Visa Debit, Hotel payment, Pending transaction

emul

Registered User
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Have a UB Visa debit card which I used the the USA to pay for hotel. Hotel put through 2 pending transactions and then when I checked out put through one transaction for the total amount. However the 2 pending transactions are still on account and as this is a debit card has a hold over my available balance.

I have been onto Merchant (hotel) and five different depts in UB to no avail, they all advise the payment hold will have to expire (up to 10 working days) before fund can be released. You can not dispute the payment as it hasn't been made.

I have queried the hotel as to why they did the payment this way and up to now it's been standard procedure which they are now looking at.

I'd advise checking with hotel if your using a debit card as to their procedure to ensure you don't get caught up like this.
 
This always happens with debit cards and hotels. It can take up to 30 days for the hold to be released.
 
Using a debit card in a hotel is very dangerous because they not only put a hold for the amount you will have to pay for the room but also for 20-50% on top of that for other charges (Minibar, restaurant etc.).

When you have to use your debit card and you check out make sure that they do not simply put through another charge but utilize the previous authorization. It's slightly more complicated than simply swiping your card again because they need to enter the original authorization number but that way you will not be hit with a hold which as Time says can take up to 30 days. What happens is they adjust the amount of the previous authorization to the final and it will only block that not like in your case more.

Generally using debit card for hotels is not something one should do unless one can live without the funds for up to 30 days.

The hotel can release your authorizations by the way, there is a process to do that but it's labour intensive so they give you the 10 day excuse.
 
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