Authorization Hold Times

meer53

Years ago, when we used to be able to remove authorisations (we can't now) the disclaimer had to come from the retailer, to confirm that they weren't going to debit the amount. Only when we had this confirmation could we remove the pending amount. The only authorisations we would do this on were genuine duplications on the same card though, hasn't the OP used 2 different cards ?

stclair

This is the post I was referring to however im not sure if the process is still in place:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=46435861&postcount=9

fairpoint

stclair wrote: »

This is the post I was referring to however im not sure if the process is still in place:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=46435861&postcount=9

That process is no longer in place, it was scrapped after the systems changed.

What can happen though is that in exceptional cases is if the OP can get amazon to send a fax to halifax/bank of scotland with the authorisation code and all the other details and admit they have made an error Halifax/bank of scotland can remove the authorisation on the understanding it still may debit the account.

Mikeyorks

fairpoint wrote: »

What can happen though is that in exceptional cases is if the OP can get amazon to send a fax to halifax/bank of scotland with the authorisation code and all the other details and admit they have made an error Halifax/bank of scotland can remove the authorisation on the understanding it still may debit the account.

Why would Amazon go to all that trouble - when they can go through their own merchant acquirer and simply zap the transaction themselves?

savagej

If is definitely set by Visa and Matercard that is why authorisations fall off, people forget about transactions and then it hits there accounts weeks or months later and they complain. It is a full 4 working days for all Visa transactions I can find the details from the Visa document it just would take me a while to find it. All banks should be following the same set of rules. Mastercard is 15 waorking days, unless the merchant cancels the authorisation sooner.

They can now do this using the fax method as outlined ealier or using the terminal they processed the transaction on.

Mikeyorks

savagej wrote: »

If is definitely set by Visa and Matercard that is why authorisations fall off,

No. They fall off because the Bank software gives up on waiting for a debit that doesn't arrive. And returns the earmarked funds to available.

Which is why - as explained to you - there are differing timeframes between the Banks. You're getting confused at the target times Visa etc set for retailers in order to mitigate 'I'm sure I didn't spend this' chargebacks.

savagej

I will copy and past the link to the document and direct you to the section on authorisation times, and how long they should be on held for, but for Visa only.

The reason you see different times is because you are not comparing like with like, an authoriation hold is based on something called a merchant caterory code (the reason banks can say given a 1% cashback on petrol purchases becase there is a specific MCC for petrol stations). So some merchants have longer peroids of hold than others but all of the same type have same hold length, it is built into the Visa and Mastercard systems

iblametheparents

I've seen authorisations with expiry dates of between 1-10 calendar days, generally they are around 7 days. The OP is correct, Amazon can fax your bank's debit card team confirming they won't be claiming the money and therefore get the authorisation reversed.

fairpoint

Mikeyorks wrote: »

Why would Amazon go to all that trouble - when they can go through their own merchant acquirer and simply zap the transaction themselves?

They dont have to if they dont wish to and a lot of companies will refuse to do this. If they dont then the OP will have to wait for the authorisation to drop off which can take up to 5 working days.

savagej

Mikeyorks wrote: »

How can the authorisation time limit be set by Visa / Mastercard? If a debit doesn't materialise and the Bank software gives up waiting and returns it from 'available' ..... how can that be an external factor.

This is a link to courses run by Visa on the processes of authorisation and settlement. http://www.visabs.com/default.aspx?e=247

The time is set by Visa and Mastercard and a maxmium number of days is set with respect to the merchant type, the transaction type e.g. chip and PIN, telephone, on-line etc and the card scheme and the type of card within that scheme (i.e Visa debit / Visa Business Debit, Visa Purchasing, Visa Electron debit, Visa Electron credit, Visa Electron prepaid, Visa prepaid, Visa credit, Visa interlink, Visa PLUS and lastly V-Pay with both migrated and conventional Visa numbering).

This process is a very complex one and one on which many on here make comments about which they are completely certain they are correct, indeed down to inventing card types such as "off-line" and "on-line" that don't exist in Visa or Mastercard nomenclature (EMV rules), but profess to understand the process from presentation to settlement of card transactions.