Independent. Ecosystem-wide. Purpose built.

The Payment Disputes Institute exists because the gap between how payment dispute frameworks were designed and how they actually operate today deserves serious, sustained attention.

The gap

Commerce has changed. The rules have not kept pace.

Cards are used to pay rent, settle BNPL instalments, book professional services, and transact across complex multi-party platforms. The dispute rules that govern what happens when something goes wrong have not kept pace.

The result is ambiguity — absorbed differently by banks, merchants, acquirers, and consumers — with real costs that are rarely attributed to their source.

PDI was established to examine this gap from the perspective of the whole ecosystem, rather than any single participant. Our work spans independent research, published analysis, and the cross-ecosystem perspective that no individual party is placed to assemble on its own — drawing on input from across the industry to bring a problem that belongs to everyone into clear view.

Who we serve

We don't advocate for any one group. We publish what the evidence supports.

We advocate for the problem, not a party — and the problem touches everyone. Our research is relevant to:

Banks & issuers

Managing disputes at scale.

Merchants & platforms

On the receiving end of chargebacks.

Acquirers & gateways

Operating within scheme rules.

Regulators & policy makers

Examining consumer protections across payment rails.

About the founder

Nina Kutzner

Nina Kutzner has spent her career across the payments ecosystem — in disputes, chargebacks and payment operations on both the issuing and scheme sides of the industry. That vantage, having seen the same problem from more than one corner, is what PDI is built on.

PDI was established from direct experience of the gap between how the rules are written and how they are applied — and a conviction that clarity here is achievable, and worth pursuing.