How Card Chargebacks Work in Nigeria

A chargeback is your right to dispute a card transaction and get your money back — for a failed payment, a double charge, or goods that never arrived. Knowing how it works in Nigeria saves you stress when a card payment goes wrong.

When a chargeback applies

• A debit where the transaction failed but your account was charged (common on transfers and ATMs).
• A duplicate or wrong-amount charge.
• Goods or services not delivered, or an unauthorised charge.

How to dispute one

• Raise it with your own bank first (the card issuer), with the transaction reference and date.
• For a failed local transaction, reversals are often automatic within 24 hours to a few days.
• For international card payments, the dispute goes through the card network (Visa/Mastercard) and takes longer.

Protecting yourself

Keep receipts and references, act quickly (there are time limits), and never confuse a chargeback with a fake alert — a screenshot isn’t proof of payment. For dollar card spending, a proper dollar card makes disputes cleaner.