$1 charge on card after making reservations...

[TwoCortWort]

I have been busy making our ADR for April and last night had to use my credit card and this morning for a phone call from the credit card company stating that they thought there was a fraudulent charge made and it was for $1 from Disney. When I made it for BOG this didn't happen, so why now for a character meal?? Anyone else have this happen and is this typical?

 

[Snooks23]

That's strange.. I'm making my reservations on Tuesday & have about 10 to make. I hope they would tell me if they are charging me.

 

[I married a king]

This happened to us also. We were told that when my husband made the reservation over the phone and the cast member asked if he wanted to leave the card number on file and he said yes so they charged 1.00. When he called back he was told he could make another payment of 1.00 on a different card and the new cast member clicked the no button so that cancelled out the previous 1.00 charge. I know this sounds confusing. Worth a call to see if the same thing might work for you.

 

[lovingeire]

That happened to me as we'll for a character meal, but not all of them. I believe it disappeared, but I can't remember! I'll check!

 

[DLB]

I have heard of places charging a dollar to make sure the card is active and then deducting the dollar charge a few days later. Maybe that is it?

 

[DeborahA]

We actually had this happen to us about 3 months ago, Disney wasn't at fault, it was another company for us. The credit card fraud dept. told us it is a move thieves use to test to see if the card is active. They use a computer to roll thru credit card numbers, attempting to put thru a small charge to test. Then they hit it with larger charges. Ours was a dollar at first, then they put thru a large charge at a travel agency in Europe.

 

[CalSea12]

Yep this happened to us and my card got locked. I had to call to get my card unlocked. I am wondering does WDW tell us about this $1.00 and I just did not see the warning? I am pretty sure that the money was put back.

 

[LovinPooh]

When i was making adrs my card was declined on the 6th one. Threw a fraud alert lol.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

It's really weird that they called you about it, because my understanding is that it's the bank that processes those $1 charges. Some banks put through a $1 charge when Disney checks that the card is active, and then they void or reverse it later. Other banks don't do that so no money ever moves.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

They put a $1 hold on the card to make sure it is valid. I use an AMEX card and I know if I make 10 ADR's with cc gty's, I will see 10 $1 charges from Disney in pending activity, but they do end up falling off about a week later.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

I have heard of places charging a dollar to make sure the card is active and then deducting the dollar charge a few days later. Maybe that is it?

 

[sachilles]

They are likely not active charges, but what are called authorizations.
Your card typically does not get charged anywhere until and end of day cycle. When you use a card at any point of sale, funds are authorized. That is basically seeing that you have enough money on your account to cover the estimated charges. The point of sale places a hold authorization until they close out at the end of the day, then the actual charges hit your account.

This can be particularly problematic to debit card users. I strongly suggest that anyone that is using plastic, avoid using debit cards, for lodging reservations, car rental reservations or any other type of purchase where the final charge may change including restaurants where a tip function occurs . While in essences they act like credit cards, they do not behave quite the same and can cause a large inconvenience to folks. These authorizations are common place, but folks tend to never notice them on true credit cards. However on debit cards, since they are linked directly with your checking account they can place holds on your funds in that account until the hold authorization is released. In some cases that may take days........just a few short years ago it could be as much as 60 days until some credit processing laws were changed. Now it can be turned around in 24 hours if everyone involved has their act together.

The process with debit cards in these situations can be made worse by well intentioned staff trying to help the guest, ultimately those efforts can cause additional problems.
I work for a large resort and credit processing is part of responsibilities. I'd strongly discourage anyone from using a debit type of card for lodging, and a select group of other types of charging.
For your own sanity, don't pull out a debit card unless you fully intend to charge the full amount on that card. The big problem that arises is that when folks check in, they are asked for a card for security deposits and to cover incidentals. Folks pull out any card, thinking it doesn't matter, because they'll pay with X at the end of the stay. The truth is that car will be authorized for the full cost of your stay, plus a percentage that is an estimation of what incidentals might be.
So keep the debit card in the pocket if you have a true credit card to use, please trust me on that.

 

[aaarcher86]

They put a $1 hold on the card to make sure it is valid. I use an AMEX card and I know if I make 10 ADR's with cc gty's, I will see 10 $1 charges from Disney in pending activity, but they do end up falling off about a week later.

This 100%

 

[Halbleib1]

It must depend on the bank as pp said because I use a debit card all the time for making adrs and never had it be charged anything. Of course we always have the dining plan as well so maybe that is why. I have also never had any holds placed on my debit card while traveling either. The hotels we have stayed at didn't even put the charge for the room through until the next morning when we checked out. The only issue I run into with using a debit card is if a transaction is over a certain amount I have to call because there is a daily limit.

 

[bumbershoot]

It's really weird that they called you about it, because my understanding is that it's the bank that processes those $1 charges. Some banks put through a $1 charge when Disney checks that the card is active, and then they void or reverse it later. Other banks don't do that so no money ever moves.

YES. It's completely up to the bank and their procedures.

What the bank was seeing for the OP was the ping to the card to see if it's real; that's what caused the fraud dept to sit up and notice it. This happens sometimes. I think the guy on the phone just got a little confused.

I've never once seen a $1 charge on our CU or bank for authorizations, but when we had a different bank I would see them.


ETA, and when I worked amazon customer service, I would get calls from people talking about the $1 charge and complaining that we said we didn't charge until shipping. We did not charge, but some banks showed the $1 charge when the card was simply authorized. That $1 would fall off depending on the bank's timeline. At that time I was also a BIG customer of amazon (my shopping cart's "save for later" area is STILL, 10 years later, chock full of items I found while helping other customers that I still want, some day) and I never EVER saw that $1 charge. It's 100% up to the bank if they do that, and how long it's kept.

 

[TwoCortWort]

I am relieved I am not alone. My card number has been stolen in the past so they call when weird charges pop up. Better safe than sorry.

 

[cruisingkat]

I have had this happen when a charge card is required for a dining reservation. Basically it is to check that the charge card is good as it would be charged if you were a no show (without canceling). They don't do this if you are charged for the meal when you make the reservation such as the dining events for food & wine such as the 3D dessert party.