Section 75 and Wedding Deposits: Claiming a Refund When a Supplier Cancels or Collapses
Your wedding venue has sent an email saying they are closing. The caterer’s phone goes straight to voicemail and the website is offline. The photographer who took a £1,500 deposit has become unreachable.
Discovering that a wedding supplier has failed — weeks or months before the event — is genuinely stressful. The financial loss makes it worse: weddings involve large sums paid well in advance to businesses that often offer little formal security.
If any of those payments went on a personal credit card, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 may entitle you to a refund from your card provider, even if the supplier has closed entirely.
Quick check: does this apply to you?
- ✓ You paid at least £1 to that supplier on a personal credit card
- ✓ The total contract with that supplier was more than £100 and no more than £30,000
- ✓ The supplier has cancelled, gone bust, or failed to deliver what was agreed
- ✓ The problem arose within the last six years (England/Wales) or five years (Scotland)
Each wedding supplier is assessed separately. If three suppliers have failed, you may have three separate claims. Not sure? Use the free eligibility checker.
Which payments qualify
The £100 threshold is based on the total contract value, not the deposit. If you paid a £75 deposit on a £1,200 wedding dress, the total contract value is £1,200 — which qualifies — as long as at least £1 of any payment went on a personal credit card.
Most main wedding costs comfortably clear the threshold:
| Supplier | Typical total cost | Usually qualifies? |
|---|---|---|
| Venue | £3,000–£15,000 | Yes |
| Caterer | £2,000–£8,000 | Yes |
| Photographer or videographer | £1,000–£3,500 | Yes |
| Wedding dress | £800–£3,000 | Yes |
| Florist | £500–£3,000 | Yes |
| Band or DJ | £500–£2,500 | Yes |
| Transport | £200–£1,000 | Usually yes |
| Cake | £200–£800 | Yes |
Scroll to see full table on mobile.
Each supplier is a separate claim. You can pursue multiple claims simultaneously — one per card used, or multiple claims to the same card if you paid several suppliers on it.
The supplier cancelled — does Section 75 still apply?
Yes. Section 75 does not require the supplier to have gone out of business. A supplier who cancels your booking and refuses to refund has breached their contract. That breach entitles you to your money back, and if they refuse, you can claim from your card provider instead.
This matters particularly for venues. Some stop trading without formally entering administration, or announce they can no longer honour your date, or impose changes to the agreed package without your consent. Any of these can constitute a breach. If a supplier cannot or will not deliver what you paid for, treat it as a breach and put your claim in writing.
What to gather before you write to your bank
Collect these for each supplier you are claiming against. Keep each supplier’s documents as a separate bundle.
For each supplier, gather
- ▪Original booking contract or written confirmation — supplier name, service agreed, date, total price
- ▪Credit card statements showing every payment made to that supplier
- ▪Written evidence of the failure — cancellation email, closed website screenshot, administration announcement
- ▪If the supplier is in administration: the administrator’s name (search “[supplier name] administrator”)
- ▪If you paid a replacement supplier more: receipt for those additional costs
What to say if your bank pushes back
Your bank may say
”The deposit was under £100.”
The threshold applies to the total contract value, not the deposit. A £200 deposit on a £4,000 venue is a qualifying claim. Provide the original contract showing the total price alongside the card statement.
Your bank may say
”You should claim from the administrator.”
Section 75 imposes joint and several liability. You can claim against the card provider without first pursuing the administrator or waiting for the insolvency process. As an unsecured creditor in an administration you would typically recover very little, if anything. Section 75 bypasses that queue entirely.
Your bank may say
”The cancellation was due to circumstances beyond the supplier’s control.”
Whether a force majeure clause in the supplier’s contract applies is a matter between you and the supplier. It does not extinguish the card provider’s independent liability under Section 75. The bank has its own statutory obligation that exists regardless of what the supplier’s terms say.
Your bank may say
”We can only refund the amount you paid on the card.”
Section 75 covers the full value of the loss, not just the card payment. If you paid a £1,000 deposit by credit card on a £6,000 venue contract, the card provider’s liability under Section 75(1) extends to the full contract value.
If your bank still refuses
Send a written rebuttal addressing their stated reasons. If they issue a further refusal, refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of their final response letter. The FOS regularly upholds wedding-related Section 75 claims that banks initially refused — particularly insolvency cases and cases where the bank tried to limit liability to the card payment only.
See our Financial Ombudsman escalation guide for what to include.
What to do now
List every supplier you paid on a credit card — check which ones have failed or cancelled, and confirm each total contract value exceeds £100.
Gather your evidence — a separate bundle per supplier: contract, card statements, and written proof of the failure.
Write to your card provider’s disputes team — by email or recorded post, citing Section 75(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Submit each supplier as a separate claim. Do not phone.
Ready to write the claim?
The Section 75 Claim Pack is a plain-English PDF workbook with a template letter, evidence checklist, rebuttal templates for the most common rejection reasons including the deposit threshold argument and the force majeure deflection, and a Financial Ombudsman complaint letter. £6.99, no subscription.
Get the claim pack — £6.99Last updated: 2 May 2026. See also our complete Section 75 guide and our Section 75 vs chargeback guide.