If you pay for something on a credit card and it goes wrong — the goods never arrive, they’re faulty, or the retailer simply goes bust — you may have a direct legal claim against your credit card provider, not just the retailer. This protection is a genuinely valuable one, but it works quite differently from the short-term and instalment credit products this site otherwise focuses on, and it’s worth understanding exactly where it does and doesn’t apply.
What Section 75 actually does
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes a credit card provider jointly and severally liable, alongside the retailer or supplier, for a breach of contract or misrepresentation connected to something bought using the card. In practice, this means that if the retailer won’t put things right — whether because they’re refusing to engage, have gone into administration, or have simply disappeared — you can pursue the credit card company directly for a refund or compensation instead, because the law treats them as equally responsible for the transaction.
The £100 to £30,000 threshold
This protection only applies where the cash price of the item or service is more than £100 and not more than £30,000. Two details commonly catch people out here. First, it’s the total price of the item that has to fall in this range, not the amount actually charged to the card — so if you paid a £50 deposit by credit card towards a £600 purchase, the full £600 price is what’s assessed against the threshold, and the protection can still apply to the whole purchase even though only part of it went on the card. Second, this only covers credit cards specifically — it does not apply to debit cards, and does not apply to charge cards in the same way, because Section 75 is tied to regulated credit agreements rather than to card payments generally.
What it doesn’t cover
- Purchases where the total price is £100 or under, or over £30,000.
- Debit card transactions, since there is no credit agreement involved.
- Cash withdrawals made using a credit card.
- Situations where the card issuer and the supplier are effectively the same business — the “joint and several” liability requires a genuinely separate supplier.
- Some transactions made through certain payment intermediaries, where the direct contractual chain the law relies on isn’t present in the same way — though there are recognised exceptions for some payment processors that have a specific commercial agreement with the retailer.
Why this is different from short-term and instalment credit
Section 75 is specifically a credit card protection, tied to the structure of regulated credit card agreements. Short-term loans and cash advances aren’t credit cards, so this particular protection doesn’t transfer across to them in the same form — a short-term loan taken out to cover an unexpected cost doesn’t give you a Section 75-style claim against the lender if a purchase you later made with that borrowed cash goes wrong. If you’re comparing how to pay for something and want this kind of purchase protection specifically, that’s a genuine difference between paying by credit card and other forms of borrowing, and worth weighing up alongside cost when deciding how to fund a purchase.
How to actually make a claim
You contact your credit card provider directly, explain the breach of contract or misrepresentation, and provide evidence — receipts, correspondence with the retailer, and details of what went wrong. You don’t need to have tried and failed with the retailer first in every case, though in practice card providers often want to see that you’ve attempted to resolve it with the seller, particularly where the seller is still trading and contactable. If the card provider refuses or you’re unhappy with their response, you can escalate a Section 75 dispute to the Financial Ombudsman Service, in the same way as other financial services complaints.
FAQs
Does Section 75 apply if I only paid a deposit on my credit card?
Yes — as long as the total cash price of the item is between £100 and £30,000, you can still claim for the full amount even if only part of the payment went on the card, provided the credit card was used for at least part of the transaction.
Am I protected if I paid by debit card instead?
No, Section 75 does not apply to debit card payments, because it’s specifically tied to regulated credit agreements. Some debit card schemes offer a separate, voluntary protection called chargeback, but that works differently and isn’t a legal right in the same way.
Does Section 75 have anything to do with short-term loans or cash advances?
No — it’s a credit card-specific protection. If you take out a short-term loan and then use that cash to make a purchase, the loan itself doesn’t give you a Section 75 claim against the lender for problems with what you bought.