Pending Charge on Credit Card

I am still waiting for a pending charge to come off of a Citibank card (Costco) at 20 days now. I called NCL and the Woman in billing stated before I could tell her which card said "you put the deposit on a Citibank card" I said right! She advised me that Citibank takes 30 to 35 days for the pending charges to fall off. She advised to use any other card if you want pending charges to fall off in 5 to 10 business days. The other advice she said is NEVER use a Visa or Mastercard Debit card for any cruise deposits on board. This is a Credit card problem, not an NCL problem.

ATM cards, even those with a Visa/MC logo used for pending charges in your account could make accessing $$$ impossible if you carry low balances. Pending charges put a lock on funds in your bank account attached to the ATM card.

A credit card hold on your Visa or Mastercard (not a debit Visa or M/C) will put a hold on your credit limit. Make sure you have enough available credit or funds in your bank account if you use a Debit Card before setting out on vacation, could save you a headache.

Sad to say, some people innocently don't know how different cards work and find out the hard way.

I am still waiting for a pending charge to come off of a Citibank card (Costco) at 20 days now. I called NCL and the Woman in billing stated before I could tell her which card said "you put the deposit on a Citibank card" I said right! She advised me that Citibank takes 30 to 35 days for the pending charges to fall off. She advised to use any other card if you want pending charges to fall off in 5 to 10 business days. The other advice she said is NEVER use a Visa or Mastercard Debit card for any cruise deposits on board. This is a Credit card problem, not an NCL problem.

ATM cards, even those with a Visa/MC logo used for pending charges in your account could make accessing $$$ impossible if you carry low balances. Pending charges put a lock on funds in your bank account attached to the ATM card.

A credit card hold on your Visa or Mastercard (not a debit Visa or M/C) will put a hold on your credit limit. Make sure you have enough available credit or funds in your bank account if you use a Debit Card before setting out on vacation, could save you a headache.

Sad to say, some people innocently don't know how different cards work and find out the hard way.

Thank you very much for this information, very helpful for all to read. I used a MasterCard Debit and it takes 31 days to clear. I will get myself a Credit Card.

If your complaint isn't that it is done this way then it's a bit odd that the majority of your post consisted of complaining that it is done this way.

 

Anyway, that aside, I can't comment on the time that it took your pending charge to disappear, other than to say that in all of our cruises, my charge on my credit card has always disappeared immediately when the real charge arises. There are known issues with debit cards apparently, so hopefully you now know for the future.

 

Coincidently, I was emailed today by a provider of one of these currency cards. This is what it said in the details:

 

"It’s important to remember that there are a few things that your card’s not built for.

To get the most out of your card, we recommend that you don’t use it for: reserving a hire car, a hotel room, or on a cruise."

It's one of the main reasons why I don't bother with them, and just stick to my credit card and pay a small foreign currency fee.

Thanks for your reply, all the info seems to point to DO NOT USE A DEBIT CARD. I have learnt the hard way, I just ordered a Credit card on line.

The problem described is not limited to debit cards. It is entirely dependent on the policy of the credit card company or bank you are using. Each financial institution establishes its own hold policies, which under federal law can not exceed 30 days. I use American Express. I find it incredibly annoying with AMEX, if the hold amount does not match the final payment amount, AMEX continues the hold for the full 30 days. So, in situations like described above – – where the cruise line puts through daily holds and then processes a final payment in the aggregate amount, the daily holds are not released when The aggregate amount comes through because the aggregate amount does not match the amounts of the daily holds.

If you have a limit on your credit card, and the credit card company has a policy such as the one AMEX implements, you run the risk of encountering the same problem -- getting to your next vacation location and having your credit card company decline charges because the holds put you over your limit.....

I am still waiting for a pending charge to come off of a Citibank card (Costco) at 20 days now. I called NCL and the Woman in billing state...

There really is no reason to call anybody. It will go away in time. It does not ding your credit or cause interest to be billed.