Not upheld: Card / payment disputes complaint against Starling Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Ms V paid £3,064.20 for an online course on 16 November 2023 using her Starling debit card but found it unsuitable and requested a refund from the merchant between January and August 2024 without success. She did not contact Starling about the dispute until August 2024, by which time the 120-day chargeback claim deadline had already expired (mid-March 2024). Starling's Welfare Support Team provided support by recording her needs and communication preferences, but the bank correctly explained it could not pursue the chargeback claim due to the expired deadline. The ombudsman found that Starling acted fairly in declining the claim, as the strict Mastercard chargeback timescales contain no discretion for consumers with different needs, and nothing the bank did caused Ms V's loss.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Starling could only raise a chargeback claim within 120 days of the transaction date (16 November 2023), meaning the deadline expired in mid-March 2024. Since Ms V did not contact Starling until August 2024, the bank was already out of time to raise the dispute when she first contacted it. The Mastercard chargeback rules contain strict timescales with no discretion for consumers with different needs. Starling thoroughly investigated all options, including whether alternative timescales might apply (such as if a refund had been offered by the merchant), but Ms V provided no evidence supporting such alternative grounds. The ombudsman noted that Starling's Welfare Support Team made reasonable efforts to support Ms V by recording her needs, adhering to her communication preferences, manually completing her dispute form, and attempting to refer her complaint to the FOS. The ombudsman clarified that Starling is not responsible for the merchant's conduct and can only assist through the chargeback scheme, which it attempted to do.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website