Certain laws are on the books to protect consumers from unscrupulous credit card issuers. It pays to know what guidelines the various financial institutions should follow in regards to cardholder protections.

You are entitles to have your credits posted promptly for your payments. By law your payment must be reflected on their books the day they receive it or the next business day after if it was received if arriving in the afternoon generally. Each issuer can make up certain rules of their own within the confines of what is legal and allowed but your payment must be treated with due process when it arrives..

Be certain to follow the postal instructions so your funds reach the issuer’s billing department without any hassle. If you accidentally send your payment to the wrong place it could take weeks or more to correct, and you would still be liable for your payment not reaching the credit card issuer or financial institution in time. I f you can’t find the proper mailing envelope that came with your statement, be care to correctly copy the address off of the statement itself or call the credit card issuer to request the proper mailing address.

You might be entitled to refunds of credit balances. When you make a deposit that is over the total amount of credit allowed on your card, you are entitled to have the extra funds added or be issued a refund for the excessive amount of your deposit. Your money must be returned to you within seven business days of your request. If a credit remains on your card for more than 6 months, the issuer must make a good faith effort to send you your monies due.

Keep a close eye out for errors on your billing statement. Many people have a tendency to not notice this. Credit card issuers have the burden to be certain that your statement is correct, as they hold the responsibility to act when corrections are needed and justified. Albeit, many people have noticed that this is not the case in reality. Still consumers must be aware that they have the upper hand and that the law is on their side. Generally you will receive a brochure from your card issuer concerning what the individual rules are for the credit card you have at issue, and again about after every year passes. You might even receive a summary of these rights with your bill. Make sure you are aware of the rules in the long version instead of the smaller “key point” list that may come with your bill.

If you find a problem with your credit card bill, you can have a temporary hold put on the transaction while it is being disputed. If the resolution of the dispute ends in your favor, you will receive a credit for the amount. The dispute can be due for any a number of reasons including having recieved broken goods, services you purchased but did not receive. Remember that you still are responsible for payment of any amounts that are not in dispute on the bill, and that your due dates and the like are not adjusted because of a pending dispute.