New Credit Card Authorization Holds

[Iowamomof4]

It makes my head hurt, and I don't think I get it.

$100 hold on my card. I then go and spend $40 in the parks. So now the total is $140? Next day I spend $35, hold is now $175. That's all I put on my card. On day 5 Disney only charges the $75 and the hold goes away? Is this correct? Or I decide to go to the bank and take out $75 to pay it off. Hold goes back to $100 and I start over? Day 5 hits and I decide to not pay off the balance. Now it's $120. Disney only charges me that $20 and the $100 is now gone? Am I understanding this correctly?

First, the hold shouldn't increase until you spend more than $100. Disney will charge your card for whatever the balance is on your account when day 5 arrives. You can easily track that in the app.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

First, the hold shouldn't increase until you spend more than $100. Disney will charge your card for whatever the balance is on your account when day 5 arrives. You can easily track that in the app.

See, I told you I didn't understand. Sorry. So what would I see on my checking account? The $100 hold standing alone and then all my purchases on day 5 that Disney sent through?

 

[Turksmom]

See, I told you I didn't understand. Sorry. So what would I see on my checking account? The $100 hold standing alone and then all my purchases on day 5 that Disney sent through?

Yes, as long as the charged amount stays under $100, you will not see any additional holds. At check out or on day 5, they will charge the actual amount spent and release the $100. The time it takes for that $100 to actually become available to you again is dependent on your bank. So there may be a period of time where the $100 is still showing as pending/ authorized after the actual amount spent has been charged.

 

[Turksmom]

I've been experimenting with our short trips before the big one we have planned in November. My daughter is there with a friend right now and this time I did not pay off the room in advance. The room charge and $100 hold were authorized as a single, combined charge. I used the Chase Disney Visa and the amount is subtracted from available credit. That means when the room charge is actually paid, it will be run as a separate additional amount. Not a big deal for a few days for 2 people at All Stars for a few days, but 2 rooms at a deluxe for a week would take a big bite out of that available credit.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

Something interesting from our trip- checked in May 16th and checking out today. We were actually warned about the new policy by the front desk at Boardwalk. We were told to always have a card with us in the parks because room charges would suddenly stop working and people had been in the parks at meals unable to pay.

Every time I went to pay down the balance with gift card (every day or so) at least one guest was up there struggling with the room charges. The staff was well aware of the issues.

I'll be staying at BW in a few weeks and wanted to ask if it was a hassle to go down to pay down your balance every few days with a GC? That is our prefer way of paying down our room balance but it seems like it may be iffy these days based on what I've read here.

 

[dreamer17555]

The staff at the Boardwalk is top notch. They will be happy to help you pay down every few days. I will note the lines at the front desk can get long, especially now with the new system causing havoc. If you don’t mind waiting they will be happy to help you.

 

[smile145]

Just got back from a stay at Boardwalk. We had the initial $100 pending charge, then each day that we spent over $100 we had the actual charge show up as a pending charge, so if we spent $149 at Yachtsman, a $149 pending charge showed up. On day 5, without warning, our charging ability stopped while at dinner at Ohana (even though it worked right before hand at Tambu lounge). The waitress tried both with the handheld scanner and manually and told us it stated no card was associated with our band. We had to go to the front desk at Poly to fix it, but they claimed they didn’t know why it happened. Reading this thread I guess it’s a common 5th day problem. Very annoying and embarrassing as the waitress treated us as if we were trying to charge without a valid card linked.

 

[marikujawa]

I got a response call from Disney and they seemed totally unwilling to admit the 5th day problem. The CM just kept saying each charging issue was unique and they didn’t expect problems going forward.

 

[smile145]

Just got back from a stay at Boardwalk. We had the initial $100 pending charge, then each day that we spent over $100 we had the actual charge show up as a pending charge, so if we spent $149 at Yachtsman, a $149 pending charge showed up. On day 5, without warning, our charging ability stopped while at dinner at Ohana (even though it worked right before hand at Tambu lounge). The waitress tried both with the handheld scanner and manually and told us it stated no card was associated with our band. We had to go to the front desk at Poly to fix it, but they claimed they didn’t know why it happened. Reading this thread I guess it’s a common 5th day problem. Very annoying and embarrassing as the waitress treated us as if we were trying to charge without a valid card linked.

I forgot to add that I have now been home for 4 days. They have charged my card for my total ($1400 and change) but they have not released all the daily pending charges yet. I use a credit card so it’s not a huge deal to me but if it was a debit card they would currently be holding an additional $1400 of my money in a pending state.

 

[bluezy]

I forgot to add that I have now been home for 4 days. They have charged my card for my total ($1400 and change) but they have not released all the daily pending charges yet. I use a credit card so it’s not a huge deal to me but if it was a debit card they would currently be holding an additional $1400 of my money in a pending state.

It's your credit card/bank that's not releasing the holds or pending charges, not Disney. Just curious (for comparison purposes), what kind of credit card did you use?

 

[smile145]

It's your credit card/bank that's not releasing the holds or pending charges, not Disney. Just curious (for comparison purposes), what kind of credit card did you use?

Well that’s odd because I’ve never had that happen elsewhere. For example we stayed at a Marriott on the drive down and a Hampton Inn on the drive back. Both places put a pending charge at check in for incidentals and both cleared off the card the day after checkout. Why would my card clear those but not clear the Disney ones? I think it’s more likely that Disney didn’t release those charges. The card is the Disney Chase Visa.

 

[bluezy]

Well that’s odd because I’ve never had that happen elsewhere. For example we stayed at a Marriott on the drive down and a Hampton Inn on the drive back. Both places put a pending charge at check in for incidentals and both cleared off the card the day after checkout. Why would my card clear those but not clear the Disney ones? I think it’s more likely that Disney didn’t release those charges. The card is the Disney Chase Visa.

Somewhere on this thread (or maybe it's on a different message board...can't remember and don't have time to look right now), a few people who work for credit card companies confirmed that the actual credit card company/banks are the ones who take time to release the holds (any hold, not just the Disney holds). Many gas stations have signs at the pumps indicating that while they put through a hold on your credit card, they release it immediately but your credit/debit card may take up to 7 days to release it. We just took a 3500 mile road trip and stayed in 6 different hotels (not all the same "brand") and every single one of them had a sign on the front desk indicating they would be putting a hold on your credit/debit card (they actually strongly suggested NOT using a debit card to pay for your hotel room) that would be released at check-out but your credit card company/bank could take 7 or more days to release that hold and there is nothing the hotel can do about it. During that trip, our holds fell off anywhere between 24 hours and 5 days after check-out. The long wait for holds to drop happens at places other than Disney. You've just been fortunate and haven't experienced them. And some people have reported that their holds at Disney disappear shortly after check out. It doesn't make sense that Disney would release some holds immediately and others not for days (of course, there are plenty of things that Disney does that don't make sense...including the way they're handling these credit authorizations, so who knows..... ).

 

[smile145]

Somewhere on this thread (or maybe it's on a different message board...can't remember and don't have time to look right now), a few people who work for credit card companies confirmed that the actual credit card company/banks are the ones who take time to release the holds (any hold, not just the Disney holds). Many gas stations have signs at the pumps indicating that while they put through a hold on your credit card, they release it immediately but your credit/debit card may take up to 7 days to release it. We just took a 3500 mile road trip and stayed in 6 different hotels (not all the same "brand") and every single one of them had a sign on the front desk indicating they would be putting a hold on your credit/debit card (they actually strongly suggested NOT using a debit card to pay for your hotel room) that would be released at check-out but your credit card company/bank could take 7 or more days to release that hold and there is nothing the hotel can do about it. During that trip, our holds fell off anywhere between 24 hours and 5 days after check-out. The long wait for holds to drop happens at places other than Disney. You've just been fortunate and haven't experienced them. And some people have reported that their holds at Disney disappear shortly after check out. It doesn't make sense that Disney would release some holds immediately and others not for days (of course, there are plenty of things that Disney does that don't make sense...including the way they're handling these credit authorizations, so who knows..... ).

Ok thanks. I guess the difference for me is that these aren’t really holds that haven’t been released . The other hotels it’s a hold for incidentals. These are the actual restaurant charges, such as $149 after we went to one restaurant, $209 after going to another restaurant etc, so they are the pending charges for those meals. Disney then charged the total amount for all room charges including those restaurants ($1400) but the pending charges for each restaurant/each day (each charge over $100) were not released.

 

[HopperFan]

Well that’s odd because I’ve never had that happen elsewhere. For example we stayed at a Marriott on the drive down and a Hampton Inn on the drive back. Both places put a pending charge at check in for incidentals and both cleared off the card the day after checkout. Why would my card clear those but not clear the Disney ones? I think it’s more likely that Disney didn’t release those charges. The card is the Disney Chase Visa.

Yeah, I'm with you .... I think Disney is pointing fingers at the CC companies on this one. I have the same experience as you. When I get gas, the hold hits and as soon as the charges clear at day end the hold usually drops. Hotels always clear as soon as I check out and settle up. I check my accounts constantly and Disney is the one company that sits in my pending the most. You just can't blame the credit card company when you are the only vendor that I have an issue with this happening.

Last trip we had the room hold. It sat there a LONG time after home and yet the other places that trip that put holds on dropped immediately after the end of the business day. For about two years prior I had declined charging back to the room, specifically because the charges were often not timely and I didn't want to deal with a web of people for issues. Disney is fairly constant at not having anyone who takes responsibility for issues, always pointing one elsewhere. Anyway if I just use my charge card at the time of purchase, in case of issues I can deal direct with credit card company. This last trip, knowing I wasn't going to charge to the room, I still allowed charging to see how the hold would work and would it be gone at check out. It sat there for days after home.

My opinion ~ Disney is holding the funds longer in anticipation of some random charges showing up after you check out. It's a big place where folks are charging all over, it wouldn't be a surprise if some charges are not processed quickly. I check my bills very closely on check out and am often surprised at the lags in some of the charges to our room. The fact that they are snowballing the holds as you spend creates a whole different scenario and business model.

 

[AngiTN]

Well that’s odd because I’ve never had that happen elsewhere. For example we stayed at a Marriott on the drive down and a Hampton Inn on the drive back. Both places put a pending charge at check in for incidentals and both cleared off the card the day after checkout. Why would my card clear those but not clear the Disney ones? I think it’s more likely that Disney didn’t release those charges. The card is the Disney Chase Visa.

The only thing I can think is the amount Disney uses takes longer than a lower amount

 

[Iowamomof4]

Our holds cleared very quickly from our Chase Visa. I don't recall exactly how long it took, but only a couple days or so.

 

[Iowamomof4]

It makes me wonder if this (holds clearing quickly or not) could possibly vary from resort to resort as well as from credit card to credit card?

 

[lanejudy]

Ok thanks. I guess the difference for me is that these aren’t really holds that haven’t been released . The other hotels it’s a hold for incidentals. These are the actual restaurant charges, such as $149 after we went to one restaurant, $209 after going to another restaurant etc, so they are the pending charges for those meals. Disney then charged the total amount for all room charges including those restaurants ($1400) but the pending charges for each restaurant/each day (each charge over $100) were not released.

I think those are "holds" -- if your expense (a single expense, like a TS meal) is more than $100, there is an additional "hold" placed equal to the amount of that expense. If you charge multiple smaller amounts (a souvenir plus a couple of snacks then another souvenir) - the "hold" is a flat $100 once the charges surpass that level. But when larger charges hit, the additional holds are the full larger amount. You said Disney charged the full amount including those "holds" - which also indicates those were holds and each will drop-off individually.

It is very confusing, especially for someone used to watching their CC activity very closely.

 

[Pkltm]

I forgot to add that I have now been home for 4 days. They have charged my card for my total ($1400 and change) but they have not released all the daily pending charges yet. I use a credit card so it’s not a huge deal to me but if it was a debit card they would currently be holding an additional $1400 of my money in a pending state.

It's your credit card/bank that's not releasing the holds or pending charges, not Disney. Just curious (for comparison purposes), what kind of credit card did you use?

We had the same situation, we actually called our credit card (AMEX) to inquire and they said that Disney charged the balance separately and did not release the hold. It took a about 5 days for the hold to drop off after we got home.

 

[smile145]

I think those are "holds" -- if your expense (a single expense, like a TS meal) is more than $100, there is an additional "hold" placed equal to the amount of that expense. If you charge multiple smaller amounts (a souvenir plus a couple of snacks then another souvenir) - the "hold" is a flat $100 once the charges surpass that level. But when larger charges hit, the additional holds are the full larger amount. You said Disney charged the full amount including those "holds" - which also indicates those were holds and each will drop-off individually.

It is very confusing, especially for someone used to watching their CC activity very closely.

The second Disney charges the full amount ($1400), they should cancel/release all the individual holds. That hasn’t happened and I’ve been home for a few days. Other holds from other hotels were released immediately. I guess that’s what I was pointing out.