Disputes and chargebacks

Chargeback Time Limits: How Long Each Side Has

A cardholder has about four months to dispute a charge. The merchant usually has a few weeks to answer, and often far less once the processor takes its cut of the clock. Here are the deadlines by card network, and why the one that matters is not the one in the rulebook.

Written by Robert Day, Founder and Managing Partner of weAudit.com, previously an executive at Fifth Third Processing Solutions, later Vantiv and Worldpay, now part of Global Payments, the world’s largest card processor. Published September 2026.

If you want to dispute a charge

You generally have 120 days from the date of the purchase to file a chargeback, on Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover alike. If you were promised goods or services that never arrived, the clock may start later.

Call the bank that issued your card, not the store’s processor. Try the merchant first if you can; many disputes are settled faster that way.

If you are the merchant

Your deadline is much shorter, it started before you heard about the dispute, and your processor has probably shortened it again. The rest of this page is for you.

Figures in brief

120 days: how long cardholders generally have to file a chargeback on all four major networks.
Up to 540 days: Visa’s outer limit for some disputes over goods or services not delivered.
30, 45 and 20 days: the merchant response windows on Visa, Mastercard and American Express, as the networks set them for acquirers.
As few as 9 days: one large processor’s published internal deadline for US merchants responding to Visa disputes.
Zero: the chance of winning a dispute you answered after the deadline.

Chargeback time limits by card network

Each network sets two clocks: how long the cardholder has to open a dispute, and how long the merchant’s side has to answer it. These are the standard windows for most dispute types.

Network	Cardholder filing window	Merchant response window
Visa	120 days, up to 540 for some non-delivery disputes	30 days
Mastercard	120 days for most reason codes	45 days
American Express	120 days	20 days
Discover	120 days	20 to 30 days, depending on the stage

The windows are counted in calendar days from the date the network processed the dispute, not the date you found out about it. Weekends count. Holidays count. A notice that sat unread in a portal for a week has already used a week.

Your real deadline is shorter than the network’s

The response windows in the table are given to your acquirer, the bank behind your processor. Your processor then sets its own, earlier deadline so it has time to review your evidence and submit it. One large processor publishes internal deadlines of 9 days for US merchants on Visa disputes and 14 on American Express. Others set similar limits in their merchant agreements.

30 → 9

days to answer a Visa dispute: what the network allows, and what one processor gives its US merchants. Your agreement says which number applies to you.

That gap is where most lost chargebacks are lost. Not on the merits, but on the calendar. Find your processor’s deadline in your merchant agreement or its dispute portal, and treat every notice as urgent the day it arrives.

What a missed deadline costs

The sale

A dispute you do not answer in time is lost automatically. The money goes back to the cardholder, whatever the facts were.

The fee

Your processor charges a chargeback fee whether you win, lose or never answer. That fee is set by your processor, not by the networks.

The ratio

Every chargeback counts toward your chargeback ratio, and a high ratio can put you in a network monitoring program with its own fines.

The last one is the one that grows. Our guide to the excessive chargeback program explains what happens when the ratio gets too high.

How to stop running out of time

Know your processor’s deadline, not just the network’s. It is in your agreement or your dispute portal. Write it down for each card brand.
Watch for the first notice. Some disputes start as a request for information or a retrieval request. Answering that well often stops the chargeback entirely.
Keep evidence where you can find it. Receipts, delivery confirmations, signed agreements, refund policies and customer messages, filed by order number.
Route every dispute notice to one person. Deadlines are missed when a notice lands in an inbox nobody reads.

Chargebacks are also a fee problem. Chargeback fees, retrieval fees and dispute-related charges are set by your processor and vary widely. They are part of every weAudit audit. If you are weighing a paid fix, read our look at whether chargeback insurance is worth it first.

Common questions

What is the chargeback time limit?

For most disputes, cardholders have 120 days from the transaction to file a chargeback on Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. Some disputes, such as goods or services never delivered, can run longer, up to 540 days on Visa.

How long do merchants have to respond to a dispute?

The networks give acquirers 30 days on Visa, 45 on Mastercard and 20 on American Express, with Discover in the 20 to 30 day range depending on the stage. Your processor usually gives you less, because it needs time to review and submit your response.

How long do I have to file a chargeback as a cardholder?

Generally 120 days from the transaction date. Contact your card issuer as soon as you spot the problem, because the issuer may also have its own rules about disputes.

What happens if a merchant misses the chargeback deadline?

The dispute is lost automatically. The money stays with the cardholder, the chargeback fee still applies, and the case counts toward your chargeback ratio.

Why is my processor’s deadline shorter than the network’s?

The network deadline is for your acquirer, not for you. Your processor sets an internal deadline so it has time to package and submit your evidence. Some give US merchants as little as nine days on Visa disputes, so read every dispute notice the day it arrives.

Do chargeback deadlines count calendar days or business days?

Card network deadlines are generally calendar days, counted from the date the dispute or chargeback was processed, not the date you noticed it. Weekends and holidays count.

Send us a statement. We will show you what disputes are costing you.

Our first audit is free and takes about five minutes of your time. We check every dispute-related fee on your statement along with everything else, and if there is nothing to find, you will know that too.

Get My Free Audit See How the Audit Works
800-672-1292

About the figures: network filing and response windows are the standard limits for most dispute types as published by the card networks and summarized in current industry guides; some reason codes and dispute stages carry different limits. The 9-day and 14-day figures are one processor’s published internal deadlines for US merchants, checked July 2026. Your merchant agreement and your processor’s dispute portal govern your actual deadlines.