Pre authorisation on credit cards

[nho9504]

No because the OP is too busy being upset with those that don't agree with them to listen to helpful info. The OP could also call HAL and see if some arrangement could be made to put less down. I know others have been successful in getting the amount reduced.

 

I hope this "OP" does not mean me who started the thread.

 

For the records, the holds HAL put on our cards, while being twice as it should have been, they amounted to less than 15% of the credit limits of said cards. Not to mention we have other cards with us that together they have an aggregated total credit limit of close to $100K. I challenge anyone on this board would need this much credit for a trip. :rolleyes:

 

Now if you are talking about a deposit for a future cruise - I have no comment as we normally book our cruises well pass the final payment date so they are always pay in full within 24 to 48 hours of booking.

[RuthC]

I hope this "OP" does not mean me who started the thread.

No, I'm sure she means the person who did start this thread; you did not. You started a different thread on a similar topic.

[cruz chic]

I hope this "OP" does not mean me who started the thread.

.

OP = Original poster.

 

Frankly, I'm getting tired of this thread. I've seen so many of them. I really wish people would do proper research and if the don't like the policy of the cruise line they should vote with their feet. Problem solved.

[nho9504]

1) I think most everyone would actually read that I have mention numerous times that I do not really care about the hold amount but rather curious to how HAL would come up with such a strange amount instead of the nice $60 per person per day formula which should yield $840 hold on each of our cards, instead of $1774.95 on one (that the passenger had $300 OBC) and $1908.50 on the other (that the passenger had $50 OBC).

 

How would the amount being more than doubled than the formula stated clearly in the documents at check-in? And came in such an odd figure? That was my initial reaction and was hoping the collective wisdom / experiences from this board would offer answers or plausible explanation. Obviously this exercise has failed and only HAL would know or even know, the mystery.

 

Normally this would probably be over once the final bills are posted... Well, on my husband's account, it works as it should have been. On mine, a different story...

 

As my updated post mentioned that now HAL put a FRESH #302.50 hold on my card, being the EXACT difference from the initial $1908.50 and the actual final bill $1606. An even bigger mystery.

 

First of all, they put TWICE the amount as specified in their T&C, Passengers had no clue because passengers hadn't checked their bank accounts online during the whole cruise. Then when the cruise was over, and final bill settle, HAL put back a fresh hold?!

 

Of course, this forces me to call HAL tomorrow to see what kind of explanation HAL could come up... I will then update the thread.

 

2) I think some of the posters have a wrong perception on credit card and have very little knowledge on how credit card works when it is used as a form of GUARANTEED Payment. When merchants put a hold on your card, the merchants essentially have a guarantee of payment up to and may be above (by a margin that is trade secret) the pre-authorized amount. In the case of rental car and hotels, they have agreements that allow them bill far more than the authorized amount should there be damages / loss to their properties. Try to rent a car with debit card or cash, you will find it either would cost you a whole lot more as deposit or you have to go thru pre-arranged agreement with the location because now the merchants lose their "guaranteed form of payment".

 

3) Different cards have different reward programs and fees. In this day and age, anyone who does not learn how to maximize the reward programs is essentially leaving a lot of "free money" on the table. Of course it takes efforts to understand and learn how to make the most out of your spending but it is your money - whether you want to earn 2 to 5% (and could be much higher if what you earn is airline miles / hotel points) on every dollar spent or you earn nothing, the choice is totally yours.

 

4) I dont see how anyone would be happy to pay the 2.5 to 3% foreign transaction fee when there are 0% forex fee cards out there.

 

For the math-challenged, a 3% fee on a 2-weeks international trip that had $5000 spend (hotels, flights, train tickets, local sightseeing...) means $150. Would you like to keep the $150 in your own pocket or would you not care to throw it away?

 

5) It is always a good practice to give travel alerts to your card issuers on a trip aboard. However it does not always preventing your card(s) from being frozen. Always bring 3 cards at least, preferably a Visa, a MC and an AMEX.

 

Also bring ATM cards from different banks but make sure your bank does not charge a hefty fee plus forex fee for out of network withdrawals. We use Fidelity and Schwab's check cards that has no forex fee, and reimburse 100% ATM fee should there be any. However so far I have not seen a foreign ATM charges a fee while many domestic ATMs would charge $2 to $3 if the card is not from the ATM's operator. Presto machines which do not affiliate to any bank, obviously charges a fee on any card from what I understand.

 

Most fraud prevention measures are based on your spending patterns therefore anything out of your ordinary patterns would trigger fraud alerts sometimes regardless you have already put in a travel notice.

 

6) Banks being vigilant on unusual spending out of necessity because they need to protect themselves. At least this is for the US-based banks because of the strong consumer protection laws in PERSONAL credit card usage. (Business card does not afford same protection at all, so beware.) Other countries, including Canada, have MUCH WEAKER protection. An Canadian bank even sued our friend when his wife's card was skimmed when she shopped in Toronto claiming those fraudulent charges were actually hers. At the end the stupid bank lost the case and had to make penalized compensation to our friend. Such case would not be imaginable in US due to the strong law. Therefore banks are the one who "eat" the fraudulent charges and as a result, the banks here are much more vigilant in fraud prevention.

 

6) People should not make life-style comments about how others handle their finances. This too often would lead a thread completely off-track and degenerate the thread to a point that is not worth reading.

[nho9504]

No, I'm sure she means the person who did start this thread; you did not. You started a different thread on a similar topic.

 

Ooops, I obviously posted to the wrong thread. I need to copy the update to my own thread. :o

 

OP = Original poster.

 

Frankly, I'm getting tired of this thread. I've seen so many of them. I really wish people would do proper research and if the don't like the policy of the cruise line they should vote with their feet. Problem solved.

 

Well, dont read the threads with this topic. Problem solved.

[nho9504]

A quick update before speculations ran rampant.

 

I totally forgot to call HAL today during day time and only remember this thing when I finally started to update our accounting records. (I spent 2 hours this morning sorting the pile of mails, then ran some errands after that, and finally got all the bills / bank statements / broker statements etc etc organized, junk mails threw away...)

 

By the time I logged on Citibank's site to look at the HHonor cards account activities, it was already 8:30 EST. Immediately I noticed there was a NEW authorization of $302.50 on my card from "Steamships / Cruiseline" being put on 11/06 though I dont think it is there before today despite the date shown. The final bill did post correctly with a date of 11/05. Again, the bill was NOT shown on 11/05 our disembarkation date, nor even yesterday before midnight. It must show up today after last night's update but carries 11/05 date.

With Citibank, you only see the transaction date online during mid-cycle. The Post Date would only show up AFTER statement is closed. This is an annoying shortcoming of Citibank's online function to say the least.

 

It is so strange that, instead of releasing the pending authorization since the final bill is billed, it looks like HAL has put a FRESH hold to my account with the amount being the EXACT difference between the 10/22 authorization of $1908.50 and the actual bill of $1606.00.

 

When I called Citi, the supervisor said there was no merchant's name associated with the $302.50 pending, other than the Merchant Category, and furthermore, there is no authorization ID associated to this pending authorization. Although the supervisor insisted that the authorization has to come from the merchant and could not be generated from the bank within. I have seen many pre-authorizations from hotel's stays before - they usually carry an authorization IDs. It is a common practice for hotels overseas to run an authorization and give you the "receipt" to show the amount they put on but emphasize to you it is an authorization only. There is ALWAYS an authorization ID / reference number on the "receipt".

 

Oddly, on my husband's card which has has $1774.95 hold on 10/22, the hold completely dropped off and only his final bill of $1677.95 shows on his card.

 

Citi's supervisor dug up HAL's number for me. When I called, the reservation rep said the accounting dept has already closed - they work 7 to 5pm Western time, so they were already closed when I discovered this oddity on my card. The rep gave me the accounting dept direct toll free number which is 1-888-663-5384.

 

Now, not only for the communty's good, but for my own good also, I would have to call HAL tomorrow to find out exactly what has been going on.

 

wrong thread. sorry about it.

[cruz chic]

 

 

Well, dont read the threads with this topic. Problem solved.

That's very true. I expect people to act like adults and that is my mistake. I just hope one day people will learn from these threads, but it never seems to be the case.

[cruz chic]

6) People should not make life-style comments about how others handle their finances. This too often would lead a thread completely off-track and degenerate the thread to a point that is not worth reading.

Yes, no one should post comments unless they support the OP. I get it now. Maybe you would have more luck with your family on that. Hate to say it but people are going to post opinions. I sure hope you'll phone HAL tomorrow to get this cleared up. If I was as upset as you are about this you can bet I would have been on phone first thing this morning. Clearly, it's more important to carry on here about how you've been wronged instead of going to the source.

[SALAD MUNCHER]

Yes, no one should post comments unless they support the OP. I get it now. Maybe you would have more luck with your family on that. Hate to say it but people are going to post opinions. I sure hope you'll phone HAL tomorrow to get this cleared up. If I was as upset as you are about this you can bet I would have been on phone first thing this morning. Clearly, it's more important to carry on here about how you've been wronged instead of going to the source.

 

Just to let you know, I hadn't responded because being in the UK your post was in the middle of the night here, it's now only 8am! I have taken on board the comments of everyone who has posted and have decided to use the fee card as the guarantee and keep the zero fee card available. We have never used a cruisse line that asked for this guarantee before and we did not know the system. So thank you everyone who has clarified how this system works.

 

I do think though that some of your posts, not only to me but to others on this thread, are quite unnecessarily sarcastic. This board surely is about experienced cruisers giving advice when asked, not berating posters' for thier opinions / comments!

[hrhdhd]

ALL cruise lines will use the hold to make sure you have the funds.

 

Not true. Disney doesn't place a hold on a card, and I believe someone stated earlier that Cunard doesn't either.

[cruz chic]

Just to let you know, I hadn't responded because being in the UK your post was in the middle of the night here, it's now only 8am! I have taken on board the comments of everyone who has posted and have decided to use the fee card as the guarantee and keep the zero fee card available. We have never used a cruisse line that asked for this guarantee before and we did not know the system. So thank you everyone who has clarified how this system works.

 

I do think though that some of your posts, not only to me but to others on this thread, are quite unnecessarily sarcastic. This board surely is about experienced cruisers giving advice when asked, not berating posters' for thier opinions / comments!

And you were so nice about HAL. Pot meet kettle. What really is bothering you is that you don't like the message. This is the way HAL functions. You either need to call them and arrange a deal, or more on to a cruise line that does not request a hold. Like it or not, that is the deal.

[richwmn]

Not true. Disney doesn't place a hold on a card, and I believe someone stated earlier that Cunard doesn't either.

As far as Cunard -- I found this while using google to search "Cunard Credit Card hold"

Typically, shipboard personnel will run credit card authorizations at the start of a voyage to secure funds for folio charges. These authorized holds are only valid, however, for up to 30 days. Therefore, as the Tremblays would be sailing for 107 days, subsequent authorization holds would need to have been placed in order to ensure that full payment of charges would be valid.

If we were to process only one charge at the end of the sailing, only the last authorization hold 30 days prior to the end of the cruise would be valid. All the other prior authorizations would have already expired. Charging a card without sufficient preauthorizations could result in a declined charge or a possible increase in credit card fees.

For these reasons, shipboard personnel will place credit card authorization holds every 30 days on all sailings lasting more than that amount of time or, in the instance of the World Cruise, charge the credit card with total charges incurred for each segment.

This was a response by LORRI LANNING, Specialist, Guest Relations, Cunard on another web site.

[Sopwith]

As to going ballistic if a card is frozen....... IF, IF, IF you called in advance to advise them you would be using the card in a vacation location, then you would be right. If, If, If you did not alert them, they acted reasonably IMO

 

 

This thread has degenerated a little, so this will likely be my last post here. However, for the record, I travel a lot for business and I think I'm pretty savvy about these things. My card has a flag on the account advising them that I travel extensively throughout North America. When we travel elsewhere we do make a practice of phoning the CC company ahead of time. However, when I check out of one hotel at 9:00 am, and use the same card to check into another hotel in another city at noon, only to find it has been shut down due to "suspicious activity", without even the courtesy of telling me, and which they won't elaborate on, I get a little testy. (True story.)

 

The prevalence of CC fraud is inexcusable and demonstartes that the crooks are smarter than the CC companies' security folks. Clearly they need to up their game.

 

I still think it is a sad commentary on society when so many people seem to be prepared to tolerate this kind of treatment because of the actions of a tiny minority. Please, at least agree with me that we should be able to expect the CC companies to improve their security features in a less intrusive way. If we have the technology to land and operate the most sophisticated geological laboratory even known to mankind on another planet 50 million miles away, surely we can improve the abysmal state of credit card security.

 

<End of rant. Thanks for listening.>

[Typhoon1]

I don't know anyone who turns their nose to $180.

 

 

Donald Trump maybe.

 

That's more he could donate to donate to the charity of the President's choice. :D:D:D:D

[mamaofami]

 

I have had my card blocked while travelling several times by the card issuer because they "suspect" a perfectly legitimate transaction was fraudulent. Then they get huffy when I go ballistic on them for leaving me stranded with an inop card. I don't react very well to that type of treatment. Sorry to the apologists, but fraud perpetrated by someone else is not my problem.

 

I always call our credit card company to let them know we will be out of the country and where we will b e. We've never had a problem.

[hrhdhd]

As far as Cunard -- I found this while using google to search "Cunard Credit Card hold"

 

This was a response by LORRI LANNING, Specialist, Guest Relations, Cunard on another web site.

 

Fair enough. I was referring to someone else's claim earlier on this thread.

[sail7seas]

 

 

<snip>

I still think it is a sad commentary on society when so many people seem to be prepared to tolerate this kind of treatment because of the actions of a tiny minority. Please, at least agree with me that we should be able to expect the CC companies to improve their security features in a less intrusive way. If we have the technology to land and operate the most sophisticated geological laboratory even known to mankind on another planet 50 million miles away, surely we can improve the abysmal state of credit card security.

 

<End of rant. Thanks for listening.>

 

 

 

 

 

Railing, screaming and going ballistic doesn't seem to work.

If one wants to know they will be able to use their credit cards, exactly what obvious choices have I overlooked that would enable us to use our credit cards if I choose to not abide by the issuer of the card's rules? If there is some other sure fire method, kindly educate us.

 

The only card I know of that does not request/require notification of expected unusual usage is AmEx. Clearly that becomes our card of choice for that (and a great many other) reasons.

 

Ballisitc didn't seem to get the freeze on the card in question removed so what would? What other choice do people have? I think the response is 'follow the rules' no matter how worldly and sophisticated we may be.

 

JMO....

 

[sail7seas]

I always call our credit card company to let them know we will be out of the country and where we will b e. We've never had a problem.

 

 

I also call ahead of our travels but every time from two banks I am always told that if we have difficulty using the card at some merchant's business, we should call. :rolleyes: What?

 

What is the point of callling in advance if you are still going to advise me to call? Exactly how many times do you need to be told we are expecting to be using the card in the cities/islands I have delineated?

 

That gets under my skin.

 

To date, we have not had that problem but it irritates me to be told we still might have a problem despite having followed their rules. :(

 

[vicocala]

I also call ahead of our travels but every time from two banks I am always told that if we have difficulty using the card at some merchant's business, we should call. :rolleyes: What?

 

What is the point of callling in advance if you are still going to advise me to call? Exactly how many times do you need to be told we are expecting to be using the card in the cities/islands I have delineated?

 

That gets under my skin.

 

To date, we have not had that problem but it irritates me to be told we still might have a problem despite having followed their rules. :(

 

 

Believe it or not, I think they are just trying to reassure you that they will take care of things if you still end up with a problem. :)