An airline folds, or a villa turns out not to exist. The money is already gone, and the only party left with both a legal duty and a working bank account is the one that processed your card payment.
There are two ways to get at it. One is a statutory right that has been on the books since 1974. The other is a private rule that card networks made up and can change. They are not interchangeable, and the order you use them in matters.
The short answer
Use Section 75 when you paid by UK credit card and the thing you bought cost more than £100. It is a legal claim against your card issuer, it has no scheme deadline, and it covers consequential losses. Use chargeback when Section 75 does not apply, which mostly means debit cards, purchases at or under £100, and payments that ran through an intermediary. Chargeback is faster and weaker.
Where both are open to you, file the chargeback first. It is quicker, and losing one does not bar the other.
| Route | What it is | Cards | Amount | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chargeback | A card scheme rule. No legal force | Credit, debit, prepaid, Amex | No minimum or maximum | Usually 120 days from the transaction or the date the service was due. Some Visa codes stretch to 540 days from the transaction |
| Section 75 | Consumer Credit Act 1974. Legal claim against the card issuer | UK credit cards only | Cash price over £100 and no more than £30,000 | Six years in England and Wales, five in Scotland |
| Section 75A | Consumer Credit Act 1974, for larger linked credit | Linked credit agreements | Cash price over £30,000, credit no more than £60,260 | Same as Section 75, but you must chase the supplier first |
What is the difference between chargeback and Section 75?
Section 75 makes your card issuer jointly and severally liable with the supplier for any misrepresentation or breach of contract. The Act says you get a “like claim” against the creditor, which means the issuer stands in the supplier’s shoes. You can sue the bank instead of chasing a company in another jurisdiction. If the supplier has ceased trading, that is the bank’s problem now, not yours.
Chargeback is not a right. It is a reversal mechanism the card networks operate between banks, governed by their own rulebooks. Your bank raises it, the merchant’s bank can defend it, and the money can be taken back again.
Two consequences follow. Section 75 covers losses beyond the ticket price, so if an airline collapse forced you to buy replacement flights home, those costs are in scope. Chargeback only ever returns the amount charged.
Does Section 75 cover a flight or hotel booked through an agent?
Often not, and this is where most travel claims die.
Section 75 requires an unbroken debtor-creditor-supplier chain. You, the card issuer, and the business that actually owes you the service. Book directly with the airline on a credit card and the chain holds. Book the same flight through an online travel agent that takes your payment as principal and the supplier of the flight is arguably not the party you paid.
The FCA has looked at this and declined to settle it. Its position is that whether a debtor-creditor-supplier relationship exists “will depend on the specific arrangements and the effect of the commercial structures”, and that only a court can decide any individual case. Banks read that ambiguity in their own favour. Expect the first answer to be no.
Payment intermediaries break it the same way. If a booking matters, pay the supplier directly on a credit card.
One thing that does not break the chain is part payment. Pay a £150 deposit by credit card on a £4,000 holiday and Section 75 covers the full £4,000, because the limits apply to the cash price of the item, not to what you put on the card. Paying the deposit on a credit card and the balance by transfer is the cheapest protection in travel.
What changed on 15 July 2026?
The FCA began regulating Deferred Payment Credit, the product usually sold as buy now pay later, on 15 July 2026. Section 75 now applies to purchases financed that way. If you split a flight into three payments through a regulated DPC lender after that date, the lender carries the same joint liability a credit card issuer does.
The date is a hard line. Any DPC agreement taken out before 15 July 2026 stays unregulated, and none of the new protection reaches back to it. Check the agreement date, not the travel date. A trip booked in May 2026 for travel in December 2026 sits on the wrong side of it.
Merchants that run their own instalment plans directly are outside the regime, so an airline offering to split the fare in-house is not the same product as a third-party DPC lender.
How long do I actually have?
Chargeback is the clock that runs out first. The schemes generally allow 120 days, but the start date is not always the payment date. For services not provided, it usually runs from the date the service was due, which is what makes travel workable: a flight booked eleven months ahead can still be inside the window on the day it fails to depart. Visa applies an outer limit of 540 days from the transaction date on the codes that use a delayed start.
Section 75 has no scheme deadline. The limit is the ordinary six-year contractual limitation period in England and Wales, five in Scotland, running from the breach.
If the issuer refuses, you have six months from the date of its final response to take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The firm has eight weeks to give you that response. The Ombudsman generally needs the complaint raised within six years of the event, or within three years of when you knew or should have known you had grounds.
How do I file the claim?
- Put the claim in writing to the card issuer, not to the merchant. Say which route you are using. The words “Section 75 claim” change how it is routed.
- State the breach in one sentence and attach the booking confirmation, the card statement line and any cancellation notice.
- Give the sum, split into the amount paid and any consequential loss, with receipts for the latter.
- If you are also inside the chargeback window, say you want both considered. Do not let the issuer treat the chargeback as a substitute.
- On refusal, ask for a final response letter. Without it the six-month Ombudsman clock does not start.
Where these claims fail
- Paying by debit card. There is no Section 75. Chargeback is all you get, and it is discretionary.
- Using an Amex charge card. Cards repayable in full each month generally fall outside the Consumer Credit Act, so Section 75 does not attach. This is contested and Amex does not advertise it either way. If Section 75 matters, use a credit card.
- A cash price of exactly £100. The Act requires more than £100. A £100.00 booking is outside it and a £100.01 booking is inside it.
- Letting the issuer close the case as a chargeback. A rejected chargeback is not a rejected Section 75 claim. Insist on a separate decision.
- Assuming ATOL is a backstop. A flight-only ticket bought directly from an airline is not ATOL protected. ATOL covers package trips including flights.
- Claiming for costs you chose to take on. Replacement flights home after an airline collapse are recoverable. Extra nights you decided to stay are not.
- Waiting for the operator to answer. Time spent chasing a company that is already administered is time off the chargeback clock.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim under Section 75 if the company is still trading?
Yes. The issuer is jointly liable from the moment of the breach. You do not have to exhaust the supplier first. Section 75A is different, and does require you to have contacted the supplier and got nowhere.
Does Section 75 work on bookings made abroad?
Yes. The Act attaches to the UK credit agreement, not to where the supplier trades. A hotel in Thailand booked directly on a UK credit card is covered on the same terms as one in Manchester.
Is there an upper limit on what I can recover?
The £30,000 cap applies to the cash price of the item, not to the size of your claim. A £5,000 holiday that caused £12,000 of loss is a £12,000 claim. Above a £30,000 cash price you are into Section 75A, which caps the credit at £60,260 and requires you to chase the supplier first.
Can I use both routes for the same booking?
Yes, and you should where both are available. They are separate processes with separate tests. You cannot be paid twice, but a failed chargeback costs you nothing.
What if I paid part on a credit card and part on a debit card?
The credit card part triggers full Section 75 cover for the item, however small it was. The debit card part gets chargeback only, and only within the scheme window.
Sources
Consumer Credit Act 1974, sections 75 and 75A, legislation.gov.uk (s.75, s.75A). Financial Conduct Authority, Buy Now Pay Later, and Information on how Consumer Credit Act 1974 s.75 applies to travel services payments. Financial Ombudsman Service, Time limits, and FCA Handbook DISP 1.6. UK Finance, Chargeback rights and Section 75 FAQs. Visa and Mastercard chargeback time limits via Chargebacks911. ATOL, What does ATOL protection mean. Limitation Act 1980 section 5.
Researched from primary sources and checked August 2026. General information, not advice.
