Disputes

Hi there! Welcome to Dex, Forte's latest and greatest payments application. With Dex, you can view, create, and manage all your transaction data—including customers, payment methods, addresses, and schedules—in one convenient place. You can also view and maintain your merchant account, keep track of your funding entries, resolve disputed transactions, and generate API credentials to connect Dex with your third-party applications.

Credit Card Disputes

Understanding Credit Card Chargebacks

A chargeback is the reversal of a credit card payment initiated by a cardholder's bank. Chargebacks occur when a customer calls his or her credit card issuer and disputes a charge. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, consumers can dispute a credit card charge for one of the following three reasons:

Unauthorized purchases arising from fraud
Billing errors
Quality issues with a good or service, also known as "Friendly Fraud"

After receiving a dispute from the consumer, the card issuer initiates a chargeback transaction, which removes the disputed funds from the merchant's bank and credits them back to the consumer. Obviously, Chargebacks can be expensive for merchants—besides the cost of the good or service, the merchant must also pay a non-refundable, administrative chargeback fee to their acquiring bank even if they win the dispute. Additionally, too many chargebacks can make a merchant "high risk" for processors and banks, which could result in the termination of the merchant account or substantially increase the merchant's business expenses.

Fortunately, Forte has your back when it comes to fighting chargebacks. We keep the process transparent by tracking and processing disputes in the Disputes Datagrid of Dex. We also guide you when it comes to gathering and uploading documentation that supports your side. Once you've built your case, we re-present the chargeback to the credit card issuer on your behalf and notify you when a final decision is made and the funding entry is initiated.

Currently, Dex lets you work both full amount and partial amount disputes for Visa, Discover, MasterCard, and American Express. You can also respond to echeck chargebacks, also known as Proof of Authorization (POA) requests in Dex.

The Credit Card Dispute Process in Dex

The credit card dispute process can take up to 90 days to resolve, require multiple document submissions, and involve multiple funding adjustments before the final resolution. Merchants have 10 days to respond to a chargeback by either accepting it or disputing it with supporting documentation. For clarity's sake, the following figure displays the basic steps required for accepting or working disputes in Dex.

Each day, credit card issuers submit new and updated Inquiry, Chargeback, and Second Chargeback requests from their cardholders to Forte's processor. This file contains both partial- and full-amount disputes, which Forte uploads into Dex. Once uploaded, Forte will send you an email notification about the dispute. If no action is taken on a dispute with a Documents Needed status, Dex will send reminder emails to users that have subscribed to the Documents Needed notification after 5 days and 9 days.
After logging into Dex, you can access the Dispute's Detail Screen to view the original transaction, reason code, due date, and documentation required to fight it.
From here, you have two options when settling disputes:
a. You can accept the dispute, which puts the dispute record into the final Accepted status. Once accepted, the disputed amount is debited from your bank account back to the cardholder.
b. You can work the dispute by uploading the documentation listed in the Items Needed tab of the Dispute's Details Screen (e.g., a signed imprint of the card, proof of delivery, cardholder signature on the pickup form, IP address and/or email address of the purchaser, etc.). After uploading the required documentation, you'll submit the dispute for review. Forte reviews your evidence and then sends it to the card issuer for the final decision. At this time the dispute goes into Pending status and can remain there for up to 61 days while the issuer reviews the evidence provided by you and the cardholder. If the issuer sides with the cardholder, the dispute goes into Lost status and the disputed amount is debited from your bank account back to the cardholder. If the issuer sides with you, the dispute goes into Won status and the disputed amount is credited back into your bank account.

Won and Lost dispute statuses are not necessarily the final status. The cardholder has the option to continue to dispute the payment amount by filing for arbitration, which results in a second chargeback. Second chargebacks are more expensive to fight and rely on the card networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover) rather than the card issuers to provide the final decision. This final decision must be accepted by all parties and results in the final funding adjustment.

Multiple funding adjustments can occur throughout the lifecycle of the dispute depending on the merchant organization's set Funding Mode. For organizations set up in the Immediate Funding Mode, Dex makes Net-Funded funding adjustments as soon as a funding condition is provided in the issuer-submitted Disputes File. For organizations set up in the Deferred Funding Mode, Dex makes net-funded funding adjustments when the dispute is resolved. For more information on how your organization's Funding Mode is set up in Dex, contact your Admin.

Working Credit Card Disputes

Once you receive the email from Forte about a dispute, you will have 10 days to complete the following steps. The disputes you work in Dex can be for the full amount or a partial amount of the original transaction.

Before You Begin

Before you start working a dispute, contact the customer directly to see if you can resolve the issue. Sometimes customers don't remember transactions, or they don't recognize the merchant name that displays on their bank statements. If that's the case, the customer can cancel or withdraw the dispute by contacting their card issuer. If the chargeback is a result of fraud or billing/quality discrepancies, then you will need to submit documents proving the customer authorized the transaction.

All dispute documentation is transmitted digitally. Depending on your integration and business practices, you may need a scanner or an online fax service that can create digital copies of documents like signed receipts, acknowledged Terms of Service, refund policies, etc. The type of document(s) you will need depend on the reason codes, which vary between card networks. But don't worry—Dex will provide you with both the reason and the documentation you'll need to support your side.

Step 1: Find the Dispute

The notification email you receive when a customer submits a dispute will include all the information you'll need to find the dispute record in Dex.

To view a specific dispute without having to filter through a long list, enter one of the following values in the search bar:

Customer Name
Dispute Number

Dex auto-populates the list of results. If you do not have these specific values or you want to view disputes with specific attributes, apply the following filters:

Field	Description
Received Date	The Received Date of the dispute. Use the date picker in both the Start Date and End Date fields to customize the date range of your listed disputes. If a date range is not provided, the End Date defaults to today's date and the Start Date defaults to yesterday. You can also choose one of the following pre-defined dates/date ranges: • Today • Yesterday • Last 7 days (the previous six days plus today) • Last 30 days • Last 90 days • This week (starting from Sunday to Saturday) • This month This field saves the last date filter option so that you don't have to put the same option in every time you search for disputes.
Status	The current status of the dispute. Supported options include the following: • DOCUMENTS NEEDED • REVIEWING • PENDING • ACCEPTED • WON • LOST • RECALLED • EXPIRED • DELETED
Location ID	The ID of the merchant location that processed the transaction.
Amount	The amount of the dispute. This field can be a specific value (e.g., 9.76) or a range of values separated by a hyphen (e.g., 5-10).

If these filters are insufficient, you can also click the More Filters dropdown field to select and apply the following filters:

Filter	Description
Action Code	A code that indicates what actions to take in resolving the dispute. For a list of supported options, see the Disputes FAQ.
Adjusted	Indicates whether or not the dispute includes a funding adjustment. Supported values include the following: • All • Adjusted • Not Adjusted
Adjustment Type	A code indicating the type of debit funding adjustment made for the provided action code. Inquiries do not initiate funding adjustments. Supported values include the following: • ARBT - Arbitration (Second Chargeback) • CHBK - Chargeback (Chargeback) • COMP - Compliance (Inquiry) • DRFT - Credit Card Draft Retrieval (Inquiry) • FEE - Incoming Chargeback Debit (for Inquiries and Chargebacks) • PARB - Incoming Pre-Arbitration (Second Chargeback) • PNOT - Pre-Compliance Pre-Notification (Inquiry or Second Chargeback)
Amount Type	Filters whether the disputed amount is the Full amount of the dispute or a Partial amount.
Last 4 of Card	The last four digits of the card number associated with this dispute.
Payment Method	The card brand of the credit card payment method associated with the dispute. Supported options include the following: • Visa • MasterCard • Discover • American Express
Record Type	Indicates the type of dispute that the cardholder's bank initiated. The following values are supported: • Inquiry • Chargeback • 2nd Chargeback • Inquiry to Chargeback • Chargeback to 2nd Chargeback
BIN	The six-digit credit card BIN number associated with the dispute. This filter field only accepts digits and must be an exact match.

Step 2: Gather Evidence

Once you find the dispute and access its Details Screen, you can view the dispute's Due Date, Original Transaction, and the Items Needed for evidence to support your side in the dispute.

To view the original disputed transaction, click the View link under the Original Transaction field of the General Information card. Dex takes you to the Transaction's Detail Screen, where you can view the Authorization and Settlement data associated with the transaction as well as a digital receipt of the transaction. Click the Dispute Status box on the Transaction's Details screen to return to the Dispute's Details Screen.

To view the documents requested by the card issuer, select the Items Needed tab and read the description of the required documentation. The type of supporting documentation will vary between payment channel and card brand, but Dex will display a specific list of evidence item(s) that will help you win your case. When preparing your documentation submission, consider the following best practices.

Get to the Point

Card issuers do not want to read long explanations about your business, the unfairness of the dispute, or gripes you may have with the customer or Forte. They want short, relevant descriptions of the original transaction in a neutral, professional tone. For example

On [date] at [time], Daenerys Targaryen purchased [product] from our site, [url of website], using her MasterCard. During checkout, Daenerys agreed to our Terms of Service before authorizing the transaction. We shipped the product on [date] to the customer-provided address,[customer address]. According to [tracking number], it was delivered on [date] and signed for by [authorized signer].

If you choose to include texts or email correspondence between you and the customer in your evidence, ensure you only include relevant information. While these documents can be helpful to your case, they are not sufficient evidence of identity verification.

Highlight Relevant Facts

If your evidence includes multi-page refund policies or Terms of Service, circle, underline, or highlight the portions of the policy relevant to your case. If your TOS or policies are online, take and include a clear screenshot of how those documents display on your site. Do not include hyperlinks; instead, take screenshots of online checkout forms or receipt pages. If your supporting evidence includes multiple documents, combine them into one document (e.g., PDF) and label each piece of evidence with a letter or number. This way, you can reference the label in your description. Additionally, you may want to include a Table of Contents for your document package to help the issuer navigate your evidence. Some disputes require lengthy documentation, but by highlighting and organizing the relevant data in your evidence, you make it easier for the issuer to find and evaluate your case.

Include Proof of Authorization

Most disputes arise from fraud, so anything you can provide that proves the legitimate cardholder authorized the transaction is vital to making a compelling case. This includes the following:

Card Verification Code (CVV) matches
Address Verification System (AVS) matches
Signed receipts
Signed contracts
IP address that matches the customer's verified billing address

Depending on your payment channel, integration, and merchant setup, most of this data can be found by viewing the original Transaction's Details Screen.

Include Proof of Service and Delivery

Proof of service or delivery can help protect you against complaints that an item never arrived. This type of evidence can include tracking numbers to verified billing addresses, signed services receipts, and/or the signature of the person who accepted the delivery. For digital goods, you can provide the IP address or a system log that proves the customer downloaded or used the product.

Include Your Refund Policy or Terms of Service

Proving that the customer acknowledged/signed your Terms of Service (TOS) agreement or refund/shop policies is critical when fighting a card-not-present dispute. You'll want to show and highlight the relevant text of your TOS/policies as well as show how it displays on your site. Forte recommends including a clear, full-screen screenshot that shows both the text and how it displays to customers from your checkout page. If the text is unreadable within the screenshot, then you can also include a print-out of your TOS or Refund Policies and underline/circle/highlight the portions relevant for this dispute.

Step 3: Upload Your Evidence to Dex

Once you've collected all your evidence, you'll need to upload it into Dex from either the Disputes Datagrid or the Dispute's Details Screen. You will need to create digital copies of paper documents such as signed receipts or contracts. Dispute documents must be 8MB or smaller and can be in one of the following formats:

jpeg
png
tiff
txt
bmp
pdf

If you have multiple pieces of evidence you can upload them as separate files or combine them into a larger, composite document—as long as that document is under 8MB. NOTE: Before submitting documentation, redact any credit card account numbers to the first six or last 4 digits; do not submit documentation with full credit card PANs.

Uploading Documents

To upload your documentation from the Disputes Datagrid, complete the following steps:

Search for the dispute by Customer Name or Dispute Number and/or use the available filters to narrow down the displayed list of disputes.
When you find the dispute, click > Upload Attachment next to the dispute's listing. The Upload Dispute Attachments Modal displays.
Drag and drop the file(s) into the "Uploads" box or click the Browse button to open a File Explorer Window from your computer. Select the item(s) you want to upload and click the Open button.
After adding the desired file(s) to the Upload Dispute Attachment Modal, use the dropdown menu to select the privacy setting for each document. Supported options include the following:
- Visible to Forte Only
- Visible to Merchant and Forte (default)
- Visible to All
Click the Upload button on the Upload Dispute Attachments Modal. Dex displays a message indicating whether or not the upload was successful.

To upload your documentation from the Dispute's Details Screen, complete the following steps:

Search for the dispute by Customer Name or Dispute Number and/or use the available filters to narrow down the displayed list of disputes.
When you find the dispute, click the row on which it's listed. The Dispute's Details Screen displays.
If not already selected, click the Items Needed tab.
Drag and drop the file(s) into the "Uploads" box under the Items Needed tab or click the Browse button to open a File Explorer Window from your computer. Select the item(s) you want to upload and click the Open button. The Upload Files Modal displays.
Use the dropdown menu that displays next to the file name on the Upload Files Modal and select the privacy settings for this document. Supported options include the following:
- Visible to Forte Only
- Visible to Merchant and Forte (default)
- Visible to All
Your file(s) begins uploading into Dex beneath the "Total Uploads" section of the Items Needed tab. To view a thumbnail image of the file, click the Refresh button.

Working with Uploaded Documents

After uploading a document, you can view, download, and delete it from the Dispute's Details Screen if the dispute is still in Documents Needed status. To perform these actions, complete the following steps:

If not already selected, click the Items Needed tab.
Find the desired file by searching for it by file name or filter the displayed list of items by its Privacy setting. Supported privacy filter options include the following:
- Visible to Partner and Forte
- Visible to Enterprise and Forte
- Visible to Merchant and Forte
- Visible to All
Complete the following steps to view, download, or delete the attachment:
a. To view the file in a web browser window, click . NOTE: Pop-ups must be enabled for Dex sites in your browser to view an attachment.
b. To delete the file from the Items Needed tab, click . NOTE: The dispute must still be in Documents Needed status. A Delete Attachment modal displays asking you to confirm the deletion. Click the Delete button to return to the Dispute's Details Screen.
c. To download a local version of the file to your computer, click and save the attachment to a local folder on your computer.

Step 4: Submit Your Documents for Review

After uploading the required supporting documentation for a dispute, you can submit comments and the evidence back to Forte for review and approval.

To find the desired file, search for it by file name or filter the displayed list of items by its Privacy setting. Supported privacy filter options include the following:
- All
- Visible to Partner and Forte
- Visible to Enterprise and Forte
- Visible to Merchant and Forte
- Visible to All
To view, download, edit, or delete a document, find the file name and use the following buttons to perform actions on the document:

Commenting on a Dispute

Merchants, Partners, and Forte employees can all add comments to a dispute record. These comments can be classified in one of three different categories/view levels:

Category	Description
	Public comments are visible to every user who has access to this dispute record. Merchants can only post Public comments.
	Partners comments are visible to partner and Forte corporate users who have access to this dispute record. Merchants cannot see or respond to Partner comments.
	Forte comments are only visible to members of Forte's Risk Team. Neither merchant nor partner users can see or respond to Forte comments.

Adding a Comment to a Dispute Record

To add a comment to a dispute record, complete the following steps:

Access the Dispute's Detail Screen and click the Comments tab.
Enter your 500-character or less comment in the free-text field.
Use the View Level dropdown to select the comment category. Merchants can only make Public comments and partners can make either Public or Partner comments.
Click the Post button. Dex displays the comment along with your name, date and time when you added the comment, and the view level of the comment.

Replying to a Comment in a Dispute Record

The view level of all comment replies must match the original comment view level (i.e., users can only make Public replies to Public comments). To reply to a comment in a dispute record, complete the following steps:

Access the Dispute's Detail Screen and click the Comments tab.
Find the comment you want to reply to and click the Reply button. A free-text field displays.
Enter your 500-character or less reply comment in the free-text field.
Click the Add button. Dex adds the reply to the comment. Click the Show link to view the reply nested beneath the original comments.

Submitting Documents

Your supporting documentation must be submitted on or prior to the dispute due date. Forte will review and transmit the documentation to the processor; however, we cannot guarantee the processor will accept documentation submissions after the dispute due date has passed.

To submit a dispute for review, complete the following steps:

Search for the dispute by Customer Name or Dispute Number and/or use the available filters to narrow down the displayed list of disputes.
Access the Submit for Review Modal using one of two methods:
a. From the Disputes Datagrid, click > Submit for Review next to the dispute's listing.
b. Access the Dispute's Details Screen and click Actions > Submit for Review.
To confirm your submission, click the Submit button on the Submit for Review Modal. Dex returns you to the previous screen and changes the status of the dispute to Reviewing.

After Submission

After submitting your documents, Forte will review them to make sure they're relevant, concise, and present a compelling case. If we think you need more evidence, we'll contact you and place your dispute back into the Documents Needed status. You will need to repeat the steps listed above to submit additional documents.

If approved, your documents will be transmitted to the card issuer for review and your dispute will go into Pending status. The amount of time before a decision is rendered depends on the issuer and the reason code. You can track the progress of your dispute on the History tab of Dispute's Details Screen. This tab provides a dated and timestamped record of dispute events such as funding entries, action and record code changes, and status changes. If the issuer sides with you, the dispute will go into the Won status and we'll send you an email notification that contains final funding details. If the issuer decides in the cardholder's favor, the dispute will go into Lost status and we'll send you an email notification that contains final funding details.

If you win a dispute, the cardholder or the issuer can dispute the charge again with a second chargeback or pre-arbitration. If this happens, we'll notify you and you'll have to start the process all over again. Second chargebacks are expensive to fight, but we'll have your back if you decide to go forward.

eCheck Disputes

Working eCheck Disputes

ACH transactions grant consumers the ACH Right of Return wherein the customer has 60 days to challenge an ACH transaction with his or her bank and have the funds returned via an ACH Return Entry. A RDFI can initiate a return for a number of reasons, which can range from insufficient funds to fraud. The only recourse merchants have at that point is collections, a notice from an attorney, or a lawsuit in court—all remedies that cost money. NOTE: Forte's Direct Recovery collects the funds from NSF returns (R01 - Insufficient Funds) using proprietary smart re-presentment technology. For more information, click here.

However, after those 60 calendar days, RDFIs cannot initiate a return without first asking for Proof of Authorization (POA) from the merchant. A POA request gives merchants the ability to prove that the customer's authorization was properly executed and obtained and that the transaction was valid.

To avoid lost revenue, additional processing fees, funding holds, and even termination, merchants should always respond to echeck disputes. Like credit card disputes, echeck disputes follow a similar dispute lifecycle in Dex. However, echeck disputes are due 5 days after the notification email and only result in funding adjustments if/when the RDFI initiates an ACH return, which can occur if the merchant does not respond within the allotted time or the RDFI deems the provided evidence insufficient. As a rule, always respond by either accepting or submitting your documentation.