In most cases, the cardholder receives the funds for a dispute as soon as they initiate it with their issuer, but it's hard to set reliable expectations around this.

When an issuer creates a chargeback on the card network, the network immediately pulls back the funds from Stripe and returns them to the issuer. The issuer may or may not credit the funds back to the cardholder at this time, while the dispute outcome is still pending. If the issuer decides the dispute in your favour, the network pulls the funds back from their cardholder and returns them to Stripe. If the issuer decides in their cardholder's favour, the issuer keeps the funds that were originally debited from Stripe, which either reimburses the issuer for the funds they already credited their cardholder or goes to the cardholder at this point, if the issuer did not already credit them.

While the card networks have rules and regulations about when money moves between Stripe and the issuer, there are none that govern timelines for money movement between an issuer and their cardholder. When an issuer receives money for a dispute – typically upon the creation of the dispute – and when an issuer returns these funds to their cardholder are not the same thing, and are at the sole discretion of the issuer.

If one of your customers is experiencing a problem receiving funds from their issuer for a dispute that was decided in their favour, they'll need to contact their issuer for clarification on what timelines and expectations they should have for the return of disputed funds. Stripe cannot assist in returning disputed funds back to the cardholder. Cardholders will need to contact their issuing bank for information on the return of funds.