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Mis-sold a course or coaching in the US? How to get your money back

By CourseKiln Editorial·Published ·3 min read

In the United States your strongest practical lever for an online course is a credit-card dispute under the Fair Credit Billing Act. The catch is the clock: you must dispute in writing within 60 days of the statement that shows the charge. Use it for a service not delivered or not as described. Your issuer has to acknowledge within 30 days and resolve within 90. Write to the billing-inquiries address, not the payment address, and send it certified with return receipt.

No general cooling-off online. There is no federal right to change your mind on something bought online. The FTC's three-day cooling-off rule only covers in-person sales over twenty-five dollars at your home, workplace or a temporary location like a hotel, and it does include training courses sold that way, but not anything bought online, by phone or by mail. So for an online purchase you are relying on the seller's own refund policy, the card dispute, and your state's consumer-protection law, which varies a lot.

No Section 75 equivalent. There is no US law that makes your card issuer automatically jointly liable for a seller's breach the way the UK's does. The nearest things are the FCBA dispute right above, the voluntary zero-liability policies the card schemes offer, and a narrow right to withhold the unpaid balance on a purchase over fifty dollars made in your home state or within a hundred miles of home.

Mis-selling. If the seller made material false claims to get the sale, that can be fraud or a deceptive practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act and state equivalents, which supports both your card dispute and a regulator complaint.

Where to complain. Seller first. If your bank refuses a fair dispute, complain to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. Report the seller at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, though the FTC uses reports for enforcement rather than resolving your case. For individual action against a coaching scam, your state Attorney General is often the most effective route, and small claims handles money disputes, up to twenty-five thousand dollars in some states.

A letter to start the claim. Send this to your card issuer's billing-inquiries address, in writing, within sixty days of the statement that shows the charge.

Dear [card issuer],

I am disputing a charge on my account ending [digits]: [amount] paid to [seller] on [date] for [the course or coaching]. The service was [not delivered / not as described]. I am exercising my rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act and asking you to investigate this billing error. Please acknowledge within thirty days and resolve within two billing cycles. I am keeping a record of my contact with the seller.

[Your name]

A version to send the seller, and one to ask for proof before you ever pay, are on letters you can send.

Then check the next seller before you pay: proof you did not make yourself.

Common questions

How long do I have to dispute a US course charge on my card?

Under the Fair Credit Billing Act you must dispute in writing within 60 days of the statement that shows the charge. Write to the billing-inquiries address, not the payment address, and send it certified with return receipt. Your issuer has to acknowledge within 30 days and resolve within 90.

Is there a cooling-off right for a course I bought online in the US?

No. The FTC's three-day cooling-off rule only covers in-person sales over twenty-five dollars at your home, workplace or a temporary location, not anything bought online, by phone or by mail. For an online purchase you rely on the seller's refund policy, your card dispute, and your state's consumer-protection law.

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