Handling Credit Card Disputes

Owned by Becky W
Last updated: Nov 01, 2024
4 min read

What is a credit card dispute?

Cardholders have the ability to dispute charges on their card as a protection from fraud or other malicious behavior. Banks also have fraud alert systems that may initiate a dispute on a cardholder’s behalf. When a dispute is filed for a charge, the merchant is notified by the bank. As a CourseStorm customer, you will receive notifications of any disputed charges from CourseStorm’s Accounts Team.

When a dispute is filed, the bank immediately refunds the cardholder for the disputed amount and charges the program or organization that amount plus a $15 dispute fee. As a CourseStorm customer, you will see these charges on your upcoming payout. If you do not have upcoming payouts when you receive a disputed charge, you’ll be invoiced for these charges.

Roles and Responsibilities during Credit Card Disputes

  • The cardholder is solely responsible for initiating, managing, and canceling disputes with their bank or card issuer.

  • The program admin or CourseStorm account owner is solely responsible for communicating with the student or cardholder to resolve the dispute, and for obtaining and submitting any desired evidence before the deadline if they wish to challenge a dispute.

  • The bank or card issuer is solely responsible for reviewing any submitted evidence and making a final determination regarding the dispute.

  • CourseStorm is responsible for notifying the program admin of a disputed charge, uploading evidence provided by the program admin, and notifying the program admin when a bank has determined the outcome of the dispute.

CourseStorm is not involved directly in the dispute process. We cannot interfere with or affect the outcome, nor can we alter the amount of disputed charges or the manner in which the bank issues refunds or charges the $15 dispute fee. CourseStorm does not have access to the bank’s decision criteria, nor do we have insight into the rationale for individual disputes.

Why Did This Happen?

Disputes may be created by cardholders or their banks for a number of different reasons. CourseStorm does not have access to the rationale details for individual disputes. The best way to understand your dispute situation is to contact the cardholder for more information.

What Are The Next Steps?

You may opt to work with the cardholder to resolve the issue, challenge the dispute by submitting evidence, or do nothing and accept the dispute. These options are outlined below.

  • Contact the Cardholder and Request they Cancel their Dispute: If you believe the dispute was initiated by mistake, you should contact the cardholder right away. If they agree the dispute was initiated in error, the cardholder should cancel the dispute directly with their bank.

  • Challenge the Dispute Before the Deadline: To challenge a dispute, you must submit evidence before the deadline noted in your original notification email. Use this form to submit your evidence. You will need your Dispute ID from the dispute details in your original notification email.

  • Do Nothing/Accept the Dispute: The dispute will be closed/found in the cardholder’s favor. The bank’s refund to the cardholder will stand. If you choose this option, you can disregard the dispute notifications and no further action is needed on your part.

Challenging a Dispute

If you believe the charge is valid and the cardholder should not be refunded, you may challenge the dispute by submitting evidence. Strong evidence includes, but is not limited to, the items below:

  • A written statement from the student/cardholder stating that the charge is valid/authorized or that they have contacted their bank to withdraw the dispute.

  • Screenshots of email exchanges where the cardholder confirms the charge is valid.

  • A signature or screenshot that shows the registrant agreed to your refund/cancellation policies plus a copy of those policies.

  • Sign-in sheets/signatures for in-person classes and events to confirm attendance.

  • Other documentation that shows the registrant attended the class/event or received the intended product or certification. This may include reviews from the registrant, reports/paperwork/art generated by the registrant, screenshots from virtual events that show the registrant’s screen, photos of registrant at the event, copies of certifications obtained at the event, etc.

  • A copy of a refund check or documentation that another resolution has been reached (transfer to another class, credit for future class, etc.).

Your evidence should be clear, concise, and in black and white (no color documents).

To submit your evidence, use this form. You will need your Dispute ID from your notification email. You must submit evidence for multiple disputed charges separately, even if the evidence is the same. For example, if multiple payment plan payments for a single registration are disputed and you want to challenge them all, you must submit evidence for each of the disputed charges separately, using their unique Dispute IDs.

The form must be filled out completely and accurately. Missing or incorrect information will result in processing delays. CourseStorm is not responsible for lost disputes due to delays as a result of incorrect or inaccurate evidence submission information.

CourseStorm cannot confirm the strength of evidence, nor determine if the bank will accept the evidence in your favor. CourseStorm’s role is to upload your evidence to the bank’s dispute portal on your behalf; the bank is the sole determiner of the outcome of the dispute, including their assessment of any evidence provided.

Dispute Outcomes

If you accept a dispute, the resolution is immediate and in the cardholder’s favor. If you challenge a dispute, the bank has up to 75 days to review evidence and make their determination.

  • If the dispute is Won, the withdrawn funds will be returned to your account within 5 days.

  • If the dispute is Lost, the funds that were withdrawn at the start of the process are permanently refunded to the cardholder. 

Unfortunately, no information is provided about the reasoning behind the bank’s decision. The decision of the bank is final and there is no mechanism to appeal. Depending on the situation, in the case of a lost dispute you may be able to recover the funds by directly contacting your student/registrant.