When can I claim from my credit card company under Section 75?

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes your credit card issuer jointly and severally liable with the seller for breach of contract or misrepresentation. That is a full liability, not a guarantee of last resort: you do not have to sue the seller first, and the issuer cannot escape because the seller has gone into administration, moved abroad or stopped answering the phone.

When it applies

• You paid by credit card — Mastercard, Visa, American Express or a store card. Debit cards, prepaid cards and money transfers are outside it.
• The cash price is between £100 and £30,000. The claim itself can be larger than the price.
• It was a consumer purchase, with a direct link between the credit and the supplier.
• Part payment is enough. Pay a £200 deposit by credit card on a £5,000 kitchen and settle the balance by transfer, and the issuer is liable for the whole £5,000.

It also covers purchases made abroad on a UK-regulated card, which is why it matters so much for travel. The main gap is payment intermediaries: buying through some third-party platforms can break the debtor-creditor-supplier chain, so check with your issuer if that applies.

Making the claim

Try the seller first — not a legal requirement, but issuers expect it, so keep a record of attempts. Then write to the card issuer stating plainly that this is a Section 75 claim, with the transaction details, the amount, and what went wrong. Send the contract or order confirmation, correspondence with the seller, evidence of the defect or non-delivery, and the statement showing the payment. If you started by phone, follow it up in writing.

If the issuer rejects the claim or has not resolved it after eight weeks, take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free, within six months of the final response. Issuers do sometimes refuse valid claims by asserting the chain of liability was broken, and the Ombudsman upholds a significant share of those complaints.

Section 75 sits alongside chargeback, which is a card scheme rule rather than a statutory right. Chargeback covers debit cards and purchases under £100 but must usually be raised within 120 days. Section 75 is stronger where it applies, and runs on the ordinary six-year contract limitation period.