Chargeback Clock Versus the Dashain Remittance Queue
Your New Road branch is also a licensed remittance payout point. On 20 Asoj at 14:00 the agent float stands at NPR 1.15 million. Thirty-eight beneficiaries are waiting, averaging NPR 45,000 each. The cash-in-transit vehicle due at 16:30 is stuck three hours away behind a highway landslide, and tomorrow is the last working day before Dashain.
At the same time a cardholder lodges a dispute. He reports an international ATM withdrawal of NPR 60,000 in Kuala Lumpur dated 2 Asoj, and a duplicate POS debit of NPR 12,500 at a local merchant on 18 Asoj. He says the card never left his possession and that the ATM used a magnetic stripe. The scheme representment window closes in six days; head office's dispute unit requires completed forms within 48 hours. He refuses to sign anything unless provisional credit is given immediately, and says he will post about the branch on social media.
1. Sequence the branch's actions over the next four hours. Justify the order with numbers.
Read the worked answer
Numbers first. Queue requirement: 38 × NPR 45,000 ≈ NPR 1.71 million. Float NPR 1.15 million. Shortfall ≈ NPR 0.56 million. The CIT ETA is unknown, so plan as if it will not arrive.
Sequence.
- Secure the cash in hand (first 20 minutes). Count the float against the remittance system with two staff and a supervisor. A crowd plus unverified cash is both an error risk and a robbery risk.
- Communicate before people reach the counter (next 30 minutes). Post a written notice with a realistic time, start a token system, and assign one officer solely to explain. Word that the branch has 'no money' before Dashain spreads faster than the queue.
- Set a payout rule and clear the queue (next two hours). Pay in token order up to the average ticket, prioritising beneficiaries who travelled from other districts; hold the excess for later payment or credit. Paying 25 people in full beats paying 38 people amounts too small to be useful.
- Chase liquidity in parallel. Get a firm ETA from the CIT operator in writing; if none, request an emergency inter-branch transfer, ask the agent's head office to reroute, and confirm the vault's insured limit before accepting a large delivery.
- Document. Record every payment, every pending beneficiary and a contact number for each.
Do not fund payouts from another customer's deposit or from card-settlement cash without recording it, and do not operate beyond the cashier's verified balance. The float shortage is a planning failure; misappropriating cash to fix it converts it into a fraud.
2. How do you handle the cardholder's dispute - provisional credit, documents and deadlines - and what evidence matters for the overseas ATM claim?
Read the worked answer
Two different clocks. The NPR 12,500 duplicate debit is a straightforward duplicate presentment, provable from the merchant batch, and should be provisionally credited within the policy period without argument. The NPR 60,000 ATM withdrawal is a magstripe transaction, which is inherently weak evidence: if the card was with him and the terminal read a stripe, skimming is more likely than customer negligence. That claim needs investigation before credit.
Documents. Signed dispute form - but his refusal to sign does not stop the clock. If he will not sign, record a verbal dispute in his presence, have it countersigned by a second officer, and tell him the claim is registered and that his written statement can follow. Also obtain his passport and travel evidence, the terminal ID, and the acquirer's transaction log.
Provisional credit. Make it a policy decision, not a bargaining chip. Credit the NPR 12,500 immediately; credit the NPR 60,000 within the policy period once the dispute is registered, reserving the right to reverse if the investigation shows authorisation.
The hard deadline is the six-day representment window. Submit to the fraud unit within 48 hours with the evidence available, noting that the customer's statement is pending. A missed scheme deadline is a permanent loss regardless of who was right.
The social-media threat must not change the decision, but silence is what usually triggers the post. Put the credit and a written explanation in place first, and record every contact. Escalate the threat through the communications team, not by promising outcomes you cannot control.