Section 75: credit card purchase protection

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes your credit card provider as responsible as the seller when something goes wrong with a purchase. If goods arrive faulty or never arrive, or a trader breaks their contract or misrepresents what they sold you, the law gives you a claim against your card provider for the same loss¹. The statute itself puts it plainly: where the debtor under a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement has a claim against the supplier, "he shall have a like claim against the creditor, who, with the supplier, shall accordingly be jointly and severally liable"².

The protection is powerful because it does not depend on the seller surviving or cooperating. A kitchen supplier that goes into administration, an airline that stops flying, an online shop that vanishes: in each case the card provider remains on the hook. MoneyHelper describes the position as the credit card provider having equal responsibility with the seller for faulty, unsatisfactory or undelivered items³.

The protection is not unlimited. It applies only to purchases with a cash price of more than £100 and not more than £30,000, only to credit cards and certain other regulated credit agreements, and not to debit cards or charge cards³. It has also been the subject of reform debate: the government announced in May 2026 that it would repeal much of the law governing consumer credit, though independent analysis has stressed that Section 75 provides an important route to redress that should be maintained⁵.

Section 75 makes your card provider as responsible as the seller

The legal mechanism is a three-way link called a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement. You, the buyer, are the debtor; the card provider is the creditor; the shop is the supplier. Because the credit was arranged specifically to pay that supplier, the Consumer Credit Act treats the creditor as standing behind the supplier's promises. When the supplier breaches the contract or misrepresents the goods, the Act gives you "a like claim against the creditor"². The card provider can later recover what it pays from the supplier, because the Act entitles the creditor to be indemnified by the supplier for losses suffered in satisfying a Section 75 claim².

In practice this changes who you can go to. Which? explains that under Section 75 your credit card company is just as responsible as the retailer or trader for the goods or service supplied⁹. Citizens Advice makes the same point for finance arranged by a trader: if you have a claim for breach of contract or misrepresentation against the supplier, Section 75 gives you the same claim against the creditor¹⁰. The claim is not a goodwill gesture or a scheme rule; it is a statutory right, and it applies even if you exceeded your credit limit or otherwise broke a term of the agreement when making the purchase².

Two boundaries matter at the outset. First, the claim must rest on a breach of contract or a misrepresentation by the supplier: UK Finance notes that Section 75 rights are only available where the provider has misrepresented something to you or breached their contract with you¹¹. A change of mind, or a disappointment that involves no breach, is not a Section 75 matter. Second, the protection belongs to the debtor. The Financial Ombudsman Service has noted that a second credit card issued to someone who is not the debtor, such as a spouse, leaves that person without Section 75 protection unless they were acting as the debtor's agent¹². The rules on additional cardholders and third party authority explain who counts as the debtor on a card account.

What Section 75 covers: purchases over £100 and up to £30,000

The headline rule is a price band. Section 75 applies where the cash price of the goods or services is more than £100 but not more than £30,000¹³. Multiple sources state the same range: MoneyHelper says the item must cost between £100 and £30,000³, StepChange says over £100 but not more than £30,000⁷, and Which? says more than £100 and up to £30,000¹⁴.

The band is measured on the cash price of the item or service, not on how much you put on the card. Citizens Advice confirms that if you paid any part of the cost by credit card, you can use Section 75, as long as the total cost of the item is more than £100 and no more than £30,000⁴. So an item costing more than £100, paid for partly on a credit card and partly from savings, is protected in full, while an item costing under £100 paid entirely on the card is not. Items costing under £100 are simply outside the protection⁷.

The legislation also contains an older carve-out for very small and very large single items attached to a claim: a claim does not fall within Section 75 where a single item carries a cash price not exceeding £30, or more than £10,000, in agreements of the type that exclusion covers². For most ordinary credit card purchases the practical test remains the £100 to £30,000 band.

There is a related, narrower protection for larger purchases. Where finance was arranged specifically to buy the goods or service and the cost exceeds £30,000 but is less than £60,260, a provision known as Section 75A can apply instead, though it works differently: the debtor must first have tried to pursue the supplier, for example where the supplier cannot be traced, has not responded, is insolvent, or reasonable steps have not produced satisfaction¹⁵. The dedicated page on the £100 to £30,000 threshold goes deeper into edge cases around the band.

Deposits and part payments: the whole purchase is protected

A common and costly misunderstanding is that only the amount charged to the card is protected. The rule runs the other way. UK Finance states that if Section 75 applies, it does not matter that the transaction was only partly financed by credit, and recovery is not limited to the deposit¹¹. MoneyHelper makes the same point: the item is covered if it costs between £100 and £30,000, even if you are only paying some of that amount on your credit card³.

This matters most for deposits on big purchases. A deposit on a sofa, a deposit on a kitchen, a flights deposit paid by card with the balance by bank transfer: in each case the whole purchase price can be claimed from the card provider if the seller breaches the contract or goes out of business, because the deposit paid by card creates the protected link⁴.

The position is the same for part payments split across methods. Citizens Advice confirms that paying part of the cost by credit card is enough, provided the total cost falls inside the band⁴. What does not work is paying nothing at all by card: a purchase funded entirely by bank transfer, cash or debit card creates no Section 75 link, whatever the price. For debit card payments the alternative is chargeback, which is a scheme rule rather than a legal right and is explained in full on the chargeback page.

Where Section 75 does not apply

The exclusions fall into a few clear groups.

Card and credit type. Section 75 does not apply to charge cards or debit cards⁶. It also does not apply to a debtor-creditor agreement enabling the debtor to overdraw on a current account, so an overdraft used to buy goods carries no Section 75 protection¹⁶. Business borrowing can fall outside the Act altogether: an agreement may not be regulated if you borrowed more than £25,000 and the agreement is for business purposes¹⁷.

Broken links. The protection depends on a direct connection between the credit and the supplier. MoneyHelper warns that paying by credit card through PayPal often means you will not get Section 75 protection, because the link is broken³. Trading standards guidance says the same: if you used a credit card to service an online payment method such as PayPal, it is unlikely you can use either the Consumer Credit Act or the chargeback scheme to claim from your card provider¹⁸. The Financial Ombudsman Service has also noted that Section 75 might not apply where a customer used a credit card to put funds into a standard e-money account and then used that account to buy something¹⁹. The page on PayPal and Section 75 covers the detail.

Price and claim type. Purchases under £100 are outside the band⁷, and the claim must rest on a breach of contract or misrepresentation by the supplier rather than a simple change of heart¹¹. Where the seller has done nothing wrong, for example a hotel that is still able to honour your original booking after a cancelled flight, there is no breach and so no Section 75 claim against the card provider for that cost¹¹.

What remains available. Outside Section 75, chargeback may still apply. Citizens Advice sets out that chargeback is the route for getting money back if you paid with a debit card or charge card, or with a credit card or buy now pay later and you cannot use Section 75⁴. Chargeback also covers credit card transactions where goods cost less than £100, where Section 75 does not apply²⁰. The comparison page on Section 75 or chargeback sets the two side by side, and the full list of gaps is on the Section 75 exclusions page.

Holidays, flights and tickets

Travel is where Section 75 does some of its heaviest work, because holidays are expensive, paid in advance and bought from companies that can and do fail. The price rules apply as usual: each purchase made using a credit card must cost more than £100 and no more than £30,000 to qualify²¹. For flights, the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland notes that you will need to have paid more than £100 for your flights to be eligible to claim from the credit card provider, and that the cost of a single ticket, meaning one leg, must be at least £100²². Several cheaper flight legs on the same booking are therefore treated differently from a single ticket costing over £100.

The cardholder rule matters for family bookings. UK Finance states that, generally, the cardholder named must correspond to the person named in the holiday contract, but a cardholder booking for themselves and their family can claim¹¹. Bookings made through a travel agent need care too: Section 75 usually only applies when the payment is made directly to the merchant actually providing the services, though an agent selling a package they put together is a party to the contract, which preserves the claim¹¹.

The Financial Ombudsman Service has warned consumers not to assume a refund is guaranteed. In guidance published on 4 June 2026 it set out common misconceptions around Section 75 and chargeback claims for festival purchases, including the price threshold²¹. Its case work shows the practical reality: in one published case, a customer booked a holiday through a travel company that then stopped trading, and the Ombudsman explained she could contact her bank or credit card provider to see if she could make a Section 75 claim²³.

Several finer rules from UK Finance are worth knowing before a claim¹¹:

• Vouchers and rebookings: accepting a replacement flight, package holiday, voucher or credit note may settle the current claim. If the provider then fails to honour the alternative booking, or the voucher expires unused while still in date, chargeback and Section 75 rights may become available again.
• Government restrictions: if a rebooked holiday is cancelled because of a future government-imposed restriction, there may be no breach of contract if the terms and conditions allow cancellation in those cases, which can affect the claim.
• Knock-on costs: if a flight paid on the card was cancelled, hotel costs may be claimable as consequential losses, so long as they were reasonably anticipated and recovery has not been excluded by contract terms.
• Accommodation after a cancelled flight: there is no Section 75 or chargeback claim for a hotel that is still open and able to honour the original booking, because the hotel has not broken its contract.

The FCA has also set expectations for card providers handling travel-related claims: credit and debit card providers are expected to handle Section 75 and chargeback claims in a reasonable timescale, explain any delays or a decline clearly, and check travel insurance cover, including policies held as part of a packaged bank account²⁴.

Section 75 and buy now pay later from 15 July 2026

Buy now pay later used to sit entirely outside this protection. That changed on 15 July 2026, when the FCA started regulating Deferred Payment Credit, often known as Buy Now Pay Later²⁵. The House of Commons Library confirms that rules regulating the sector came into force in July 2026, following Parliament's approval in July 2025 of plans to regulate what had been unregulated buy now pay later credit²⁶.

The change is prospective only. StepChange states that the new protection applies only to new BNPL agreements made from 15 July 2026 onwards⁷. Citizens Advice is explicit about the position before that date: if you bought the item or service before 15 July 2026, you cannot start a Section 75 claim if you paid using buy now pay later²⁷. For those older purchases there is a fallback: you can start a chargeback claim with the credit card provider you are using to make payments to your buy now pay later account²⁷.

For new agreements the protection mirrors credit cards. The Consumer Council for Northern Ireland states that when buying a single item costing between £100 and £30,000 on or after 15 July 2026 using a BNPL provider, you are protected under Section 75, with the BNPL provider jointly liable for faulty goods, non-delivery or a retailer going out of business²⁸. StepChange puts it the same way: your BNPL provider and the retailer are both jointly responsible if anything goes wrong, and items costing under £100 are not covered⁷. Citizens Advice confirms the same £100 to £30,000 single item rule for both credit cards and buy now pay later⁴.

The FCA's own description of the change notes that Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act is available for these agreements, giving the same protection you would have if you used a credit card²⁵. From the same date, consumers can bring eligible complaints about BNPL agreements to the Financial Ombudsman Service if they cannot resolve matters with the provider²¹.

How to make a Section 75 claim

A claim is made to the card provider, in writing, setting out what was bought, what went wrong and what you are owed. The Financial Ombudsman Service, in its published case work, describes the route plainly: a consumer can contact their bank or credit card provider to see if they could make a Section 75 claim²³. The Ombudsman can consider complaints from customers who used a credit facility or credit card to buy goods and services, including the quality of those goods and services, where the cash price was more than £100 but not more than £30,000¹³.

A claim in order looks like this:

1. Gather the evidence: the receipt or booking confirmation, the credit card statement showing the payment, and any correspondence with the seller, including proof that they have failed, refused or stopped trading.
2. Contact the seller first if you can: this is not a legal requirement, but it strengthens the claim and is expected where the supplier is still trading. Where the supplier cannot be traced, has not responded or is insolvent, the law recognises the claim may proceed against the creditor¹⁵.
3. Write to your card provider: state that you are making a claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, describe the breach of contract or misrepresentation, and set out the amount you are claiming.
4. Give the provider time to respond: the FCA expects card providers to handle Section 75 and chargeback claims in a reasonable timescale and to explain any delays or a decline clearly²⁴.
5. Escalate if refused: if the provider rejects the claim, complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service (see below).

Two rules shape what you can recover. You cannot recover your losses from both the credit card company and the retailer: Which? is clear that double recovery is not allowed⁹. And the claim is limited to the loss under the contract, so consequential costs such as hotel bills may be claimable only where they were reasonably anticipated and not excluded by the contract terms¹¹. The step by step guide to making a Section 75 claim covers the practical detail, and the page on complaining about a credit card provider covers the wider complaints process.

Time limits: five years in Scotland

Time limits for bringing a claim differ across the UK, and the clearest published figure is Scotland's. Trading standards guidance for Wales notes that the position works differently in Scotland, where you have a limit of five years to make a claim, starting from the time you became aware there was a problem⁸. That starting point matters: the clock does not necessarily run from the purchase date, but from when the problem became apparent.

Scottish limitation rules also include a longer backstop. National Debtline guidance notes that most debts in Scotland, including those covered by the five-year limit, are also covered by a 20-year limit²⁹. The five-year limit in Scotland covers unsecured credit debts such as credit cards, personal loans, catalogues and overdrafts, contract debts such as gas, electricity or telephone bills, rent, and certain benefits²⁹.

For England, Wales and Northern Ireland, limitation periods are set by different rules and the sources here do not state a single figure for Section 75 claims, so treat five years as a Scottish figure rather than a UK-wide one. The practical position is the same everywhere: a claim raised as soon as the problem emerges, with evidence of when you became aware of it, is easier to substantiate than one raised years after the event, with the seller long dissolved and the paperwork gone.

If your card provider rejects your claim

A rejection is not the end. Card providers decline claims for a range of reasons: they may say the price band was not met, that the payment link was broken, that there was no breach of contract, or that the claim was made too late. Some of these are arguable, and the Financial Ombudsman Service exists to test them. The Ombudsman can consider complaints about goods and services bought on credit, including disputes about whether Section 75 applies¹³.

The escalation route is:

1. Ask the provider for a final response. Complain first to the card provider. It is expected to investigate and explain its decision clearly²⁴.
2. Take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. If the provider rejects the claim or eight weeks pass without resolution, the Ombudsman can look at whether Section 75 applied and whether the provider handled the claim fairly¹³.
3. Consider the seller's position. Where the trader is in breach of contract or there has been a misrepresentation, Welsh trading standards guidance confirms you can pursue the finance provider under Section 75³⁰. Where the trader is insolvent, the claim against the creditor becomes the practical route, since the supplier cannot pay³⁰.

Some refusals rest on genuine gaps in the law. If the purchase was under £100, paid by debit card, or routed through PayPal or an e-money account, the provider may be right that Section 75 does not reach it, and chargeback becomes the alternative route³. If a second cardholder who was not the debtor made the purchase, the Ombudsman has noted the protection may be missing unless they acted as the debtor's agent¹². And if the claim is simply late under the applicable limitation rules, that too can defeat it⁸.

Free, impartial help is available at every stage. Citizens Advice can help you understand your consumer rights and draft a claim²⁷, MoneyHelper publishes guidance on shopping safely and card protection³, and the Financial Ombudsman Service settles disputes between consumers and card providers at no cost to the consumer¹³. The wider rules are explained on the consumer protection pages, and the different card types and their protections on the credit cards guide.