Disputing a fraudulent credit card charge requires a phone call during business hours and takes 60-90 days to resolve

Most banks do not allow customers to fully dispute a fraudulent or incorrect credit card charge through their app or website. Instead, they require a phone call to a disputes department that operates limited hours, typically 8am-6pm on weekdays. So what? A person who notices a fraudulent $300 charge at 10pm on a Saturday cannot initiate a dispute until Monday morning, during which time additional fraudulent charges may accumulate. So what? When they do call on Monday, they face average hold times of 20-45 minutes, which means they must take time away from work or other obligations to sit on the phone. So what? After the call, Regulation E and Regulation Z give the bank up to 90 days to investigate, during which the charge remains on the statement, accruing interest if the customer cannot afford to pay the full balance including the disputed amount. So what? The customer is essentially lending the bank their own money interest-free while paying interest on the fraudulent charge, creating a perverse incentive structure where delays benefit the bank financially. So what? Many customers give up on small disputes ($20-$50) because the time cost of calling and following up exceeds the disputed amount, which means fraudsters face no consequences for high-volume low-value fraud. The problem persists structurally because banks have not invested in self-service dispute flows due to concerns about abuse, even though they have sophisticated fraud detection AI. The phone-call requirement acts as deliberate friction that reduces dispute volume, saving banks money. Regulation E timelines were written before digital banking existed and have not been updated.