About Credit Card Chargeback Mechanism

What is Chargeback?

Cardholder using credit cards to make payments are eligible to apply for a refund of the payment except credit card installment plan* under specific circumstances such as transaction was double or triple charged, service/goods was not rendered after one-off pre-payment by merchant.

However, the chargeback applications are subject to certain rules and criteria set by the respective card association such as Visa International, MasterCard International and China Unionpay (together namely “Card Association”). The Bank as card issuing bank is required to follow the Card Association’s chargeback time limits prior to raising chargeback request against the merchant acquirer via the Card Association platform.

* Credit Card installment plan is a loan agreement between cardholders and the Bank. The Bank advances a one-off loan to cardholders and has paid the full amount to the merchant, while cardholders undertake to repay the Bank by installments.

General Process Flow of the Chargeback Mechanism

Note: The above is showing the general workflow. The merchant acquirer may dispute the validity of chargeback claim and reject to refund. If the cardholder(s) does not agree to the result, the card issuer may in accordance with the rules of the respective card association submit the disputed transaction to the Card Association for arbitration. There will be another 45 days (for Visa/MasterCard International only) being granted for processing relevant arbitration request before issuing the conclusive chargeback result. For China Unionpay, a member must submit the Arbitration request within 60 days after the completion of the dispute resolution cycle (subject to the date on the postmark of the application).

Important note:

Please note that a “Dispute Handling Charge” per each disputable or questionable transaction will be imposed (Please also refer Fee Schedule of ICBC Credit Card) at the time of suspension for temporary repayment during the investigation period. The relevant transaction amount together with the finance charge and other related charges, if any, will only be debited into the cardholder’s card account if it is proved that the transaction should be borne by the cardholder. After relevant charges debited to the cardholder’s account, the Bank shall inform the cardholder of the nature and amount of charges debited to their accounts promptly.

How to initiate your chargeback requests

1. To complete the “Cardholder Dispute and Resolution Request form” (the “Request Form”) to raise dispute on a transaction within 60 days from the statement date. Please note that any transaction dispute raised by cardholder beyond 60 days from the statement date will not be handled.
2. To attach the supporting documents (e.g. sales slip, invoice, cancellation confirmation, credit sales slip, payment evidence and etc.), where appropriate, to the completed Request Form. The relevant supporting documents are valid evidence and proof for the transaction sum and the reason that cardholder(s) intends to claim. Sufficient supporting documents may avoid unnecessary delay for submission to card associations for further handling.
3. Please note that each questionable transaction can only be raised with one reason only. If the questionable transaction is rejected by card association(s), such questionable transaction is not acceptable for raising chargeback request again with another reason.
4. To send the completed Request Form together with all supporting documents to our Bank via either one of the following channels.
   By mail – ICBC (Asia) Credit Card Centre, P.O. Box 27, General Post Office, Hong Kong
   By email – dispute@icbcasia.com
   By fax – (852) 2233 9988
   

Chargeback Time limits of Respective Card Association

After receiving the dispute from cardholders, our Bank shall submit the request within the time limits of respective card association as below:

	Non-Delivery of goods/services
	By Merchant	Due to merchant closure
Visa / MasterCard International	Within 120 days from the agreed delivery of the goods/services AND not exceeding 540 days from the date of the transaction	Within 120 days from merchant closure AND not exceeding 540 days from the date of transaction
China Unionpay	Within 180 days from the date of transaction	For Local: within 360 days/180 days from the date of transaction due to merchant bankruptcy/closure respectively For Overseas: within 180 days from the date of transaction

Sample cases

1. 1. A cardholder joined a 2-year membership course and paid a lump sum of HK$5,000 via Visa Card on 1 Jan 2016 and finally the merchant was closed on 1 Jan 2017
   - eligible for chargeback with unused membership cost (within 120 days from merchant closure and within 540 days from the date of transaction).
2. 2. A cardholder joined a 2-year membership course and paid a lump sum of HK$5,000 via Visa Card on 1 Jan 2016 and finally the merchant was closed on 1 May 2017
   - not eligible for chargeback due to exceeded the time limit (within 120 days from merchant closure but the reporting date exceeded 540 days from the date of transaction).

Responsibility of the Bank

Please note that the Bank as a card issuer is not the responsible party of relevant disputes investigation and has no influence on the claims decision. Upon receiving the completed Request Form, the Bank will review the Request Form together with all relevant supporting documents and check against the time limits of respective card association. If the chargeback request is within the time limits of respective card association and no discrepancy found between the Request Form and supporting documents, the Bank will raise the chargeback request via the Card Association platform. Once raising out the chargeback request, the Bank takes no other action unless further information is requested by Card Association. When the Bank receives the chargeback result, the Bank shall inform the cardholder promptly.

Enquiry

If cardholder(s) comes across any problem or would like to check the status with the questionable transaction, please feel free to call our 24-hour customer service hotline at (852) 218 95588.