Macys .com holds extra funds on your credit card

[frannn]

Placed a large order on Macy's.com this week because they had some decent deals. Called to add an item an hour or so later and they were very accomodating. Then I checked my credit card statement . They had put a hold on the entire order total on my credit card when I first placed the order, no surprises there. When I called to add a small item, they placed a second hold on almost the total amount of the original order. Then, they sent an email that my order would be arriving in several separate shipments, and yet a third hold was placed for every single shipment they were sending. They were holding the funds for three times the total of my order , and my credit card company told me it could be held for up to 10 business days. I've ordered a lot from them in the past but never noticed this because I usually don't spend so much on one order. When you are planning to shop a lot due to holiday sales, it stinks to find your funds are limited this way. I know I can shop this weekend with cash, but not online. Just wanted to rant and put the info out there in case anyone wasn't aware of their practices.

 

[DizMe]

OMG! Thanks for the heads up! How is that even legal? How can they hold 3 times the amount you purchased?

 

[ICF]

guess I dont see the issue, if it's a CC -- it's not as if you pay for pending charges when your bill generates. It's just there out there until the "real" charges hits your CC.

Is this really any different than a gas station doing a temporary charge for $100, even though you may only get $10 in gas?

Is your CC limit that low, that it maxed out your limit or something??

 

[DizMe]

guess I dont see the issue, if it's a CC -- it's not as if you pay for pending charges when your bill generates. It's just there out there until the "real" charges hits your CC.

Is this really any different than a gas station doing a temporary charge for $100, even though you may only get $10 in gas?

Is your CC limit that low, that it maxed out your limit or something??

OP said he/she made a large purchase. Let's say that was $500. Three times that amount would be a $1500 hold. Yes, that's an issue for many! Ten days would be a long time for a $1500 hold on a credit card and would seriously tick me off. It's different from a gas station in that the hold could be 15 times higher and a week + longer. Additionally, it's unfair to put a hold of that magnitude on someone's credit card when they didn't make a purchase that came close to that amount. In the case of a gas purchase, the hold is to cover the amount of gas you *might* purchase, as it isn't prepaid. In the case of merchandise, you've already paid for it so why is an extra hold necessary?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Many businesses do this, not just Macy's.

 

[frannn]

OP said he/she made a large purchase. Let's say that was $500. Three times that amount would be a $1500 hold. Yes, that's an issue for many! Ten days would be a long time for a $1500 hold on a credit card and would seriously tick me off. It's different from a gas station in that the hold could be 15 times higher and a week + longer. Additionally, it's unfair to put a hold of that magnitude on someone's credit card when they didn't make a purchase that came close to that amount. In the case of a gas purchase, the hold is to cover the amount of gas you *might* purchase, as it isn't prepaid. In the case of merchandise, you've already paid for it so why is an extra hold necessary?

As I said, in addition to this purchase, I was planning on big ticket purchases for Black Friday type sales (within the next 10 days). So yes, quite a bit more than the price of a tank of gas. If other merchants hold much more than the original purchase amount (not sure if its just Macy's that does this), this could be a bigger problem. Thanks for understanding my vent .

 

[sunshinehighway]

I had issues with Macys.com last year, not credit card holds just really crappy customer service. I had a problem with a sale item I ordered. The order was stuck in processing and I finally called to see when it would ship. The cs outright lied, saying it was shipping that day and as soon as I got off the phone the item was canceled for being out of stock. It was pretty clearly they had somehow lost the order and it wasn't noticed until I called. If they had just explained to me what happened and it was now out of stock, I would have been disappointed but understood things like that occasionally happen. The cs lying about it really ticked me off.

 

[ICF]

OP said he/she made a large purchase. Let's say that was $500. Three times that amount would be a $1500 hold. Yes, that's an issue for many! Ten days would be a long time for a $1500 hold on a credit card and would seriously tick me off.

I've never seen a hold last 10 days either -- typically it's 3 -4 days at most.

I dont understand the Macy's practice, but I would think it's not an issue for most people as they have limits higher than even the $2K that you outlined.

 

[Pooh2]

I've also had issues with Macys online. I ordered through a credit card shopping portal to send a gift to my daughter in another state. Two days later, I got an email that the order was cancelled. They said it was because it was shipping to a different address than listed on the credit card. Seriously?? A co. the size of Macy's?? They reordered but I lost about 1,000 pts from the shopping portal.

I saw another great sale and figured, my daughter's address was now on file so should not be a problem. They automatically cancelled again. I will stick with Amazon for shipping gifts.

 

[JanaDee]

People only have a $1500 limit on their credit card?

 

[Pooh2]

People only have a $1500 limit on their credit card?

My kids first credit cards in college gave them limits of $400. Took them awhile to get up to $1,500.

 

[livndisney]

People only have a $1500 limit on their credit card?

Or lower. Some cards start people out at 200-300 limit.

 

[DizMe]

People only have a $1500 limit on their credit card?

The limit is irrelevant. Why should a company hold 3 times the amount of the purchase? And with other large purchases upcoming, it's unfair to the card holder.

And yes, I had a $1200 limit (self-imposed) for many years. The bank was more than willing to increase it but I preferred it to remain low.

 

[tvguy]

The limit is irrelevant. Why should a company hold 3 times the amount of the purchase? And with other large purchases upcoming, it's unfair to the card holder.

And yes, I had a $1200 limit (self-imposed) for many years. The bank was more than willing to increase it but I preferred it to remain low.

I suspect you agreed to it in all the fine print when you opened the account.

 

[tvguy]

My kids first credit cards in college gave them limits of $400. Took them awhile to get up to $1,500.

$2,000 is pretty much the minimum now.

My kids both got Wells Fargo College Accounts when they started college.
That includes:
1) Free Checking account
2) Free savings account
3) No fee credit card with no co-signer with a $2,000 credit limit. Neither of my kids had any employment history or income history at the time they opened the account, or prior to it.

 

[Colleen27]

$2,000 is pretty much the minimum now.

My kids both got Wells Fargo College Accounts when they started college.
That includes:
1) Free Checking account
2) Free savings account
3) No fee credit card with no co-signer with a $2,000 credit limit. Neither of my kids had any employment history or income history at the time they opened the account, or prior to it.

That isn't true at all. Most banks give students higher limits based on certain assumptions - when I was in school they were handing out $5000 and $10000 limits to students with no income! - but non-students without a credit history don't get that same benefit of the doubt.

I only have one CC and it has a $750 limit. DH's has a $1000 limit. Neither of us had any negative accounts on our reports when we applied but we also didn't have any activity for many years either. We haven't requested increases nor have we been offered increases automatically. I loathe having to have a credit card at all so I'm not looking for higher limits; all we're looking to do is get our scores back to a point where we're not penalized for poor credit on our insurance premiums and we can do that without high limits.

 

[hj0519]

$2,000 is pretty much the minimum now.

My kids both got Wells Fargo College Accounts when they started college.
That includes:
1) Free Checking account
2) Free savings account
3) No fee credit card with no co-signer with a $2,000 credit limit. Neither of my kids had any employment history or income history at the time they opened the account, or prior to it.

No, that's definitely not true. I've had my credit card account open for 2 years (since I graduated college) and my limit now isn't even $2000. I think I started at something like $500.

 

[cattywampus]

Macy's.com is awful. Unless it is a simple order that goes straight through, you are way better off cancelling entire order. Any corrections or changes creates a huge mess that they can't ever seem to fix.

RUN!

 

[ilovemk76]

No, that's definitely not true. I've had my credit card account open for 2 years (since I graduated college) and my limit now isn't even $2000. I think I started at something like $500.

Over 30 years ago, I had a Visa with $500 credit.

 

[pachelbel9]

My Target card has a $300 limit. I've had it for years, pay it in full every month (sometimes 2-3x month just to free up the credit when I spend a lot). Frustrates me to no end that they won't raise the limit, and don't even entertain requests to do so. Yet my cap one Visa has a $20k limit (also paid off monthly). Some cc companies are just wonky, choosing limits with no rhyme or reason.