Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives you protection on credit card purchases. When you pay for goods or services costing between £100 and £30,000 using a credit card, the credit card company is jointly liable with the retailer if something goes wrong.
What it covers
- The retailer goes bust before delivery
- Goods or services are not provided
- Goods are faulty or not as described
Important conditions
The item must cost between £100 and £30,000. You only need to put part of the cost on the card — paying just £1 on credit and the rest by another method still gives you full protection on the total cost.
What to do if you need to claim
Contact your credit card provider in writing, explain what went wrong and provide evidence. They must deal with your claim — this is a legal right, not a goodwill gesture.
Chargeback: the protection that covers what Section 75 doesn't
Section 75 only applies to credit and store cards, only to purchases between £100 and £30,000, and only when you paid the retailer directly. If your purchase falls outside those limits — a debit card payment, something under £100, or a purchase where the direct link to the retailer is broken (see below) — chargeback may still apply. It's not a legal right like Section 75, but a scheme run by Visa, Mastercard and similar card networks, and it works for debit cards too. You generally have 120 days from the purchase (or from when a future event, like a concert, was due to happen) to make a chargeback claim.
Third-party payment processors can break the link
Section 75 relies on a direct contractual relationship between you, your card provider and the retailer. If you paid through an intermediary — PayPal, a digital wallet, or a marketplace like Amazon Marketplace where a third-party seller fulfils the order — this link can be broken, meaning Section 75 may not apply even though you used a qualifying card. In these cases, the payment provider's own buyer protection, or chargeback, is usually the route to pursue instead.
How long you have to claim
You generally have up to 6 years to make a Section 75 claim in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 5 years in Scotland — but it's always best to start as soon as you notice a problem, while receipts and correspondence are still easy to find. If your card provider rejects your claim, you typically have 6 months from their final response to escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free and independent.
A few conditions worth knowing
- Only the primary cardholder's purchases are protected — a claim generally needs to show the primary cardholder benefited from the purchase, not just an additional cardholder on the same account
- You can sometimes claim for reasonable consequential costs too, not just a refund — for example, roadside recovery costs if a car bought on credit breaks down shortly after purchase
- Always try the retailer directly first — Section 75 makes your card provider jointly liable, but going to the retailer first is often faster