What is an authorization hold?

If you use your Card at an automated fuel dispenser ("pay at the pump"), the merchant may preauthorize the transaction amount (place a hold) on your Card Account of up to $75.00 or more. This may cause your Card to be declined even though you have sufficient funds on your Card to pay for the transaction. If this happens, pay for your purchase inside and tell the cashier exactly how much you want to spend. If you use your Card at a restaurant, a hotel, for a car rental purchase, or for similar purchases, the merchant or we may preauthorize the transaction amount for the purchase amount plus up to 20% or more to ensure there are sufficient funds available to cover tips or incidental expenses incurred. Any preauthorization amount will place a "hold" on your available funds until the merchant sends us the final payment amount of your purchase. Once the final payment amount is received, the preauthorization amount on "hold" will be removed. It may take up to thirty-five (35) days for the "hold" to be removed. During the hold period, you will not have access to the preauthorized amount. If you authorize a transaction and then fail to make a purchase of that item as planned, the approval may result in a hold for that amount of funds for up to thirty (30) days. All transactions relating to car rentals may result in a hold for that amount of funds for up to sixty (60) days.