Credit cards and your legal rights

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Credit cards have one truly overriding benefit over cash (apart from the convenience) and that is that credit cards come with their own built in legal benefits that all credit card users should make themselves aware of but don’t. Many credit card users are blissfully unaware of the extra legal protection a credit card affords, while perhaps an equal number of credit card users are misinformed about just how far that legal protection extends.

As with everything to do with credit card contracts, you should very carefully inspect the terms and conditions of your card before you sign any agreement, but generally speaking the following legal parameters hold true:

As far as gaining credit is concerned, you are protected against any form of discrimination (other than age) and will be judged only on your previous credit history.

All charges and interest rates that are applicable to your credit card must be disclosed in full in your contract, therefore it is vital that you take the time to go over your contract and make yourself fully aware of the charges and fees relating to your credit card.

If you are unsatisfied with a purchase or need to query a charge you have a right of address through your credit card issuer against the merchant. For these situations there are normally a variety of preconditions that must be met before the card issuer will refund your money such as a minimum purchase amount, locality of the purchase, whether any payments have been made by you on the outstanding amount for that item etc. Again, you are covered legally but make sure you read the terms and conditions that apply specifically to your card or jurisdiction as these do vary.

Most credit card issuers are ultimately accountable to a higher authority so if a dispute over your account arises between you and your credit card issuer, you will have a right to take the matter to an independent arbiter for resolution. Your credit card issuer should be obliged to provide those contact details on their statements to you, and your obligation is to contact your credit card issuer in a timely manner to sort any matter out. If no resolution is forthcoming, you can then refer the matter to the independent arbiter and be assured that you will receive a fair hearing.