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There's a misconception that when you initiate a chargeback through your credit card, then you're good, you have your money and the merchant just has to eat it
by Johnny555 5y ago
There's a misconception that when you initiate a chargeback through your credit card, then you're good, you have your money and the merchant just has to eat it.
But the chargeback doesn't erase your debt with the merchant, so they are free to collect that debt by other means, including sending it to a debt collector.
Adding a third party like Affirm makes this messier - Affirm (presumably) fulfilled their service, they let you finance the debt and they paid the money to the merchant
- aunty_helen 5y agoI've had a scungy online only travel agent try to pull this on me before. Their email to me saying they would be materially disadvantaged and blah blah blah got met with a response telling them to fuck off, stop emailing me and that I was reporting them to my bank for merchant fraud (which I did). Problem solved. It's all fun and games until they risk losing their ability to process credit cards.
- Johnny555 5y agoIf you can prove that you don't owe the debt, then you're fine. But you can't just do a chargeback and assume that you no longer have to pay -- just because the credit card company took your side doesn't mean that you don't actually owe the money.
- elliekelly 5y agoAnd not all chargebacks go through. Your bank or credit card company likely gives you a “provisional credit” while they investigate. The funds appear in your account but they can (and occasionally do) get pulled back if the financial institution determines, for whatever reason, the chargeback isn’t valid.
- ergocoder 5y agoThe point still stands. You should not use affirm. When a problem happens, it is "nobody's" fault. But your credit gets destroyed though.