Paying with a credit or debit card can provide customers with additional protection if something goes wrong. 

The circumstances under which a refund can be made may be complicated. This is particularly true in the travel sector, which is covered and protected by government regulation, ATOL or ABTA protections, contractual terms and conditions and where customers typically have additional protections afforded by travel insurance.

Depending on the incident which prevents the provision - or leads to sub-standard provision - of the travel service there will be an interplay of some, if not all, of the above components with the rules for card payments (such as those issued by Visa and Mastercard, known as Scheme Rules) and the relevant provisions of the Consumer Credit Act (CCA). Consideration of these factors will contribute to your card provider's assessment as to whether your travel provider has delivered what was expected, and if not whether the transaction can be charged back to the travel provider under Scheme Rules or, in legal terms, if they have breached or misrepresented their contract with you. It won't always follow that a contract has been breached, even if you don't receive what was expected. However, if this is the case, a legal claim can be made against your card issuer under the CCA. This specifically refers to Section 75, which is often referenced in the media.

To help navigate though some of that complexity, we have produced this attached Q&A HERE. We have included some of the most commonly asked questions arising out of the disruption faced by consumers in the travel sector, which supplements our general guidance on this topic here.

In the first instance your travel provider should let you know how it intends to deal with your claim. If you are not satisfied, the attached Q&A will provide further insight to the matters that the card issuers will consider further, in order to help you assess whether a successful Section 75/chargeback claim could be made.