120 days from the receipt date. A cancelled recurring charge only qualifies if you cancelled before the charge date (Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026, chapter 11). | |
How the calculator counts
- The rules count from the day the statement was sent. You enter the statement’s closing date, which is the same day or earlier, so the date shown is never later than your real deadline.
- The 60, 30, 45, 90 and 120 days are calendar days. Your bank’s business days are the days it is open, so business days are estimated two ways. For what the bank must do, the calculator counts Monday to Friday without federal holidays and without the Monday after a holiday that falls on a Sunday, so the date may be a day later than your bank’s own count. For what you must do (report a lost debit card, confirm a phone notice in writing), it counts every day except Sunday, as if your bank opens on Saturdays and holidays, so the date shown is the earliest your deadline can be.
- The investigation deadline for a credit card assumes a monthly cycle that closes on the same day of the month as your statement.
- Visa counts from its own processing date, which you cannot see. The posting date on your statement is the closest date you have.
When this does not apply
- Business credit cards and business bank accounts: these consumer rules do not cover them in the same way. Read your agreement.
- Prepaid cards have their own error rules under Regulation E, and paper checks are not electronic transfers.
- A quality complaint about something you accepted is not a billing error. It may fit the claims-and-defenses right instead: see the credit card rights that have no 60-day clock.
- A deadline is not an outcome. These rules promise a process and a timeline, not a refund. Where state law or your card or account agreement sets a lower fraud liability, the lower one applies (1026.12(b)(4), 1005.6(b)(6)).
Sources read on September 28, 2026: Regulation Z 1026.13, Regulation Z 1026.12, official comments to 1026.13, Regulation E 1005.11, Regulation E 1005.6, and Visa’s public rules, edition of 18 April 2026. Mastercard, American Express and Discover publish their own network rules, which this page does not cover.
Worked example (hypothetical)
A reader cancels a streaming plan on August 20, 2026. A $39.99 charge still posts on September 2, and the statement that closes on September 14 lists it. Their notice reaches the issuer on October 1.
- Credit card: the billing-error notice must arrive by Friday, November 13, 2026 (60 days after September 14). Mailed, it should go out by November 6. The issuer must acknowledge it by October 31 and finish by December 14, the end of the second full cycle after October 14. If the card is a Visa, the issuer can open a cancelled-recurring dispute until December 31, 2026 (120 days after September 2), because the reader cancelled before the charge.
- Debit card, same dates: the reader first tells the bank the authorization has ended and asks it to stop future payments to the merchant. Regulation E does not say outright that a charge after cancelling with the merchant is an error, so the bank may treat it as a merchant dispute. If it accepts it as an error, the notice can be a phone call, still by November 13, and the bank must decide or provisionally credit the $39.99 by October 16 (10 business days, skipping Columbus Day on October 12). If the bank treats the charge as a point-of-sale debit card transaction, the investigation may run until December 30 (90 days); if not, until November 15 (45 days).