How long can a customer dispute an annual plan charge?

A customer can dispute an annual plan renewal on Visa as a cancelled recurring charge for 120 calendar days from the processing date. Some claims about a service still running can come later, up to 540 days, so a dated renewal reminder and a full year of usage logs are the records that answer them.

When does the dispute clock start on an annual plan?

The clock starts on the day of the charge. Reason code 13.2 is Visa's code for cancelled recurring transactions. Under Visa's rule the issuer, meaning the customer's bank, has 120 calendar days from the processing date to dispute.

Take a software company that bills a customer $1,200 on 3 March to renew an annual plan. The customer logs in twice, forgets, and spots the line on a May statement. The window runs to the start of July. By then the customer has used about a third of the plan and can still tell the bank it was cancelled.

An annual plan concentrates 12 months of billing into one charge, and the dispute clock starts on that charge.

Can a customer dispute after 120 days?

Yes, for some claims. Reason code 13.7 covers cancelled merchandise or services, and 13.1 covers services the customer says were not received. For both, Visa measures from the processing date or from the date the cardholder expected the service, and caps the whole window at 540 days from processing.

Stripe puts it plainly: card networks typically allow cardholders 120 days to dispute, but when a customer pays for a future service, the dispute window can start on the service date.

A 12-month plan paid in March whose service is still running in December can therefore draw a claim long after the 120 days have gone. That is most likely where the customer says the service stopped working or was never delivered, so keep delivery evidence for the life of the plan.

Should you refuse a refund after your refund window?

Not by reflex, because once your window closes the customer can still go to the bank until day 120. Suppose an annual plan offers a 30-day refund window. After day 30, the customer who wants out has one cheap option left, which is to call the bank, and the bank has until day 120.

A merchant that refuses a prorated refund on day 45 has not ended the matter. It has moved it to a process where Stripe charges a $15 fee on receipt that is never returned, and another $15 if the merchant contests, returned only on a win.

On a $1,200 plan that is a modest fee and a very large amount at risk, so set a day-45 rule now.

What do renewal reminder laws require?

For plans of a year or more, California and New York both require a reminder before renewal. California's automatic-renewal statute, as amended by AB 2863, requires a reminder 15 to 45 days before renewal where the initial term is a year or more. It also requires an annual reminder stating the product, the frequency and amount, and how to cancel.

These amendments apply to contracts entered, amended or extended on or after 1 July 2025. New York's General Business Law 527-a sets a similar 15-to-45-day reminder for qualifying long terms and requires cancellation to be as easy as sign-up.

Treat those reminder windows as a minimum for every customer, wherever they live, because the same dated email is the strongest evidence the cardholder was told the charge was coming.

A renewal charge disputed as cancelled is answered by showing the customer was emailed 30 days earlier, was given a working cancel link, and did not use it. Without that dated record you are arguing from the terms of service alone. The Visa 13.2 reason code page covers these claims in more detail.

Takeaway: what to do this week

1. Send the renewal reminder 15 to 45 days before the charge. Keep the delivery record for each one, with the date it went out.
2. Let customers cancel online and log every request. Record each cancellation request with its date, so a 13.2 claim has a dated answer.
3. Keep usage logs and evidence long enough. Hold usage logs for the full 12 months, and on high-value plans keep evidence for 540 days to cover 13.1 and 13.7.
4. Set your day-45 refund rule now. Weigh a prorated refund against the $15 fees and the full plan value at risk.

Sources: Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules (18 April 2026), Tables 11-99, 11-131 and 11-92; Stripe Docs, "How disputes work" (dispute timing, dispute fees); California Business and Professions Code section 17602, as amended by AB 2863; New York Senate, General Business Law section 527-A. All checked 24 October 2026.