Disputing a payment: card, transfer or direct debit (France)
Published byDocMuse
This document is in French
The PDF you download is in French — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
For a bank customer in France who finds on a statement a card payment, transfer or direct debit they did not authorise or that was carried out wrongly, or an authorised direct debit they want refunded. The letter goes to your own bank, not the merchant: an unauthorised payment is refunded at once (Article L. 133-18 of the French Monetary and Financial Code), within 13 months of the debit; eight weeks for an authorised direct debit. In French, to send without delay, after blocking the card where needed, by registered post with proof of receipt or the bank's secure messaging.
- Made for use in France
- Last updated October 13, 2026
When to use this document
- You found a card payment on your bank statement in France that you never made.
- A transfer from your bank account went to the wrong person or for the wrong amount.
- A company took a direct debit you had agreed to, but you want to ask for a refund.
- You want to dispute a payment in writing with your own bank after blocking your card.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Customer
- Customer's address
- Bank
- Bank's postal address (branch or customer service)
- City
- Date
- Account number or last digits of the card
- Date of the transaction
- Amount
- Payee shown on the statement
- Type of payment
- Ground for the dispute
- Date the card was blocked (if it was)
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- How long does a customer in France have to dispute an unauthorised payment with the bank?
- Act without delay once you notice it, and at the latest thirteen months after the debit date (Article L. 133-24 of the French Monetary and Financial Code). For an unauthorised payment, the bank refunds immediately, at the latest by the end of the next working day after your report, unless it has good reason to suspect fraud on your part and reports it in writing to the Banque de France (Article L. 133-18). The bank must prove that the payment was authenticated and recorded (Article L. 133-23).
- Can an authorised direct debit be refunded in France?
- Yes, within eight weeks of the debit date (Articles L. 133-25 and L. 133-25-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code); for a SEPA direct debit, this refund in principle need not be justified. The bank refunds or gives reasons for refusing within ten working days of your request. This does not settle any debt to the creditor: if the money was owed, sort out the dispute with them. A direct debit without a valid mandate is an unauthorised payment, which can be disputed for thirteen months.
- What if the bank in France refuses to refund the disputed payment?
- Ask it in writing for the reasons and the evidence for its refusal, then go free of charge to your bank's mediator, whose details are in the account agreement and on its statements; a written complaint such as this letter must come first. If the card was lost, stolen or hacked, block it straight away through the service the bank names, and keep the blocking reference. After that the matter can go to court.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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