Dispute versus fraud. Which one is it?

There is some magic in these words. They mean very different things in the world of plastic cards and your options to handle a transaction will depend on which one you choose. Here’s a quick definition of both.

A dispute occurs when you have authorized a transaction with a merchant, but something went wrong. Maybe the date you were charged is incorrect. Maybe the amount of the transaction is wrong. Maybe the item was not delivered as promised. Maybe you thought you were agreeing to a one-time delivery but mistakenly signed up for a monthly subscription. The key element is that you authorized a transaction. How do we fix these errors? First, you contact the merchant and see if you can correct the problem with them directly. This is usually the quickest and most efficient way to solve a dispute. If you have authorized a recurring charge to this merchant (think of your Netflix service or gym membership), changing your account number will not solve the problem. You said yes to that charge and now you have to contact that merchant to say you no longer want that service. In this situation, Visa will often share your new account number with the merchant. You have an agreement with them. You need to change or cancel that agreement with them. If you cannot get a remedy through the merchant, you can contact Visa to file a dispute. Again, magic words here, this is a dispute, not fraud.

A fraudulent transaction occurs when you did not take part in the transaction at all.  This is when a bad actor gets your account information and tries to use it for purchases or services about which you had no idea. We are consistently looking to update our security to stop this from happening but as soon as we have new security, folks out there find a way around it. When fraud occurs, your card is blocked, and we issue a new card. We cannot leave that account open. Our system will often catch fraudulent transactions, but nothing is perfect. Watch your account activity and report any fraud to Visa and your credit union.  To be clear, a transaction is not fraudulent if you gave someone else the authority to use your card. If you share your account information with family or friends and they use it, even if it is not how you expected them to use it, that’s not fraud. You can still notify us, and we can get a new account number but it’s not fraud. If you are concerned, don’t share your card number.

You can see that “dispute” and “fraud” mean different things and are handled differently.  Give us a call if you have any questions.