The Dispute Process & Steps



DISPUTE DEPARTMENT

Phone: 1-800-270-7760

M-F 6am-7pm Mountain

After Hours:

JPMorgan Chase Customer Service

Phone: 1-800-270-7760

24 hours x 7 days

Table of Contents:

Dispute Procedures 3

Dispute Time Frames 6

Dispute Form 7

Dispute Steps (Detailed) 8

Dispute Resolution Process 11

Dispute Steps (Summary Handout) 13

Dispute Procedures

1. Per the cardholder statement, notification of disputed charge should be received within 60 days of the disputed charge posting to the credit card account. Per Visa & MasterCard regulations, the cardholder should contact the merchant in an attempt to resolve the dispute before contacting the credit card company.

2. If contacting the merchant does not resolve the dispute, a dispute notification needs to be sent to the Dispute Department. The information needs to include the attempt to contact the merchant & the results. Also the Dispute Notification must reference the account number, disputed amount, transaction & post date of disputed charge, merchant name, & detailed reason for dispute. If the account is set up under a cardholder’s name, the dispute letter needs to be signed by the cardholder. There are about forty different dispute reason codes that can be used to dispute a charge depending on what the dispute is. It is very important that we select the correct reason code. Our selection is determined by the information/documentation we receive that details the dispute. If we do not receive sufficient info/doc. detailing the reason for dispute which causes us to select the wrong reason code we could loose the dispute.

3. Once Dispute Notification is received by the Dispute Department it will be worked within 48 hours. Most disputes are resolved within 60 days, but due to regulated time frames from Visa and MasterCard, can take up to 175 days in extenuating circumstances.

4. Some Disputes require that we request a sales draft prior to charging back a merchant. When we request a sales draft from a merchant, we must allow them 30 days to provide it. If we charge the merchant back for the disputed charge, they have 45 days to contest it. If they have not responded to our chargeback within the 45 days, the chargeback & dispute are resolved & a chargeback credit would be posted to the individual account.

5. If the merchant contests the chargeback, we would forward their rebuttal on to the cardholder for review. We request that the cardholder respond in writing to us regarding the merchant’s rebuttal if the cardholder continues to dispute the charge. (If the Credit Card account is set up under a “Company” name rather then an individual cardholders name, this said company would wave any ‘Fraud’ rights. For example, if the merchant is able to provide a signed, imprinted sales draft, relating to the disputed charge, the dispute department would have no further recourse to pursue the dispute, and the company would be responsible to pay the charge.) They would still have any other regular dispute rights.

6. Once a chargeback is keyed we cannot reverse it. It is now in the merchant’s hands, and if the merchant does not contest our chargeback we will post the chargeback credit to the cardholder’s account. For this reason it is very important that the cardholder communicates with the merchant first and is sure the charge is not valid before sending dispute notification.

7. If the dispute is regarding tax, remember that it is the cardholder’s responsibility to make sure their tax exempt ID# is given to the merchant at the time of the sale. If the merchant is not made aware that there should be no tax, then the merchant is authorized to post the full amount (including tax), and we would have no dispute rights. If the cardholder signs the receipt for the full amount (including tax), we have no dispute rights. If the Tax ID# was given, and the cardholder was still charged tax, then the dispute letter would just need to include that information.

8. If the dispute is regarding a dispute with a third party, such as a Travel Agency that has booked airline tickets or a hotel reservation for a cardholder. The charge on the account posts directly from the airline or the hotel. If the travel agent made the error, we cannot chargeback the airline or the hotel. This dispute would need to be handled by the cardholder directly with the travel agency.

9. During the time we are investigating the disputed charge (requesting sales draft or chargeback) the charge will remain in dispute. By putting a charge in dispute does not take that amount from the outstanding balance, it simply just keeps that disputed amount from accruing finance charges. As long as the charge is in dispute, payment is not due for that disputed charge. Some disputes may require a progressive letter with additional information or documentation from the cardholder throughout the dispute process.

10. For the convenience of the cardholder we have attached a copy of the JPMorgan Chase Dispute Form below. Dispute form/letters can be faxed directly to the Dispute Department at 801-590-1316, or mailed to: JPMorgan Chase Dispute Department, PO Box 57510 Salt Lake City, UT. 84107

Dispute Time Frames

Chargebacks

Visa (U.S.) / MasterCard (U.S.)

118 Days for Issuer to Key in Chargeback

45 Days for Merchant to Contest Chargeback

45 Days for Issuer to Key in Second Chargeback

45 Days for Merchant to File Arbitration

Visa (Foreign)

118 Days for Issuer to Key in Chargeback

60 Days for Merchant to Contest Chargeback

60 Days for Issuer to Key in Second Chargeback

75 Days for Merchant to File Arbitration

MasterCard (Foreign)

118 Days for Issuer to Key in Chargeback

45 Days for Merchant to Contest Chargeback

45 Days for Issuer to Key in Second Chargeback

60 Days for Merchant to File Arbitration

Retrievals

Visa (U.S.) / MasterCard (U.S.)

Merchant has 30 days to fulfill Sales Draft Request

Visa (Foreign)

Merchant has 45 days to fulfill Sales Draft Request

MasterCard (Foreign)

Merchant has 30 days to fulfill Sales Draft Request

Dispute Form

Dear Cardholder,

This form has been forwarded to you for your convenience. Regulations require that you notify us in writing within 60 days of the post date of the disputed charge. Please be advised that Visa & MasterCard require that attempts be made to resolve your dispute with the merchant before notifying us. Any response received after the above-mentioned time frame may result in our inability to assist you with your dispute. ** Please fax this notification to; 801-590-1316 **

NAME: _____________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS __________________________________

ACCOUNT #: ________________________________ MERCHANT NAME: _________________________________

AMOUNT: ___________________ TRANSACTION DATE ________________ POST DATE: _________________

I have contacted the merchant in an attempt to resolve my dispute, but continue to dispute the above charge for the

following reason;

A. ____ I have been billed more than once by the same merchant. I authorized one charge with this merchant for

$______________ on ____________, but I did not make or authorize $______________ on ______________.

My credit card was in my possession at the time of this transaction. *NEED COPY OF VALID CHARGE*

B. ____ I have been charged for a purchase that was paid for by other means. (Other Credit Card, Check, Cash, Etc.)

*NEED COPY OF OTHER METHOD OF PAYMENT; COPY OF CC STATEMENT, CASH RECEIPT,

IF CHECK, COPY OF FRONT & BACK OF CHECK*

C. ____ I have been billed for the wrong amount on my account. My credit card receipt shows $_________________.

However, I was billed $__________. *NEED COPY OF RECEIPT SHOWING CORRECT AMOUNT*

D. _____ I do not recognize this charge. * I HAVE CONTACTED MERCHANT TO ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE *

E. ____ I did not authorize this charge. * I HAVE CONTACTED MERCHANT TO ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE *

D. ____ Merchant was to issue credit for goods returned, or attempted to be returned on ____________. This credit has

not posted to my account. *NEED EXPLANTION FOR RETURN, COPY OF CREDIT RECEIPT, OR

COPY OF RETURN MAIL RECEIPT*.

G. ____ I have not received the Services/Merchandise I’ve been charged for. The Service/Delivery date was__________.

*NEED DETAILED EXPLANATION OF DISPUTE & ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE WITH MERCHANT,

DOCUMENTATION THAT SUPPORTS YOUR DISPUTE. IF QUALITY DISPUTE, 2ND OPINION

LETTER FROM OTHER MERCHANT IS NEEDED AS WELL THAT SUPPORTS YOUR CLAIM*

H. ____ I Canceled : Service, Airline Ticket, Hotel Reservation, on _____________. Cancellation #_______________

I . ____ I have resolved my dispute with the merchant.

*ABOVE “INFORMATION/DOCUMENTATION” IN BOLD & BETWEEN ASTERISKS IS REQUIRED*

~ ~ DISPUTE NOTIFICATION NEEDS TO BE SIGNED BY THE “CARDHOLDER” ~ ~

_________________________________________________ _____________________________________

SIGNATURE DATE

Dispute Steps (Detailed)

STEP ONE: Receiving the Dispute Letter

A. There are several ways to receive dispute information:

( Fax: (801) 590-1308 Customer Service or (801) 590-1316 Disputes

( Regular Mail: Attn: Disputes Department, PO Box 57510, SLC, UT 84157

( PaymentNet: On-line Dispute

( E-mail: Disputes@

B. If the dispute comes in via fax, it goes directly to a dedicated Customer Service Representative who (1) Stamps the date on the letter and (2) Memos the Account telling (a) the Letter has been received and (b) the Letter has been forwarded to the Dispute Department. He also logs some of the letters to monitor the turn around time.

C. If the dispute comes in via regular mail, a Client Relations Representative, PaymentNet, or E-mail, it goes directly to the Dispute Department. The letter is stamped with the date of receipt.

D. All Dispute letters received are (1) Logged as New Disputes in the Dispute Log, (2) Distributed to a Dispute Analyst, and (3) worked by the Dispute Analyst. All of this is done within 72 hours of the date stamped on the letter (step B).

STEP TWO: Working the Dispute Letter

A. The FIRST action the Dispute Analyst takes is to confirm all the information that is needed has been received. The following information must be received in the Dispute Letter:

( Account number

( Cardholder signature or signature of person authorized on the account (i.e. Program Admin or receptionist)

( Detailed reason for dispute

( Amount of the dispute

( Transaction & posting date

B. The SECOND action the Dispute Analyst takes is check validity of:

( Timeframes (must be no later than 60 days from the day the charge posts to the account).

( Signatures, dates, and amount of charges

( Descriptive reason for the dispute

( Chargeback reason codes

** If the charge is NOT disputable, then an adverse action letter is sent to the cardholder.

** If the charge is NOT disputable, but a valid concern, we can place the charge in dispute (i.e. an airline credit that is pending for a double charge, but is not expected for another couple of months).

** If the charge is NOT disputable, but all of the documentation leans to a valid dispute, a good faith attempt can be made to the merchant bank requesting a credit. We do not have Chargeback rights (usually because of missed timeframes) and the merchant bank is not required to respond (or issue a credit).

** If the Charge IS Disputable, then the charge is placed “IN DISPUTE.”

( An item in dispute means it will be subtracted from the Minimum Balance Due, but not completely from the Balance of the Account. It will stay in the current due period. If it is past due, the dispute balance should be re-aged current.

C. The THIRD action the Dispute Analyst takes is to determine whether or not the dispute requires a Sales Draft.

( If the dispute requires a sales draft, then we order a sales draft. The merchant has 30 days to respond to the inquiry.

( If the dispute does not require a sales draft, then we do a DIRECT CHARGEBACK. Several of these areas are the Mail Order / Telephone Order charges (MCC: 4812, 4814, 4816, 5960, 5962, 5964, 5965, 5966, 5967, 5968, 5969).

** If a direct Chargeback occurs, the Merchant has 45 days to respond with either a Credit (agreeing with our claim) or a Representment (contesting the Chargeback).

** If a Representment is done, we have 45 days to do a 2nd Chargeback.

** If a 2nd Chargeback is done, the Merchant has up to 45 days to do a prearbitration.

** If a prearbitration is done, we can accept or reject it, which would cause the Merchant to drop or pursue Arbitration.

D. The FOURTH action the Dispute Analyst takes is to order a Sales Draft.

( The merchant is given up to 30 days to fulfill the request. The merchant is paid proportionately to the # of days it takes them to return the sales draft ($0 - $8 depending on time).

( If they do NOT return the sales draft within 30 days, we follow the above procedure for a Chargeback.

E. The FIFTH action taken by the Dispute Analyst is to work with the sales draft.

( If the copy of the sales draft is a “Sub Draft” (a pseudo sales draft without signature, etc) then we do an automatic Chargeback.

( If the sales draft is signed, we will send a copy to the cardholder to verify the signature.

** If they verify the signature as their own, we remove the dispute.

** If they don’t respond to the letter, we remove the dispute.

** If they verify that the signature is NOT theirs, we will proceed with the dispute.

( If the sales draft is NOT signed, but the draft looks valid, we will send a copy to the cardholder requesting verification. Then follow the above steps to proceed with the dispute or remove the charge from disputes.

( If the sales draft is NOT signed and the draft does not look valid, we will do an automatic Chargeback.

STEP THREE: Responding to the Dispute / Cardholder

A. If the dispute is NOT resolved in our favor (it is a valid charge or we lose in arbitration), we will send a letter to the cardholder stating this and remove the dispute.

B. If the dispute IS resolved in our favor, we will send a letter to the cardholder (only if the circumstances warrant), remove the charge from dispute, and issue a credit.

THE DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS

THE PLAYERS:

[pic] Mr. Tom E. Cardholder

[pic] Merchant - Guido’s Italian Restaurant

[pic] Merchant Acquirer - Chase Bank

[pic] Issuer – JPMorgan Chase (*US*)

[pic] CSR / Disputes Representative

[pic] Processor - EDS

[pic] Interchange (I-Net) MasterCard

[pic] Interchange (Visa Net) Visa

Step One: Mr. Tom E. Cardholder uses his card at Guido’s Italian restaurant to take out a client to lunch. Everything goes well with his JPMorgan Chase Corporate Card and they leave happily having struck a deal for $2 billion of Widgets.

Step Two: The Merchant, Guido’s Italian restaurant, sends the transaction electronically to their Merchant Acquiring Bank, Chase Bank. Chase Bank sends the charge to VISA or MasterCard to be sent to the Issuer, JPMorgan Chase. The charge comes through to JPMorgan Chase via EDS, who acts as our processor. This is called First Presentment because the charge is being presented for the first time as a valid charge.

Step Three: JPMorgan Chase sends the charge to the cardholder to pay on their statement.

Step Four: Mr. Tom E. Cardholder disagrees with the charge from Guido’s Italian Restaurant. He calls the Issuer, JPMorgan Chase, and tells them this.

Step Five: Customer Service / Dispute Representative, Maria Barnes, takes the call from Tom and receives his faxed dispute form (with all the correct information on it!) and follows it through our internal process to Disputes. The first part of the process is the Retrieval Step. We seek to retrieve a copy of the sales draft, or directly retrieve relief from the charge.

Step Six: Maria then places the item into “Disputes” through EDS. This part of the procedure is called a Chargeback. We request the charge be ‘taken back’ by the merchant.

Step Seven: The disputed item is sent to the Merchant, Chase Bank, who then decides that they think the charge is correct. They then send the charge back to the Issuer as a re-presentment. They are re-presenting the original charge.

Step Eight: Upon receipt of the sales draft, we conclude that they charge is indeed not correct and send the charge back to the merchant bank as a Second Chargeback. We are sending this charge back to the merchant a second time.

Step Nine: If the Merchant Bank is still in disagreement over this charge, they can request this charge be sent to Arbitration. Arbitration is a neutral third party from VISA or MasterCard who will hear facts from both sides (Merchant Banks and Issuing Banks) and make a ruling. The ruling is final.

Good Faith Chargeback: Certain guidelines follow with this process of disputes. If we do not file within the time guidelines, we may make a special request called a Good Faith Chargeback to the merchant bank. They can, but are not required to, honor this request.

Compliance: Compliance is required of all parties working with this process. Each cardholder by accepting and using a MasterCard or VISA is bound by their rules. Each issuer, by issuing a MasterCard or VISA, is bound by their rules. All merchants, by accepting MasterCard or VISA, are bound by their rules. If anyone chooses NOT to follow these guidelines, can be punished by MasterCard or VISA. Once the Dispute is resolved, all parties must comply with the findings.

Dispute Steps (Summary Handout)

The High Level Steps in the Dispute Process:

1) The Cardholder recognizes the Dispute and requests a Credit

2) The Dispute Analyst reviews the request and either places the charge in Dispute, or denies the request. If the dispute seems valid and is under the write-off limit, the Dispute Analyst has permission to write it off.

3) The Dispute Analyst either requests a Sales Draft or goes directly to step five.

4) The Dispute Analyst receives a Sales Draft. They can dismiss the dispute here, or go to step five.

5) A Chargeback is requested by the Dispute Analyst.

6) The Merchant can request a Representment if they disagree with the Chargeback. If they agree with the Chargeback, they issue credit.

7) The Dispute Analyst can request a Second Chargeback if they still don’t agree with the charge.

8) The Merchant can request prearbitration if they still don’t agree with the charge.

9) If the Dispute Analyst has enough documentation and facts, they will disagree with the prearbitration.

10) The Merchant decides whether or not to enter into arbitration. This costs filing fees ($150) and technical fees ($100 per technicality).

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