New Credit Card Authorization Holds

[Princess Jasmine]

Just returned from a weekend trip at Beach Club Villas. We used our MB to pay for almost everything as I wanted to see how the new policy was handled. This is what happened:

Checked in on Friday using online check in. There was a $100 pending charge placed on our card. We spent $95 on the MBs on Friday night. No new hold as of Saturday morning. By midday break on Saturday our room charge total was $327...we used the MB many times as we were eating at F&G booths in EPCOT. There were 2 additional pending charges placed on our card one for $107 and one for $173 taking our holds up to $380. At break I went down and paid off the room charge with a GC as I wanted to see if any additional holds would be placed when we charged more to the MB on Saturday night. We then spent an additional amount of around $150 dollars again using the MBs many times. No other holds were placed. At around 11pm Saturday night I was still showing the three pending charges for a total of $380. We checked out of BCV on Sunday morning. When I checked my card again around 1pm on Sunday the three pending charges were still there but the front desk had also placed three pending credits for the exact same amounts...therefore zeroing out the total. All of these are still there today if that matters to anyone. Also, I was using a Discover card.

 

[Pats Dragon]

Just wrote in another post about our glitch. On second day had to go by desk. They said account was messed up. Turns out (I think, because I had to figure it out myself after writing a check for our room.) is that even though I did online check in they did not charge my card for my room nor did they charge my card when I went by the desk at check in. That made my balance 1600+ which is over the limit of 1500. Always ask that your room be paid at check in and have them print proof.

 

[Sajchinook2015]

Just returned from a weekend trip at Beach Club Villas. We used our MB to pay for almost everything as I wanted to see how the new policy was handled. This is what happened:

Checked in on Friday using online check in. There was a $100 pending charge placed on our card. We spent $95 on the MBs on Friday night. No new hold as of Saturday morning. By midday break on Saturday our room charge total was $327...we used the MB many times as we were eating at F&G booths in EPCOT. There were 2 additional pending charges placed on our card one for $107 and one for $173 taking our holds up to $380. At break I went down and paid off the room charge with a GC as I wanted to see if any additional holds would be placed when we charged more to the MB on Saturday night. We then spent an additional amount of around $150 dollars again using the MBs many times. No other holds were placed. At around 11pm Saturday night I was still showing the three pending charges for a total of $380. We checked out of BCV on Sunday morning. When I checked my card again around 1pm on Sunday the three pending charges were still there but the front desk had also placed three pending credits for the exact same amounts...therefore zeroing out the total. All of these are still there today if that matters to anyone. Also, I was using a Discover card.

Thanks - this is what I wanted to hear. I always pay off room charges with disney GC and this was good news.

 

[jadephoenixx]

Just curious if anyone has asked to have a specific dollar amount be put on hold at check-in instead of the standard $100?

Reason I ask: I have my spending all planned out with enough GCs to cover it. I like the convenience of charging with my MB at the parks so I would like, for example, a $500 hold be placed immediately so that I can charge with my MB and pay off with my GC when I get close to the $500. I’m thinking if I can do this, I can avoid multiple holds and a potential fraud alert from my CC company.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Just curious if anyone has asked to have a specific dollar amount be put on hold at check-in instead of the standard $100?

Reason I ask: I have my spending all planned out with enough GCs to cover it. I like the convenience of charging with my MB at the parks so I would like, for example, a $500 hold be placed immediately so that I can charge with my MB and pay off with my GC when I get close to the $500. I’m thinking if I can do this, I can avoid multiple holds and a potential fraud alert from my CC company.

If you try, please report back. With the system this new, what someone experienced last week may not be indicative at all of what you would experience with this same request. Also, while policy might be one thing, what actually happens could vary CM to CM.

 

[jadephoenixx]

If you try, please report back. With the system this new, what someone experienced last week may not be indicative at all of what you would experience with this same request. Also, while policy might be one thing, what actually happens could vary CM to CM.

I definitely will!

 

[lizerbug]

What if you want to charge back to your room but pay off the balance with a gift card? It goes directly to your credit card so that you can't do this?

 

[Erin1213]

An authorization hold for the remainder of any balance due on the reservation and an additional $100 for estimated incidental expenses will be placed on the card on the scheduled arrival date. Additional authorization holds will be placed on the card, through and until the end of check-out day, as incidental expenditures exceed the amount previously authorized on the card.

So does this mean that there will be an authorization hold for resort parking fees (10 nights) upon my arrival. Yes...I'm driving from Maryland

 

[Kimrlav]

What if you want to charge back to your room but pay off the balance with a gift card? It goes directly to your credit card so that you can't do this?

My understanding is the magic band charges will be charged to the credit card every 5 days of the stay and at checkout. You can pay charges with a gift card by going to the front desk before day 5 of your stay. Please correct me, if this is the wrong information.

 

[cmwade77]

My understanding is the magic band charges will be charged to the credit card every 5 days of the stay and at checkout. You can pay charges with a gift card by going to the front desk before day 5 of your stay. Please correct me, if this is the wrong information.

That is not entirely correct anymore, it appears that they will charge your card anytime your balance exceeds $100 or every 5 days, whichever comes first and they will place an additional $100 hold on your card at that time.

I believe you could still pay with a gift card even after they have charged to your card and the charges would get refunded, but that may take a week or so depending on your bank.

 

[Kimrlav]

That is not entirely correct anymore, it appears that they will charge your card anytime your balance exceeds $100 or every 5 days, whichever comes first and they will place an additional $100 hold on your card at that time.

I believe you could still pay with a gift card even after they have charged to your card and the charges would get refunded, but that may take a week or so depending on your bank.

Thanks very much for this information -- really appreciated it!

 

[Searc]

That is not entirely correct anymore, it appears that they will charge your card anytime your balance exceeds $100 or every 5 days, whichever comes first and they will place an additional $100 hold on your card at that time.

I believe you could still pay with a gift card even after they have charged to your card and the charges would get refunded, but that may take a week or so depending on your bank.

Incorrect, but I am on ipad so not typing out correct info. Will correct tomorrow if no one else has.

 

[PolyRob]

Thanks very much for this information -- really appreciated it!

The new policy states that an initial $100 charge on top of any remaining balance will be placed on the card on check-in day. From there, additional $100 authorizations will be placed as you charge back. If you spend $99, no additional hold. If you spend $101, another $100 and so-on. If you are staying longer than 5 days, your card will be charged every 5th day and then finally check-out day. The 6th day and so on would start new $100 authorization charges.

Those are the main takeaways I've read from this thread and Disney. I haven't experienced the new policy yet, but I have an upcoming stay and Disney sent this link to me a few weeks back https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/payment-card-policy/?cid=PDM49163&bid=970654164

 

[Wood Nymph]

That is not entirely correct anymore, it appears that they will charge your card anytime your balance exceeds $100 or every 5 days, whichever comes first and they will place an additional $100 hold on your card at that time.

I believe you could still pay with a gift card even after they have charged to your card and the charges would get refunded, but that may take a week or so depending on your bank.

That's not correct. They don't charge your credit card whenever your balance exceeds $100, they place a hold on your credit card for $100 plus your balance. A hold is not the same as a charge. We were there when the new credit card policy began and they initially kept a $100 hold on our credit card for the entire trip, even though I paid off our balance nightly with a gift card. They never charged our credit card.

 

[jbethel77]

A “hold” on a debit card is pretty much the same as charging the card...as it takes away from your available money to spend & can take over a week for a hold to come off. I know most use regular credit cards, but there are a lot of people who choose to use debit.. this new policy sounds like a disaster for those people but I haven’t seen any reports of personal experience yet..

 

[Iowamomof4]

A “hold” on a debit card is pretty much the same as charging the card...as it takes away from your available money to spend & can take over a week for a hold to come off. I know most use regular credit cards, but there are a lot of people who choose to use debit.. this new policy sounds like a disaster for those people but I haven’t seen any reports of personal experience yet..

There have been a couple, and you are correct that it did NOT go well. I would not recommend a person use a debit card for charging to the room during a Disney vacation with this new policy.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

My understanding is the magic band charges will be charged to the credit card every 5 days of the stay and at checkout. You can pay charges with a gift card by going to the front desk before day 5 of your stay. Please correct me, if this is the wrong information.

This is correct.

They will put holds on your card as you pay with your magic band, but the holds will come off without charges to your card if you pay it off with gift cards prior to the 5th day/check out.

 

[wn01aa]

Just curious if anyone knows which way this works:

Let say you charge $700 to your magicband which means about $800 in holds have been placed on your credit card. When they go to do the actual charge do they also do pending credits for the amount they actually charge to kind of get rid of the holds they put on instantly or do they just charge the $700 which means until the holds come off naturally (number of days depends on card and if credit or debit), the available credit is reduced by $1500?

 

[PJofNB]

Just curious if anyone knows which way this works:

Let say you charge $700 to your magicband which means about $800 in holds have been placed on your credit card. When they go to do the actual charge do they also do pending credits for the amount they actually charge to kind of get rid of the holds they put on instantly or do they just charge the $700 which means until the holds come off naturally (number of days depends on card and if credit or debit), the available credit is reduced by $1500?

When we were there in early March, they applied pending credits at the same time they put through the actual charge, so I had no extra reduction in available credit.

 

[Scar1199]

Just curious if anyone knows which way this works:

Let say you charge $700 to your magicband which means about $800 in holds have been placed on your credit card. When they go to do the actual charge do they also do pending credits for the amount they actually charge to kind of get rid of the holds they put on instantly or do they just charge the $700 which means until the holds come off naturally (number of days depends on card and if credit or debit), the available credit is reduced by $1500?

We just got back and this is what we experienced. After 5 days a charge of $900 was put on our card, but we still had the previous 4 days of holds still showing. So our credit limit was showing the $900 plus the holds for 4 days, which gave me a scare.