Does a failed chargeback affect my credit score?
If this chargeback failed then would it negatively affect my credit score? A credit score is a measure of how dependable of a borrower you are. Requesting a refund for not receiving goods not delivered as promised, whether it is successful or it fails, should not impact your credit score since it has no implications on the likelihood that you will pay back debts. The last time I used that gym was the 13th January 2017, and I rejoined on the 20th December, so I have used it for less than a month. Therefore I do not think I should have to pay for two months Keep in mind that you purchased a membership to the gym. Whether or not you actually use the gym you are liable to pay for every month that you retain the membership. Although it probably won't hurt to try to get a refund for the period where you didn't take advantage of your gym membership, you weren't actually charged for a service that you never received (like in the last case where they charged you after you cancelled your membership). "I think your confusion comes from the negative impact when a creditor writes off your bad credit and ceases attempting to collect it. ""Chargebacks"" as you call them are an attempt to undo fraudulent charges on your card, whether from stolen credit card info or from a merchant who is using shady business practices. For what it's worth, if you joined on December 20, January 20 seems like a reasonable date for the next billing cycle, with the December 31 date reflecting the fact that their system couldn't automatically bill you the day you joined. I also think it's reasonable for you to ask them to refund the bill for the second month if you do not plan to use their gym further. So the dispute seems like a reasonable one on both sides. Good luck." Credit scores in the U.S. are entirely based on information contained in your credit report.  The details of your credit card transactions, such as where your individual purchases are from, the amount of individual purchases, refunds, chargebacks (successful or failed), etc. do not appear on your credit report.  Therefore, they can have no impact on your credit score. According to creditsavvy.com.au, credit scores in Australia are based on similar information: the information in your credit history, credit profile, and credit applications.  I don't see anything that would suggest that the details of your transactions would affect your credit score.
After doing some investigating, my employers contract with the credit card company has a clause that basically specifies that despite my name being on the credit card, and bills being sent to me, all liability is on the company. Additionally, the employer reserves the right to garnish wages in the event of a balance on the card. So it looks like it won't affect my credit score. I appreciate all of the advice. This is more of a legal question than a monetary one. You can try to negotiate with the debt owner as Pete B. suggests. Alternatively, you can ignore them and see what happens. They might sue you for the 400 plus costs, or maybe not. That is a pretty small amount for a lawyer to show up in a court of law. If you go to court, you can win by testifying that you returned the box and the charge is invalid. If you testify in court that you did not return the box, then you will lose. Sometimes a debt collector will just file a credit complaint against you and you would have to go to court to get that complaint removed from your record with the credit agency. The loan owner has no idea whether you returned the box at all. All they have is a debt security which simply says who owes the money and how much it is. In a court room they have zero evidence against you (unless you said something to them and they wrote it down or recorded it). So My question is. Is my credit score going to be hit?  Yes it will affect your credit.  Not as much as missing payments on the debt, which remains even if the credit line is closed, and not as much as missing payments on other bills...   If so what can I do about it?  Not very much.  Nothing worth the time it would take.  Like you mentioned, reopening the account or opening another would likely require a credit check and the inquiry will add another negative factor.   In this situation, consider the impact on your credit as fact and the best way to correct it is to move forward and pay all your bills on time.  This is the number one key to improving credit score.   So, right now, the key task is finding a new job. This will enable you to make all payments on time.  If you pay on time and do not overspend, your credit score will be fine. Can I contact the creditors to appeal the decision and get them to not affect my score at the very least? I know they won't restore the account without another credit check). Is there anything that can be done directly with the credit score companies? Depending on how they characterize the closing of the account, it may be mostly a neutral event that has a negative impact than a negative event.  By negative events, I'm referring to bankruptcy, charge offs, and collections.  So the best way to recover is to keep credit utilization below 30% and pay all your bills and debt payments on time. (You seem to be asking how to replace this line of credit to help you through your unemployment.) As for the missing credit line and your current finances, you have to find a way forward.  Opening new credit account while you're not employed is going to be very difficult, if not impossible.  You might find yourself in a situation where you need to take whatever part time gig you can find in order to make ends meet until your job search is complete.  Grocery store, fast food, wait staff, delivery driver, etc. And once you get past this period of unemployment, you'll need to catch up on all bills, then you'll want to build your emergency fund.  You don't mention one, but eating, paying rent/mortgage, keeping current on bills, and paying debt payments are the reasons behind the emergency fund, and the reason you need it in a liquid account.   Source:  I'm a veteran of decades of bad choices when it comes to money, of being unemployed for periods of time, of overusing credit cards, and generally being irresponsible with my income and savings.  I've done all those things and am now paying the price.  In order to rebuild my credit, and provide for my retirement, I'm having to work very hard to save.  My focus being financial health, not credit score, I've brought my bottom line from approximately 25k in the red up to about 5k in the red.  The first step was getting my payments under control.   I have also been watching my credit score.  Two years of on time mortgage payments, gradual growth of score.  Paid off student loans, uptick in score.  Opened new credit card with 0% intro rate to consolidate a couple of store line of credit accounts.  Transferred those balances.  Big uptick.  Next month when utilization on that card hits 90%, downtick that took back a year's worth of gains.  However, financially, I'm not losing 50-100 a month to interest. TLDR; At certain times, you have to ignore the credit score and focus on the important things.  This is one of those times for you.  Find a job.  Get back on your feet.  Then look into living debt free, or working to achieve financial independence. The answer to your question is no. Your credit rating is the way creditors let each other know whether you are in a good position and have a strong tendency to repay your debts, not whether you are an easy target for making money on interest and penalties associated with failing to repay debts in full.  The fact that you make your payments on time will definitely not lower your credit rating. While the banks are not making as much money on you as they would if you carried a balance, they are also not spending a lot of money on you, nor losing a lot of money on people like you failing to repay debts.  The transactions charged to the retailers cover the costs of operating your card and then a little bit.  That is enough to make you worth keeping as a customer.  They are happy with your arrangement. The formula for credit rating computation is proprietary, but we know what the factors are overall.  Making payments on time consistently is a positive, not a negative factor.  However, they do look at the number of cards and overall mix of cards and other types of debt.  For example, if you have a very large amount of credit capacity in your cards and no mortgage, that could possibly be a negative.  If you have opened some of those accounts recently, it could be a negative.  If you have a larger number credit cards than they think is good, that could be a negative. There are other things as well that could be bringing your score down.  Probably worth it to take a look. If you want to get an idea of what factors are adding positively and negatively to your credit score, I'd encourage you to visit CreditKarma.com, Quizzle.com, or another source intended to help you understand and improve your credit rating. Check out /r/personalfinance for more detailed advice. Not sure your question.  Yes, cancelling it will cause it to disappear from your credit report.  Apply for your own card right now (a free rewards one ideally) if your credit it good enough and you have a job.  Never pay interest and keep that card and your credit will naturally head to 720+ with no negative marks over time. It costs money to pull credit information, and there's a record of who requested the info. And hard pulls are only a temporary, short-term ding on your score. Basically, if someone wants to make trouble,  there are better ways to do so. "Your bank will undoubtedly charge you a fee for the ""chargeback"" and so while you will get your money back faster, you will likely end up with less than you would if you were not so impatient and just waited a few days for the refund to show up. I suppose it depends on whether you consider this a downside or not." Payment history is probably the most significant contributor to your credit score.  Having a solid history of making, at least the minimum, payments on time will have a positive impact on your credit score.  Whether or not this specific transaction means anything to that equation is up for debate.   If you have no credit lines now and 0% for 18 months on a computer makes sense to you, then yes, making this purchase this way and paying on time will have a positive impact on your credit score.  Paying interest doesn't help your credit score.  Repay this computer before the 18 month period ends, then be sure to pay your balance in full every month thereafter. Credit scores are designed to reflect your ability to make payments on time. As long as you're not closing your old credit card account, you will only see a minimal impact on your score. See estimated credit score breakdowns below: "First, a note of my personal experience: up until a year ago, my credit lines were composed exclusively of credit cards with perfect payment histories, and my credit score is fine. If you mean that credit cards have no impact on a person's credit score until they miss a payment, that is certainly not correct. FICO's website identifies ""payment history"" as 35% of your FICO score: The first thing any lender wants to know is whether you’ve paid past credit accounts on time. This is one of the most important factors in a FICO® Score. ... Credit payment history on many types of accounts Account types considered for payment history include: ... Details on late or missed payments (""delinquencies"") and public record and collection items FICO® Scores consider: How many accounts show no late payment A good track record on most of your credit accounts will increase your FICO® Scores. Clearly, from the last item alone, we see that credit lines (a category which includes credit cards) with no late payments is a factor in computing your FICO score, and certainly other credit bureaus behave similarly. Possibly the banker was trying to explain some other point, like ""If you're careful not to spend more on your card than you have in the bank, you can functionally treat your credit card as a debit line,"" but did so in a confusing way." I have already talked to them over the phone and they insist they   haven't charged me yet, and I will not be charged. When I informed   them I had in fact been charged they agreed it would be reversed. So I   have tried to resolve the issue and I don't have any confidence they   will reverse the charge as it has not been done yet. They are   difficult to communicate which makes the whole process more difficult. Your best next step is to call the credit card company and share this story.  I believe the likely result is that the credit card company will initiate a charge back. My question is, is this a valid reason to file a chargeback on my credit card? Yes.   If you attempted to work it out with the vendor and it is not working out, this is an appropriate time to initiate a charge back. Consider that however high your credit score gets, there is a 'worst piece of it'. The automated software will always report your 'weakest' two points, even if they are already at the top 0.0001% of everyone; that's just how it is coded. This will have no effect on your credit score.  Even though your credit card account number is changing, it is still the same account, so your history of payments and age of accounts will remain unchanged. "First of all, whatever you do, DON'T PAY!  Credit reporting agencies operate on aged records, and paying it now will most certainly not improve your score.  For example, let's say that you had an unpaid debt that was reported as a ""charge-off"" to the credit bureaus.  After, say, six months, the negative effect on your score is reduced.  It is reduced even further after a year or two, and after two years, the negative effect on your score is negligible. Now, say you were to pay the debt after the two years.  This would ""refresh"" the record, and show as a ""paid charge-off"".  Sure, now it shows as paid, but it also shows the date of the record as being today, which increases the effect on your credit drastically.  In other words, you would have just shot yourself in the foot, big-time. As others have noted, the best option is to dispute the item.  If, for some reason, it isn't removed, you are allowed to submit an annotation to the item, explaining your side of the story.  Anyone pulling your credit record would see this note, which can help you in some instances.  In any case, these scam artists don't deserve your money. Finally, you should check who is the local ombusdman, and report this agent to them.  She could lose her license for such a practice." It is not delayed and if it didn't show yet - will not show on that agency's credit report. However, you may find it on another agency's report. There are three major agencies, and creditors don't always check all of them (each inquiry costs them money).