New Credit Card Authorization Holds

I have two chase credit cards that I have used all over the U.S. for years, and have never informed chase and have not had an issue, and I travel a lot for work and personal trips. The rare times that I get a fraud alert, chase makes it very easy to respond to via text or calling if you want. I have also never had an issue with my cell reception at AKL/V and don't see myself notifying chase in the future, I will take my chances based on my past experiences. I have a trip in early April, I will use my MB to charge and put my chase visa on the account as usual. I get text alerts for all authorizations so this could get interesting...
 
I always find it amusing how new posters always seem to find these sorts of threads.

You are asking for trouble if you use a debit card with this system in place for sure. A CC is no guarantee it still wont bite you, but many people that use their Visa Debit as a CC will find they are locked out of money they planned to spend. Holds also seem to take a lot longer to drop off with bank cards. Though my Cap1 takes several days too. YMMV.
Actually your best bet would be to use a prepaid debit card or debit card with no overdraft fees with no more than you are willing to spend loaded on it, but definitely check the policies of the card you are planning to use to confirm they allow it. The one that I will be using actually doesn't hold the funds for hotel authorizations, only the final charge. And if somehow the hold does get placed multiple times and holds up the money, I can call them (or chat) and explain and they will fix it via temporary credits that automatically remove once the hold is removed (in other words what the hotel is supposed to do automatically).
 
We switched to debit I apologize. We usually keep our credit card (Chase Disney) on file during our trips. My card expired and I didn’t realize it so we had to switch to our bank, which is also Chase.

You did not specify if credit or debit card. If you used a debit card (you said overdrawn), the hold process would be different than with credit cards. This thread stated earlier that resorts, restaurants, car rental companies, etc. regularly notify customers to be aware of their personal bank’s policies for holds. It appears as if customers who have used credit cards for charging have had holds placed and lifted efficiently as expected. Specifically see detailed summary from @PJofNB. Now if you did use a credit card, that could be concerning for people with low limits.
 


We switched to debit I apologize. We usually keep our credit card (Chase Disney) on file during our trips. My card expired and I didn’t realize it so we had to switch to our bank, which is also Chase.
No apologies necessary, especially since end use is often similar for the cardholder whether debit or credit card. As debit cards are funded in a completely different way than credit card purchases, I don’t know that your experience last week is much different than it would be at any company who protects itself financially with authorization holds. I cannot speak for certain as I don’t use a debit card when traveling. I do think your experience serves as a warning for those who choose to attach a debit card to a WDW room going forward. Debit card users will need to be prepared for extensive and/or multiple holds, or pay as they go with no room charging.
 
Am I understanding correctly that if I do online check in a credit card is required to be on file?
I won’t be charging anything back to the room with this new system in place but I will have to pay the parking fee at the resort.
In my case would that mean they put a hold of the parking fee plus another $100 on top of that?
 
Now I'm wondering if Disney is a trigger for at least some people lol.

Our SWA CC is the card on file for Disney. We actually just got back from Disneyland and used it--no issues never notified them either. Used it at Disney World back in 2017 no issues either. Wonder if it's because ours is through SWA?? IDK

It's something to keep in mind though that domestic travel notifications aren't necessarily a thing of the past; not having cell service for sure makes it harder to notify you (would make the more immediate notifications nearly useless lol).
I have one with American Airlines and if I purchase my flights with it, they send an email telling me I don't have to notify them of my travel plans. They can see where and when I'm traveling. I do notify Chase, but I don't know if it would cause problems if I didn't. My opinion is, it's easy, so why take chances?
 


Am I understanding correctly that if I do online check in a credit card is required to be on file?
I won’t be charging anything back to the room with this new system in place but I will have to pay the parking fee at the resort.
In my case would that mean they put a hold of the parking fee plus another $100 on top of that?

Yes. I'm not sure about the parking fee, but you would be subject to the $100 hold. The only way to avoid the hold is to not do online check-in and not add a card to your folio at the check-in desk when you arrive.
 
No, the trigger was the fact that we made a charge very late in California just before our flight and another charge in Florida just after landing and the second one was a large charge (not to Disney) and they felt is was too close together to not ask.

And yeah, the cell service was an issue, btw, this was the end of January, so before the new hold stuff started as well, always best to notify them anyway, since you can do it online, it takes just a few seconds.

That's a similar scenario that triggered our Chase Disney card to freeze for suspected fraud. My husband had made a purchase over the phone from a company in CA (we're on the east coast). For some reason, that purchase showed up as an "in person" transaction. Then later that same day, he purchased several computers from Dell to have shipped to our church. The next morning we purchased gas at a gas station over 150 miles from our home and in a different state. I'm not surprised Chase flagged the account for potential fraud. Now I make sure to notify Chase whenever we travel out of state. It takes 30 seconds to do it on the website. I don't care if I *have* to do it or *don't* have to do it. I choose to do it. Better safe than sorry.
 
Everyone's mileage and situation will vary. I don't see the purpose in arguing whether you should, could, have to, or don't have to inform your bank of travel. The only thing that matters here is how this process works and how will it impact people's cards and bottom line. The choice to inform or communicate with your bank will be individual and situational.
 
Since we only use a debit card attached to our bank account to pay off our room (and that’s currently what’s on file with Disney and what we’ve always used in the past for room charging), I think this year I will not do online check-in and when we arrive (though our trip will already be paid off) i’ll ask the front desk to remove the debit card from our file and we will not be charging anything with our magic bands. If you could put a large Disney gift card instead of a CC or debit card I would do that but since you cannot i’ll just carry the GC with me and use it for my purchases that won’t be a problem.
 
Since we only use a debit card attached to our bank account to pay off our room (and that’s currently what’s on file with Disney and what we’ve always used in the past for room charging), I think this year I will not do online check-in and when we arrive (though our trip will already be paid off) i’ll ask the front desk to remove the debit card from our file and we will not be charging anything with our magic bands. If you could put a large Disney gift card instead of a CC or debit card I would do that but since you cannot i’ll just carry the GC with me and use it for my purchases that won’t be a problem.

This is exactly what we did, and will continue to do! I really wish Disney would let you attach GCs but understand why they don’t.
 
Why don't they? I can't figure this one out. DCL lets guests put OBC on their folio. What's the difference?
Just guessing, but maybe because the charges don't post immediately. I don't know that it's possible to hold funds on a GC. When I've used them to pay online at ShopDisney, they hold the funds on my credit card until they process the GC payment.
 
Just guessing, but maybe because the charges don't post immediately. I don't know that it's possible to hold funds on a GC. When I've used them to pay online at ShopDisney, they hold the funds on my credit card until they process the GC payment.
I wonder if that's the same for pre-paid Visa or Mastercards? Can you tie one of those to your account? They run through like Credit pretty much but they have a finite amount on it and it will decline when the amount is used up. It's not like your personal account that may just overdraft on the banking side but still run through on the merchant side.
 
Why don't they? I can't figure this one out. DCL lets guests put OBC on their folio. What's the difference?

I was told that they stopped doing it because people would load up their "account" with $1000 worth of Gift Cards, only use $500 and had tossed the original gift card. Any $$ refunded HAD to go on the original Gift Card. There was a work around but it took hours and multiple layers of WDW management to get it done. Most people couldn't stick around and wait due to catching ME, flights, etc and were none too happy to have to wait for a new Gift Card to be mailed to them. Then some people would complain they never got the Gift Card and once they got confirmation another was on the way they would quickly spend the $$ on the original refunded card. So they said screw it, it's not worth the hassle.
 
I was told that they stopped doing it because people would load up their "account" with $1000 worth of Gift Cards, only use $500 and had tossed the original gift card. Any $$ refunded HAD to go on the original Gift Card. There was a work around but it took hours and multiple layers of WDW management to get it done. Most people couldn't stick around and wait due to catching ME, flights, etc and were none too happy to have to wait for a new Gift Card to be mailed to them. Then some people would complain they never got the Gift Card and once they got confirmation another was on the way they would quickly spend the $$ on the original refunded card. So they said screw it, it's not worth the hassle.
But the same would apply to DCL.

Also, there really is no reason the money has to go to the same gift card. I don't think any other company has that policy.
 
But the same would apply to DCL.

Also, there really is no reason the money has to go to the same gift card. I don't think any other company has that policy.

It was explained to me that the archaic system used at WDW, and only WDW, makes it so that it has to go back on the original Gift Card.
 
It was explained to me that the archaic system used at WDW, and only WDW, makes it so that it has to go back on the original Gift Card.
Disney, home of 21st century ideas run on 1990s tech? (or something to that effect, MDE in theory is glorious but in reality is buggier than may fly season)
 

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