Credit Card Regulations: Know Your Rights & Responsibilities

Many of us use credit cards as a payment method when obtaining supplies and products for our haunted attractions.  The federal regulations governing the use of credit cards to purchase merchandise from a vendor are pertinent information.

There are quite a few rules to delineate the way credit card transactions and disputes may be handled legally.  If you have problems with any aspect of credit card purchases, vendors not performing according to a sales agreement, or products being faulty, the following is where you can look for the federal regulations:

12 CFR – Code of Federal Regulations –

Title 12: Banks and Banking

Special credit card provisions from Chapter 11, Subchapter A, Part 226, subpart b, that apply to credit card holders can be accessed on the internet here. Some of the potentially relevant provisions are as follows:

• A vendor has 7 days to credit back your account when a shipment is returned to the vendor.
• The credit card company has 3 days to send you a notification that the credit has been received on your account
• The credit card company is prohibited from issuing an adverse credit report until a dispute has been resolved satisfactorily or a judgment received.

Billing errors are defined and regulated in the laws.  There is a process by which the consumer’s rights are protected by the credit card company.  These can be found by clicking here.

States have their own laws in place for dispute resolution.  When checking on the internet for state laws, do a search for “credit card billing disputes”, “credit card billing error laws”, and “credit card withholding laws”.  The withholding laws search is a little more difficult to get to the germane references because of the synonymous use of the terminology with tax regulations.

Hopefully no one will need to utilize these references in a dispute with a vendor, but it is always helpful to know your rights and responsibilities.