After completion of the settlement process between the acquiring bank and the issuing bank, the cardholder may determine that the transaction is unacceptable or invalid. Fintech has to raise a dispute with Fusion via Email. Fusion will then manage the overall dispute lifecycle for the particular transaction. Some of the reasons for raising a dispute are highlighted here:

1. The account is incorrectly debited.
2. Account has been debited but s/he has not received goods/services.
3. The transaction is declined, but the amount has been debited.

Key Terminologies

• Step 1: Dispute/complaint is raised by the user/cardholder to the Customer Support team of the Fintech partner. Fintech can raise a dispute to the Fusion team via Email within 60 days from the transaction date.

• Step 2: Fusion checks whether the Acquiring bank has raised a refund on the given transaction. If yes, the incident is closed. Else follow step 3.

• Step 3: Fusion raises a Retrieval Request to get the charge slip from the Acquiring Bank within 60 days from the transaction date.

• Step 4: Acquiring banks currently have the following two response options on a retrieval request raised by the Issuing bank.

  • Retrieval Request Fulfillment - Acquiring bank shares the charge slip within 15 days from the Retrieval Request raised date. The cardholder can then decide to proceed with the dispute or close the incident based on the charge slip. If the customer chose to dispute further follow step 5.
  • Retrieval Request Non-Fulfillment - Acquiring bank did not share the charge slip. Follow step 5.
  • Transaction acceptance - Acquirer bank will have “Transaction acceptance” as an additional non-fulfilment option for transactions where a full refund/reversal is due to the customer. Acquirer bank can accept the transaction within 15 days from the Retrieval Request raised date. The Issuer will be debited INR 200 per transaction acceptance by Acquirer and the disputed amount will be credited to the Issuing Bank and then to the cardholder.
    

• Step 5: Fusion raises a chargeback to the acquiring bank on request from the fintech. A chargeback can be raised on the full or partial amount within 60 days from the transaction date. Disputed amount will be debited by the card network (NPCI) from Acquirer and will be credited to the Issuer.

• Step 6: Acquiring banks have the following two response options on a chargeback raised by the Issuing bank.

  • Acquirer bank can accept the chargeback within 15 days from the chargeback date, then the dispute is closed. The disputed amount will be credited to the cardholder within T+1 days from chargeback acceptance.
  • Acquirer bank can dispute again on the chargeback by raising a representment within 15 days from the chargeback date. The disputed amount that was debited by the NPCI from Acquirer and credited to Issuer, will be credited back to the acquirer.

• Step 7: Fusion raises a Pre-arbitration in case of dispute on representment on request from fintech. Pre-arbitration should be raised within 30 days from the representment date.

• Step 8: Acquiring banks have the following two response options on a Pre-arbitration raised by the Issuing bank.

  • Acquirer can accept the Pre-arbitration within 15 days from the Pre-arbitration date, then fund movement takes place to the Issuer and in turn, the cardholder gets credited within T+1 days from pre-arbitration acceptance.
  • Acquirer can reject the Pre-arbitration within 15 days from the Pre-arbitration date.

• Step 9: Fusion raises an Arbitration on request from the fintech on the further dispute on pre-arbitration within 60 days from the representment date. There is a filing fee of 3000 Rs/- for arbitration. Issuers have the option to withdraw an arbitration within 15 days from the arbitration raised date. Disputed amount stays with the acquiring bank in that case.

• Step 10: Acquiring banks have the following two response options on an arbitration raised by the Issuing bank.

  • The acquirer accepts the arbitration raised by the issuer. This means that the acquirer agrees to the conditions raised in the arbitration and accepts the demands of the issuer. The disputed amount will be credited to the Issuer and then to the cardholder within T+1 from the acceptance date. Acquiring banks can accept arbitration within 15 days of the arbitration raised date.
  • Acquirer can reject the arbitration raised by the issuer. If the arbitration is not accepted by the acquirer or withdrawn by the Issuer, then another INR 3000 plus GST will be charged from the Issuer. Follow step 11.

• Step 11: In Arbitration, NPCI will pitch in and will review all the documents from both Acquirer and Issuer bank and will then decide the result.

  • In case the result is not in favour of Acquirer bank, it will have to bear the filing fee of 3000/- + disputed transaction amount as a penalty to Issuer Bank.
  • If the Issuing Bank loses the case, they are charged another INR 3000 as arbitration review fees and then the case closes.

Note: Fintech will be notified of the status of the disputed transactions via Email at each step.

• Step 1: Dispute/complaint is raised by the user/cardholder to the Customer Support team of the Fintech partner. Fintech can raise a dispute to the Fusion team via Email within 75 days from the transaction date.
• Step 2: Fusion checks whether the Acquiring bank has raised a refund on the given transaction. If yes, the incident is closed. Else follow step 3.
• Step 3: Fusion raises a Retrieval Request on request within 75 days from the transaction date to get the charge slip from the Acquiring Bank.
• Step 4: Acquiring banks currently have the following two response options on a retrieval request raised by the Issuing bank.
  • Retrieval Request Fulfillment - Acquiring bank shares the charge slip within 30 days from the Retrieval Request raised date. The cardholder can then decide to proceed with the dispute or close the incident based on the charge slip. If the customer chose to dispute further follow step 5.
  • Retrieval Request Non-Fulfillment - Acquiring bank did not share the charge slip. Follow step 5.
• Step 5: Fusion raises a chargeback on request from the fintech to the acquiring bank within 75 days from the transaction date. A chargeback can be raised on the full or partial amount. Disputed amount will be debited by the card network (VISA) from Acquirer and credited to the Issuer.
• Step 6: Acquiring banks have the following two response options on a chargeback raised by the Issuing bank.
  • Acquirer can accept the chargeback within 30 days of the chargeback raised date, then the dispute is closed.
  • Acquirer can dispute further on the chargeback by raising a representment within 30 days of chargeback raised date. Dispute amount that was debited by VISA from Acquirer and credited to Issuer, will be credited back to the acquirer.
• Step 7: Fusion raises a Pre-arbitration on request from the fintech, in case of dispute on representment within 30 days of the representment raised date.
• Step 8: Acquiring banks have the following two response options on a Pre-arbitration raised by the Issuing bank.
  • Acquirer can accept the Pre-arbitration within 30 days from the Pre-arbitration date, then fund movement takes place to the Issuer and in turn, the cardholder gets credited within T+1 days from pre-arbitration acceptance.
  • Acquirer can reject the Pre-arbitration within 30 days from the Pre-arbitration date.
• Step 9: Fusion raises an Arbitration on the further dispute on Pre-arbitration within 10 days of pre-arb rejection.
• Step 10: Issuer can withdraw the arbitration raised within 7 calendar days from the Visa acknowledgement date. Disputed amount stays with the acquiring bank in that case.
• Step 11: In Arbitration, VISA will pitch in and will review all the documents from both Acquirer and Issuer bank and will decide the result. In case the result is not in favour of Acquirer bank, it will have to bear the filing fee and disputed amount as a penalty to Issuer Bank.

• If the chargeback window of 60 days has expired, we can also raise a Good Faith request to the acquirer bank on behalf of the user within 365 from the date of transaction. The acquirer can respond to Good Faith acceptance/decline within 120 calendar days from the Good Faith raised date. No response from a member bank to an incoming Good Faith will be treated as a “Good Faith Deemed Declined”. The revisions will be applicable for all Good Faith’s raised on or after the effective date.

• Based on the commercial agreement, each fintech has to pay the charges/fees for dispute management.