Was the item that you purchased not delivered, or was the service that you paid for not as described? Is the merchant unreachable or unwilling to help?
In some cases, you may want to get a refund for a card payment. No worries, we’re here to help you! 🙌
Important note: Don’t forget to check our tips on how to recognize fraud and stay safe
Do you not recognize the payment and suspect that your account has been fraudulently charged? You can learn more what to do here
What is a refund?
A refund (a.k.a chargeback) is a form of purchase protection by Mastercard. In the case of disagreement between you and the merchant, we can formally dispute the payment via the Mastercard collaboration network.
How can I get a refund?
Unless the transaction is unrecognized, always make sure to contact the merchant regarding the transaction that needs a refund, in most cases the refund is done by the merchant and the whole process takes a couple of business days.
Most merchants would happily assist you in correcting the charge and returning your money. That's why before using Mastercard purchase protection, we ask you to settle your dispute with the merchant.
Please always share your order reference details with the merchant. This insures their support team understands your situation correctly, and can provide you with the right solutions.
✅ As a tip, we always advise you to contact them by chat or e-mail so you have the transcript of your communication with them!
Card payment refunds from the app:
Follow the simple steps below to see how you can request a refund in the app:
- Home
- Tap on Total
- Select your payment
- Tap on (...) More
- Tap on 🟣 Get help with this payment
As a bank, we're obligated to provide the merchant who charged you with 7 days in which to respond to your claim and take the needed actions. If the merchant’s industry is impacted by Covid-19 restrictions, please allow 15 days for the merchant to respond to your claim.
- Important: You've 120 days to request a refund for a particular event, after the 120 days pass we won't be able to process the request technically.
That's why if the method with requesting a refund from the app didn't help in your case, we kindly ask you to reach out to the merchant that charged you, to ask them if they can help you with a refund.
We're required to give the merchant a fair opportunity to directly help you with a refund. This is important because we need to hear both sides of the story, whilst ensuring that the merchant isn't able to assist you directly, before we take matters into our own hands.
As mentioned above, please, share your order reference details with the merchant's support department so that they can provide you with the right solution regarding your case.
✅ As a tip, we always advise you to contact them by chat or an e-mail so you have the transcript of your communication.
Card payment refund at the terminal or Retourpinnen
Especially in the Netherlands it's common to receive a refund for a purchase made at a physical store by inserting your card at the payment terminal. If you made the original payment with that card, it'll work flawlessly.
👩🏻🏫 Pro tip: Check that the card is entered with the chip into the payment terminal for the best results.
When can I request a refund and what do I need to do?
- If the payment was made with your Maestro Debit card
Maestro payments aren't covered by Mastercard purchase protection, we therefore can't submit a chargeback request. In this case you should contact the merchant for further assistance and details on your refund request. 🔎
Do you suspect a transaction error was made with your Maestro card? Please contact our support
- If the payment was made with your Mastercard
Mastercard payments are covered by the Mastercard purchase protection. Unless it's an unrecognized transaction, we can only start the chargeback process if the merchant was unable or unwilling to help you. You should contact the merchant for assistance and details on your refund request first, before we can help you.
In case of a chargeback process, there are some additional details which are good-to-know:
- Please give the merchant 7 business days to respond to your refund request - this extends to 15 days if the merchant's impacted by Covid-19 restrictions.
- Have your goods not arrived? Please give the merchant 30 days to deliver your goods.
- Did the merchant agree to refund you? Please give the merchant at least 15 business days to process the refund.
- Are you requesting a refund for ordered goods or services? Please upload a detailed description of the goods or service (preferably an order confirmation) in the refund request.
- Did you have any communication with the merchant? Please upload screenshots of this in the refund request.
For more tips, you can check the paragraph above.
- If the payment was an ATM transaction 🏧
ATM transactions are covered by Mastercard protection. Did you not receive your money from the ATM machine?- Request a refund via the app.
For ATM disputes, there's no need to contact the merchant first. You can directly request a refund in the app as mentioned above.
What if the merchant isn't responding or is unwilling to refund the charge?
We always ask our users to reach out to the merchant that charged them to resolve the issue. However, sometimes the merchant might not respond or might refuse to help.
Don't worry though, as we're here to help you! 🌈
If after 7 days, or if they informed you that they aren't willing to help you with a refund, you can contact us with the details of the dispute and a copy of the communication with the merchant. This way, we'll be able to look into the possibility of initiating a refund from our side.
If this happens, please request a refund in our app, and include the following where applicable:
- Describe the situation and provide all relevant information
- Attach any documents that you find relevant to the case (invoice, terms & conditions of the merchant, screenshots of your communication with the merchant, etc.)
It's important to give as much information as possible, as we need it in order to help you with your refund!
If you need a refund for a payment that you don't recognise, you can find more useful info at this page.
What happens next
Once the relevant waiting period has passed you have provided us with necessary documentation, and the request meets Mastercard’s refund conditions, we can proceed with performing the refund ourselves.
It's important to note that the merchant's still be able to dispute the refund within 45 days, please check our pricing sheet, for more information about incidental costs. Our team will remain at your disposal to help you throughout the whole process. 👍
Things worth knowing about when requesting a card payment refund
For merchants that are impacted by Covid-19, this 7-day response time is extended to 15 days.
The process of reviewing your claim and processing with the refund may take from 1 to 12 business weeks. This is because, depending on the individual case, different steps may be taken within the process. We kindly ask for your patience, and we'll update you along the way!
How could I request a refund for a Direct Debit?
You can easily request a refund for a Direct debit by following the steps below:
- Home
- Tap on Total
- Select your payment
- Tap on (...) More
- Tap on 🟣 Get help with this payment
You'll receive a push notification in the app once there is updated news!
If you're interested in finding out more about direct debit refunds, you can check this article we created for it!
I made a transfer to the wrong IBAN. How can I get my money back?
In this case please contact us immediately so you can look for a solution for you.
How do I know if I received the refund?
We've simplified refunds so going forward, all new refunds you’ll receive will be shown as an incoming event at the top of your timeline. This will make it very simple to see where your money went, and when it came back to you.
In cases where your refund doesn't show up on your sub-account's event timeline, please make sure to export a bank statement by following the process explained here in order to spot the refund right away. If you still didn't manage to find teh refund in your bank statement, contact our Support department for further assistance.
The merchant sent my refund to my blocked card, will I receive my funds?
Indeed, you'll receive your refund! Even if the merchant has sent the refund to your canceled card, the refund will bounce to the billing sub-account related to the inactive card in question. You can always change the billing account of your card by following the easy and fast process explained here 🙌
What Can’t be Refunded?
Refunds aren't possible for the following types of payments:
- Bank transfers
- iDEAL & SOFORT payments
- Wise payments (ex TransferWise)
- B2B direct debits
- the transaction concerns a deposit into an investment or crypto currency account
- the transaction involves or has been executed via e-money wallet (like PayPal or Curve card)
- the transaction concerns a donation (i.e., a payment to a charity)
- the transaction was executed on a gambling or betting website.
Because we process these payments instantly, their systems don't allow us to request refunds for you after the payment was made.
If you're looking for a refund for one of these options, we recommend directly requesting it from the other party.
Please also take note of our Mastercard refund terms, to be found under clause 9 in ‘bunq card rules’ in our Terms and Conditions
Want to learn more?
Explore more bunq Knowledge here.
