Every morning in the chargeback department starts with a flood of new disputes, each with missing information, strict deadlines, and pressure to get it right.

Analysts jump between portals, chase data from merchants and banks, and piece together evidence packs, all under constant audit pressure.

By evening, there’s still a backlog. The next day, the cycle repeats. It’s no surprise that burnout is common and accuracy is hard to sustain at scale.

This is the reality of chargeback teams today. The numbers aren’t helping: Mastercard projects 324 million chargebacks a year by 2028, a 24% jump from today. Most teams are still doing the same swivel-chair work they’ve done for years.

In the instance of a fraud spike, these teams don’t have any respite. The fact that the tech stack doesn’t provide them with useful analytics just adds to their everyday woes.

Why Traditional Automation Hasn’t Worked So Far

Workflow-based automations have historically struggled with chargebacks because the work is complex and highly nuanced. Every dispute raises unique challenges that a workflow can’t process, requiring human judgment.

Evidence comes in emails, PDFs, and screenshots, making verification difficult for rigid systems. Chargeback codes, deadlines, and dispute formats change frequently, and this is where rule-based systems fail to keep up.

Even when rules are clear—for example, Reason code 13.2 requires delivery proof—that proof might be buried in a PDF or an email attachment. The bot stops, and the chargeback analyst steps in.

Add to this integration nightmares and data silos, and everything is back to manual.

How Do AI Agents Automate Chargeback Processing?

AI agents are built differently. They combine language understanding, reasoning, and action to handle real-world tasks the way humans do.

AI agents are your digital chargeback analysts who can read documents, grasp context, and act across multiple systems, without relying on fixed workflows.

AI agents don’t just automate a task; they understand intent, adapt to change, and keep humans fully in the loop.

They can:

• Fetch dispute information from CRMs, fraud tools, and issuer-processors.
• Investigate disputes based on customer transaction history and market trends.
• Classify disputes based on investigation.
• File and track chargebacks across Visa and Mastercard portals through APIs or a browser agent.
• Keep humans-in-the-loop (HITL) and logs fully auditable.
• Action upon representment submissions by reviewing the submitted documentation.
• Generate reports and insights instantly.

AI Agents: Compliant by Design and Compliance-First

AI agents are compliant by design and compliance-first, built from the ground up to align with regulations and governed by controls that ensure every action is auditable, secure, and policy-compliant.

That looks like:

• Rule-Adaptive Automation: AI agents are trained on the latest card network reason codes, internal policies, and jurisdiction-specific regulations. They automatically adapt to updates, ensuring every dispute is processed according to current rules.
• 100% Auditability: Every action, from reading a PDF to submitting a dispute, is logged with timestamps, user context, and a rationale for the decision. This creates a complete, immutable audit trail for internal and external review.
• Data Security and Privacy by Default: AI agents handle sensitive payment data using encrypted storage, secure transmission, and role-based access controls. Data never leaves the system without proper authorisation, reducing the risk of breaches.
• Pattern Detection: AI agents detect chargeback fraud by analysing transaction patterns, user behaviour, and network relationships in real time. They automatically flag anomalies, group related cases, and learn from past outcomes to improve detection accuracy over time.
• Control Points Built In: Exceptions, anomalies, or policy deviations are automatically flagged for human review, maintaining regulatory oversight while still enabling efficiency.
• Transparent Decisioning: AI agents provide clear reasoning for every action, which satisfies auditors and compliance teams and supports risk mitigation.

Benefits of AI Agents in Chargeback Automation

Financial institutions at the forefront of agentic AI adoption have seen the following benefits:

• Improved turnaround time for end-to-end chargeback filing, including investigations.
• Achieved Straight-through-processing (STP) transactions to up to 70%.
• Improved accuracy in chargeback investigations (upto ~95% accuracy achieved).
• Reduced manual workload up to 70%.
• Achieved 100% traceability with detailed audit trails and decision logs.
• Executed infinite chargeback cases simultaneously at the same speed.

How to Implement AI Agents in Chargeback Automation?

To introduce AI agents safely and effectively:

1. Start narrow: Choose a bounded task like evidence compilation or deadline monitoring.
2. Map data flows: Identify where sensitive data moves and enforce least-privilege access.
3. Instrument everything: Capture logs, latency, and accuracy metrics from day one.
4. Integrate compliance early: Let risk teams validate control points before scaling.
5. Iterate: Measure gains in turnaround time, accuracy, and audit exceptions.

The Bottom Line

AI agents give chargeback teams the extra hands and brains they need to keep up with volume, accuracy, and compliance, without burning out.

It’s the first real step toward end-to-end, intelligent chargeback automation that actually works.