Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• FAIR CREDIT BILLING ACT
  
  Passed by Congress in 1975 to help customers resolve billing disputes with card issuers. The act requires issuers to credit payments to a customer''s account the day they are received. To be protected under the law, the consumer must write to the issuer within 60 days of the mailing date on the bill with the error. The issuer is then required to investigate and either correct the mistake or explain why the bill is correct within two billing cycles. The issuer also must acknowledge a customer''s complaint in writing within 30 days. Each issuer is allowed to set specific payment guidelines. If any of the guidelines are not met, the issuer can take as many as five days to credit the payment.
  
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