Your kitchen company has gone into administration and you have lost a £3,500 deposit. Your holiday was cancelled and the travel firm is refusing refunds. The sofa you ordered arrived badly damaged and the retailer has stopped responding to calls and emails. In each of these situations, if you paid any part of the purchase on a credit card, you may have a right to claim your money back from your credit card provider directly, even if the retailer has closed down or cannot be traced.

This right comes from Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. It makes your credit card provider jointly liable with the retailer for purchases between £100 and £30,000. It is one of the strongest consumer protections in UK law. It is also one of the most consistently under-used, partly because banks have no incentive to advertise it, and partly because making a claim correctly is not obvious.

This guide covers the full picture: whether you qualify, what constitutes a valid claim, how to write to your bank, what evidence to gather, and what to do when the bank says no.

What Section 75 actually says

Section 75(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 states that if a debtor has a claim against a supplier in connection with a purchase made under a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement, the creditor is jointly and severally liable with the supplier for the claim.

Read Section 75 in full on legislation.gov.uk.

In plain terms: your credit card provider shares the same legal liability as the retailer. You can pursue either of them, or both. Crucially, you can pursue the card provider even if the retailer no longer exists, has dissolved, or has no money to pay you.

Three conditions must be met:

1. You paid using a regulated consumer credit agreement. A standard personal credit card qualifies. Debit cards, prepaid cards, and charge cards (where you pay the full balance each month under a separate arrangement) generally do not.
2. The total purchase price was between £100 and £30,000. This is the total price of the item or service, not the amount you put on the card. If you paid a £200 deposit on a £2,000 holiday using your credit card, the total price is £2,000 and Section 75 applies to the full amount.
3. The supplier was in breach of contract or made a misrepresentation. This covers a wide range of failures, set out in detail below.

Who can make a Section 75 claim

Personal credit cardholders. The core case: you bought something on your personal credit card, and something went wrong.

Additional cardholders. If you are an additional cardholder on someone else’s account, you can claim under Section 75 for purchases you made on that card. The primary cardholder can also claim for purchases made by an additional cardholder.

Sole traders using a personal credit card. Section 75 applies to regulated consumer credit agreements. If you run a sole trader business and used your personal credit card (not a business credit card) to make a purchase, Section 75 still applies. The test is whether the credit agreement is regulated under the Consumer Credit Act, not whether the purpose of the purchase was commercial.

The following do not qualify:

• Purchases made on a corporate or business credit card issued to a limited company. These agreements are typically unregulated under the Consumer Credit Act and fall outside Section 75.
• Purchases made via an intermediary that is not the supplier. If you paid a booking agent or platform, and the money went to the agent rather than the actual supplier of the goods or services, there may be a problem with the three-party structure required by the Act (see below).
• Debit card purchases. Section 75 does not apply to debit cards. Chargeback is the alternative route. See our Section 75 vs chargeback guide.

What counts as a breach of contract

The most common grounds for a Section 75 claim are:

Non-delivery. The goods or services you paid for were never received. This is the clearest-cut case: you paid, the supplier did not deliver, you are entitled to a refund. It covers physical goods that were never shipped, services that were never performed (a holiday, a building job, a wedding venue), and anything in between.

Goods significantly not as described. The item you received is materially different from what was advertised or described at the point of sale. A sofa described as solid oak that arrives made from MDF is not as described. A holiday described as sea view that faces a car park is not as described. The mismatch must be significant; minor differences that do not affect the usefulness or value of the goods do not normally qualify.

Faulty goods. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described. If they are not, the supplier is in breach of the implied terms of the contract. Section 75 lets you enforce that breach against your credit card provider.

The supplier’s business has failed. If a business goes into administration, liquidation, or ceases trading, it cannot fulfil its contractual obligations. This is treated as a breach of contract for Section 75 purposes. You do not need to wait for the insolvency process to conclude. You do not need to register as a creditor with the administrators (though doing so is sensible as a precaution). Your Section 75 claim is against your card provider, not the insolvent business.

Misrepresentation. If you were induced to make a purchase by a false statement of fact, and the statement was made by the supplier, you have a claim for misrepresentation. This covers deliberate fraud, but also honest mistakes by the seller that turned out to be untrue. The misrepresentation must have influenced your decision to buy.

The three-party structure: when Section 75 does and does not apply

Section 75 requires a specific three-party arrangement: you (the debtor), your credit card provider (the creditor), and the retailer (the supplier). The credit must flow directly from the card provider to fund the purchase from that specific supplier.

This causes problems in some situations:

Paying via PayPal. If you pay by credit card through PayPal, the credit technically flows to PayPal, not to the underlying seller. PayPal is the supplier in the transaction, not the merchant. The courts and the Financial Ombudsman Service have reached different conclusions on different fact patterns, but as a general rule, Section 75 is weaker or unavailable for credit card payments routed through PayPal. Chargeback is often more reliable in these cases.

Paying a booking agent or intermediary. If you book a holiday through a travel agent and pay by credit card, the question is whether you are contracting with the travel agent or with the underlying hotel or airline. If the agent is selling a package as the principal, Section 75 applies to the agent. If the agent is acting as a disclosed agent for the hotel, it may not. The answer depends on the specific contract terms.

Overseas purchases. Section 75 does apply to purchases made abroad on a UK credit card. This was confirmed in the case of Office of Fair Trading v Lloyds TSB Bank plc [2007] UKHL 48, which overturned arguments from the banks that the three-party structure could not be established for overseas transactions. If you paid for a foreign holiday, foreign goods, or a foreign service on your UK credit card, Section 75 still applies.

Paying via a digital wallet. If you stored your credit card in Apple Pay, Google Pay, or a similar service and paid using the device, Section 75 still applies. The underlying transaction is made using your credit card; the digital wallet is just a delivery mechanism.

How to make a Section 75 claim: step by step

Step 1: Confirm you qualify.

Run through the eligibility checker on our homepage. The key questions are: personal credit card, total price between £100 and £30,000, purchase within the last six years (England and Wales) or five years (Scotland), and a clear failure by the supplier.

Step 2: Try to resolve the issue with the retailer first.

Banks will ask whether you attempted to resolve the matter with the supplier. You do not have to exhaust every possible avenue, and if the retailer has gone into administration there is no realistic prospect of resolution, but a brief attempt (one email or letter) is worth making and documenting. If the retailer is insolvent, a short note to yourself recording the date you became aware of the administration is sufficient.

Step 3: Gather your evidence.

See the evidence section below. Do this before you write to the bank; a well-supported claim letter is much less likely to result in a rejection than a vague one.

Step 4: Write to your credit card provider.

Your claim must be in writing. Do not rely on a phone call; phone calls are not logged consistently and leave you with no record. Write to the Section 75 disputes team, or the complaints team if you cannot find a specific Section 75 address. Most banks accept secure messages through online banking.

Your letter should state clearly:

• That you are making a claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
• The date and amount of the purchase.
• The supplier’s name.
• What went wrong and why this constitutes a breach of contract or misrepresentation.
• The amount you are claiming.
• A list of the supporting documents you are enclosing.

Our claim pack includes a template letter covering both standard disputes and administration cases, an evidence checklist, and guidance on common bank responses.

Step 5: Wait, and follow up if needed.

The Financial Conduct Authority requires banks to respond to complaints within eight weeks. Many Section 75 disputes resolve in four to six weeks. If you have not had a final response within eight weeks, you can escalate immediately to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Step 6: Escalate to the FOS if the bank rejects your claim.

See our Financial Ombudsman guide.

What evidence to gather

Collecting the right documents before you write to your bank makes a significant difference. A claim supported by clear evidence is harder to reject and faster to process.

Proof of purchase:

• Your credit card statement showing the transaction. Highlight the relevant line.
• An order confirmation, receipt, or invoice from the supplier.
• Any contract or terms and conditions you agreed to.

Proof of what went wrong:

• For non-delivery: your delivery confirmation email (or the absence of one), any tracking information, and documentation of when the delivery was due.
• For faulty goods: photographs of the defect, a report from a repair person or independent assessor if you have one, and the supplier’s own acknowledgement of the fault if they provided one.
• For goods not as described: the original description (screenshot, printout, or copy of the catalogue/website page) alongside evidence of what was actually delivered.
• For administration or insolvency: the administrator’s announcement, a notice from the Insolvency Service, or a Companies House filing showing the company’s status. The London Gazette publishes all UK insolvency notices.

Proof of your attempts to resolve the issue:

• Copies of emails or letters to the supplier.
• Records of phone calls: date, time, and a brief note of what was said.
• Any response you received from the supplier, including no-reply bounce-backs.

Proof of your loss:

• The total amount paid to the supplier.
• Any partial refund already received (your claim is for the net loss).
• If you have incurred additional costs as a direct result of the supplier’s failure (for example, you had to buy replacement goods at a higher price), you may be able to include consequential losses, though card providers often resist these and you may need FOS to rule on them.

How long a Section 75 claim takes

The bank’s initial response: Under FCA rules, banks must send a final response within eight weeks of receiving a complaint. In practice, straightforward Section 75 cases involving clear non-delivery or confirmed insolvencies are often resolved in four to six weeks. Complex cases, disputes about quality, or claims where the bank disputes the three-party structure can take longer.

If you escalate to the FOS: The Financial Ombudsman Service is free to use, but it is not fast. The FOS has faced significant backlogs, and case resolution times have stretched in recent years. You should realistically expect the process to take several months after you refer your case. The FOS publishes its current wait times on its website at financial-ombudsman.org.uk.

Do not let the prospect of a long FOS process put you off escalating. Banks know that FOS decisions are binding on them (up to £415,000 per complaint as of 2024), and some banks will reconsider a rejected claim rather than face an FOS investigation.

What to do if the bank rejects your claim

The first rejection of a Section 75 claim is not the end of the road. Banks reject valid claims for a range of reasons, some legitimate and some not.

Common rejection reasons (and how to respond):

“You did not use a credit card.” If you did use a credit card, send your statement showing the transaction clearly. Banks sometimes confuse credit and debit transactions on combined accounts.

“The purchase does not meet the price threshold.” Check the total purchase price, not just the amount on the card. If the total was between £100 and £30,000 and you paid at least £1 on the card, you meet the threshold. State this clearly in your response and cite Section 75(1).

“You need to pursue the retailer first.” This is incorrect as a matter of law. Section 75 makes the card provider jointly and severally liable, meaning you can pursue the card provider without first exhausting your remedies against the retailer. If the retailer is insolvent, this argument is particularly weak. Cite OFT v Lloyds TSB [2007] and state clearly that joint and several liability means you are not required to pursue the retailer first.

“The three-party structure is not satisfied.” This is a legitimate argument in some cases (PayPal, intermediary agents), but banks sometimes raise it incorrectly. If you paid the supplier directly on your credit card, the three-party structure is satisfied. State this and provide your payment evidence.

“Your claim is out of time.” Check the dates. The six-year limitation period (England and Wales) runs from when the cause of action arose, which is when the retailer failed you, not when you made the payment. If your goods were due to be delivered in 2024 and were not delivered, the clock started in 2024, not when you placed the order.

If the bank issues a final rejection and you disagree with their reasoning, refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of the bank’s final response letter. Our FOS escalation guide explains how.

Frequently asked questions

Does the full purchase price need to be on the credit card?

No. Section 75 applies as long as the total purchase price was between £100 and £30,000, and at least £1 was paid on your credit card. If you paid a £50 deposit on a £1,500 sofa using your credit card and the rest by bank transfer, Section 75 applies to the full £1,500.

Does Section 75 cover debit cards?

No. Section 75 applies only to regulated consumer credit agreements. Debit cards are not credit agreements. If you paid by debit card, the alternative is chargeback, which is processed under card scheme rules rather than statute and has a much shorter time limit. See our Section 75 vs chargeback guide.

Does Section 75 cover purchases made abroad?

Yes. The House of Lords confirmed in Office of Fair Trading v Lloyds TSB Bank plc [2007] UKHL 48 that Section 75 applies to overseas transactions made on a UK credit card. If you booked a foreign holiday, bought goods from an overseas retailer, or paid for a service outside the UK using your UK credit card, Section 75 applies.

What if the retailer has gone into administration?

Administration or liquidation is one of the most common Section 75 scenarios, and it is one of the clearest. The company’s inability to fulfil its obligations constitutes a breach of contract. Your credit card provider is jointly liable. You do not need to wait for the administration to conclude before making your claim. You can pursue the card provider directly from the moment it is clear the goods or services will not be delivered.

Can I claim if I paid by credit card through a buy now, pay later scheme?

It depends on the scheme and how it is structured. Some BNPL products are regulated consumer credit agreements and Section 75 applies. Others are not regulated in the same way and fall outside the Act. Check whether your BNPL provider is authorised by the FCA as a consumer credit lender. If they are, Section 75 is likely to apply; if not, you may have limited statutory protection.

What if I paid via PayPal using my credit card?

Section 75 is less reliable for credit card payments made through PayPal because PayPal is the legal counterparty to the transaction, not the underlying merchant. PayPal has its own buyer protection programme, which is worth pursuing first. For purchases of £100 or more, chargeback may also be available through your card provider. The Section 75 position for PayPal transactions is genuinely uncertain, and the Financial Ombudsman Service has reached different conclusions in different cases.

Does Section 75 cover store cards?

It can. If a store card is issued under a regulated consumer credit agreement (which most are), Section 75 applies in the same way as for a standard credit card. The purchase price thresholds and other conditions are the same.

Can I make a Section 75 claim if I have already received a partial refund?

Yes. Your claim is for your net loss: the amount you paid minus any amount already refunded to you. If you received a partial refund from the retailer or administrator before making your Section 75 claim, state the amounts clearly in your letter and claim only the outstanding balance.

Will making a Section 75 claim affect my credit score?

Making a Section 75 claim is a consumer rights process, not a credit application. It does not affect your credit score. Your relationship with your card provider may feel awkward if you are in dispute with them, but there is no mechanism by which a Section 75 claim causes a mark on your credit file.

How much does it cost to make a Section 75 claim?

Nothing. Making a claim directly to your card provider costs nothing. Escalating to the Financial Ombudsman Service costs nothing. You do not need to use a claims management company or a solicitor for a standard Section 75 claim. Our claim pack is £6.99 and provides template letters and guidance; it is useful if you want a well-structured starting point, but it is not a requirement.

Last updated: 1 May 2026. This guide is reviewed quarterly and updated when there are relevant Financial Ombudsman decisions, legislative changes, or significant shifts in how banks handle Section 75 complaints. If you are aware of a relevant development we have not covered, contact us.