Card Dispute Lifecycle

First chargeback through representment, pre-arbitration, arbitration, and terminal outcomes with ledger effects

Card Dispute Lifecycle First chargeback through representment, pre-arbitration, arbitration, and terminal outcomes with ledger effects 01 / Dispute rail 02 / Interruptions + recovery 03 / Terminal outcomes First Chargeback · provisional debit · Dispute rail · T+0 01 First Chargeback provisional debit T+0 Representment · evidence submitted · Dispute rail · T+30d 02 Representment evidence submitted T+30d Pre-Arbitration · issuer re-files · Dispute rail · T+30d 03 Pre-Arbitration issuer re-files T+30d Arbitration · scheme ruling · Dispute rail · fee held 04 Arbitration scheme ruling fee held Won · hold reversed · Dispute rail · terminal 05 Won hold reversed terminal Accepted · merchant pays · Terminal outcomes · terminal Accepted merchant pays terminal Lost · hold finalized · Terminal outcomes · terminal Lost hold finalized terminal Legend active state waiting terminal success failure / exit

Deadline Timers

  • • Each non-terminal state owns one governing deadline
  • • A missed representment window auto-loses the case
  • • Reason code and network set every window length

Ledger Effects

  • • Chargeback posts a provisional debit to a dispute-hold
  • • Won reverses the reservation back to the merchant
  • • Lost and Accepted finalize the hold to the issuer

Invariant

  • • Dispute-hold balance equals sum of open disputed amounts
  • • Transitions carry an idempotency key against replays
  • • Every terminal exit releases the reservation exactly once

Lifecycle diagram • Built with Archify • Create yours ↗ • Hover to trace • R route • Click to focus • +/− zoom • M radar • T theme • E export