Common questions about credit and debit card pre-authorization

An authorization hold is when your bank "holds" the balance of a debit or credit card transaction until the merchant clears the transaction or the hold "falls off," making the balance available to you again.

Authorization holds on debit cards

With debit cards, authorization holds (also known as card authorization, pre-authorization, or pre-auth) can fall off the account anywhere from 1–10 days after the transaction date depending on your bank's policy.

Authorization holds on credit cards

With credit cards, authorization holds may last as long as 30 days, depending on the issuing bank's policy.

Our Accounting Professionals Division pre-authorizes customer credit/debit cards for the individual customer's product purchase amount.

If you're pre-purchasing before the planned release date, the credit/debit cards are pre-authorized when you initially order.

Pre-authorization makes sure the credit/debit card you provided has enough balance to cover future payments.

It depends on your individual credit/debit card. Contact your financial institution for more details.

It depends on your credit/debit card company. We're unable to remove pre-authorizations.

We've implemented the practice of pre-authorization holds years ago. More customers prefer debit cards, which has increased inquiries regarding pre-authorization holds.