New Credit Card Authorization Holds

[Scar1199]

Does anyone know if you can call to remove the credit card on file and remove charging privileges or is it only possible at the front desk, which means it would be too late for the first $100 hold.

You should be able to do that in your MDE. You can go in and edit or add a card so just go in and remove and card on file.

 

[Farro]

I was just on a DVC page on FB. Several people reporting getting denied at point of purchase (mainly as they were trying to charge at a restaurant). The holds plus the amount billed are exceeding their credit limit.

I know some might want to attach a low limit card in case of CC theft. You might want to reconsider that strategy. Ugh. How embarrassing to have your CC declined. Had it happen more than once in Europe this summer because our CC company won’t make travel notes

One poster asked at a restaurant what would have happened if she hadn’t had an alternative method of payment on her at the time and no one had an answer. So make sure you’re carrying one. Kinda defeats the purpose of the band though...

Ugh. That's awful.

 

[EACarlson]

I know Chase deducts holds from your CL, I know Navy Fed does not and American Express does not. Any other DPs from other issuers? How quickly holds drop off are irrelevant if the issuer still allows you to charge up to your limit with the hold on there. Looks like I may be using my AMEX Gold or Navy Flagship rather than my Chase Sapphire Preferred when we go in Nov.

 

[gwynne]

Well this right here is the big problem I see that Disney has.

There must be tons and tons of families that go to Disney with a set spending limit in mind. Let's say $2,000 for their entire trip. They know they have that to spend on their credit cards, they know that is their max, they know when they get their monthly paycheck (or whatever method) they will pay that off. With the way Disney is implementing the "incremental" charges this is not possible for that family. And if someone has JUST a debit card to use, well that is a whole different story.

I do believe Disney will revisit this policy and make changes to it in the near future.

And for those that think complaining will do NO GOOD, that is not true. If enough complain Disney WILL change this policy. They recently just changed the DVC 2020 Points because so many people complained.

I agree with you. The big thing is that now this issue is becoming a distraction from vacationing. Keeping an eye on the actual charges, the holds, making sure the extra holds fall off, and hoping that all the extra odd hold charging doesn't initiate a fraud alert.

And, just for fun, for some this also means worrying about declinations even though they should have available credit. They might not, because of the holds.

It will be much easier to just use a CC at all points of purchase and skip paying with a magic band all together.

 

[Spridell]

ill be much easier to just use a CC at all points of purchase and skip paying with a magic band all together.

Which completely goes against why Disney implemented the Magic band in the first place.

 

[DisLiss]

I agree with you. The big thing is that now this issue is becoming a distraction from vacationing. Keeping an eye on the actual charges, the holds, making sure the extra "holds" fall off, and hoping that all the extra odd "hold" charging doesn't initiate a fraud alert.

And, just for fun, for some this also means worrying about declinations even though they should have available credit. They might not, because of the "holds".

It will be much easier to just use a CC at all points of purchase and skip paying with a magic band all together.

It will behoove Disney to NOT let this turn into a situation where guest feel they need to go back to using their CC for all purchases. Our plan when we go, for instance, is to let all of our bands be linked to our room, so that our kids (who will be plenty old enough to go off together to pick up food or check out a store) can purchase things on their own bands without constant parental assistance. I guarantee we will spend more in the parks if we are using those bands than if DH or I have to go pull out the actual charge card for every darn purchase. And I doubt we're the only ones.

Our limit is such that I am not concerned about accumulating holds causing me an issue in terms of decreased limit. But I am a bit concerned about my credit card company's fraud system kicking in unnecessarily due to multiple holds. We've had an instance of annoyance here or there over the years because they're a bit cautious to begin with, and we're not typically big spenders, so the sheer volume of out spending on trips is why we always call them so they hopefully won't freak out. But I don't know how these repeated holds will affect their alert system. I hope no differently, but it's like you said, I don't want to have to think about that at all while we are there. I love the idea of purchasing things with nothing but the bands so I don't have to be concerned about losing a card or cash. Yes, I'd likely tuck a small amount of cash as a back-up into our park bag, but not nearly as much as i would carry if I was using cash for everything.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Which completely goes against why Disney implemented the Magic band in the first place.

I don't think that's a new thought. I've seen that expressed for a long while. They carry the cards,id, and/or cash anyways. So they just use it for FPs and ride photos.

 

[Turksmom]

I know Chase deducts holds from your CL, I know Navy Fed does not and American Express does not. Any other DPs from other issuers? How quickly holds drop off are irrelevant if the issuer still allows you to charge up to your limit with the hold on there. Looks like I may be using my AMEX Gold or Navy Flagship rather than my Chase Sapphire Preferred when we go in Nov.

My AmEx (Hilton Honors) does deduct holds and authorizations from the limit and it takes several days for them to drop off. Also, when I've had pending credits issued on that card, they do not go back into the available credit until fully processed.

 

[EACarlson]

It doesn't from my BCE, but I guess I've never checked on my Hilton, I only use that when I'm staying at a Hilton Property.

 

[Turksmom]

It doesn't from my BCE, but I guess I've never checked on my Hilton, I only use that when I'm staying at a Hilton Property.

That's where I used it that I noticed the holds.

 

[Spridell]

I know Chase deducts holds from your CL, I know Navy Fed does not and American Express does not. Any other DPs from other issuers? How quickly holds drop off are irrelevant if the issuer still allows you to charge up to your limit with the hold on there. Looks like I may be using my AMEX Gold or Navy Flagship rather than my Chase Sapphire Preferred when we go in Nov.

Capital One also deducts holds from your CL

 

[cmwade77]

I was just on a DVC page on FB. Several people reporting getting denied at point of purchase (mainly as they were trying to charge at a restaurant). The holds plus the amount billed are exceeding their credit limit.

I know some might want to attach a low limit card in case of CC theft. You might want to reconsider that strategy. Ugh. How embarrassing to have your CC declined. Had it happen more than once in Europe this summer because our CC company won’t make travel notes

One poster asked at a restaurant what would have happened if she hadn’t had an alternative method of payment on her at the time and no one had an answer. So make sure you’re carrying one. Kinda defeats the purpose of the band though...

Well, we will be on the dining plan, so all we will be paying for with room charges at the restaurant are tips. A lot of others will be the same way, so I can see this happening: if the room charge got denied, the server would loose out on a tip and I would apologize profusely, but let them know that it is due to how Disney is now handling holds on the credit card for room charges. If the servers keep loosing on tips as a result of this practice, they will get their union to step in and ask Disney to come up with a viable solution. I know it sounds mean, but really I don't see any other way that these things will get fixed, as even if you don't spend money in the stores, then Disney just thinks more people are spending less on merchandise because they don't like what's offered for sale and/or it is too high a price, there is no direct feedback to be given there. Same goes for dining at restaurants and revenue being down because you wouldn't have gone into the restaurant in the first place if you knew you wouldn't be able to pay and the reality is you still have to eat, so likely you will use alternative payment methods. There will be a small percentage that will say something to the hotel manager or guest services, but not enough, so sadly that leaves the servers in the hot seat as they are the only ones that have enough power to do something about this and they will only do so if they have enough incentive to do it.

And I don't know that I personally would do this just to be clear, but it will start happening fairly frequently if this isn't fixed somehow.

 

[cmwade77]

It is so varied it is hard to figure out what they are doing (maybe they are changing things on the fly). Some report that only charges over $100 each day are added as holds where some other people on FB are reporting that they had an additional hold of $100 on their credit card added each day even if they never used their card. (example, 10 night stay receiving a $1000 hold even if you never charged). Some report that Disney puts on a credit memo once the real charge is done to stop the "double authorization hold" while others say they just do the charge and then tell the company to drop the holds but the bank might take days or week to remove it. A very weird thing. Maybe they should just do real charges instead of holds so that the only hold on the card is the original $100.

They should probably do real charges every $100 and stop this hold nonsense.

 

[EACarlson]

IF they charged it every $100 it would be less of an issue, every $250 even less, but that would cost them money to run that many charges.

 

[cmwade77]

IF they charged it every $100 it would be less of an issue, every $250 even less, but that would cost them money to run that many charges.

That depends on their merchant account. For example, Square offers an "unlimited" account that charges one flat fee for up to a certain dollar amount (varies based on how much you pay per month) with no per transaction charge. There are others that charge say 1% of the transaction as long as it is over a certain dollar amount ($100 would always meet this), again no per transaction fee. These deals are only available to larger companies that do a certain minimum volume of charges and I can't imagine a business as large as Disney doesn't hit that minimum to qualify for these deals nor can I imagine that they are paying a per transaction fee.

So, I seriously doubt the extra charges would cost Disney anything and if somehow they are getting charged per transaction fees, every $100 would be better than people using the cards in the parks for every $5 charge and such.

Also, if they changed to charging every night (at 2 AM local time) or every $100, whichever comes first, it would bring their system even more in line with how the Disneyland Resort Hotels handle room charges and have a unifying system where no matter which coast you were on you would know how room charges work.

 

[Spridell]

Depending on which Bank you have the cards are all handled differently. Some take away from your credit line some do not. This is where a lot of problems are coming in. People getting outright denied for charges while they are at Disney trying to use their cards is not going to fly.

A better system needs to be put in place.

or

People will just have to use their CC for everything and no magic bands at all. People who use their magic bands will charge more than if they had to pull a CC out each time. I am sure Disney has done studies on this.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I have decided we won't use the room charging feature at all. I know with absolute certainty that we will spend less that way. Good on you, Disney! Shot yourselves right in the foot.

 

[Scar1199]

They should probably do real charges every $100 and stop this hold nonsense.

Or just skip the whole hold process and just direct charge everything. I like not needing to take my wallet to the parks so I'd be fine with all purchases just being charged to my card at the time of purchase.

 

[Spridell]

Or just skip the whole hold process and just direct charge everything. I like not needing to take my wallet to the parks so I'd be fine with all purchases just being charged to my card at the time of purchase.

Would be the best way to do it

 

[cmwade77]

Or just skip the whole hold process and just direct charge everything. I like not needing to take my wallet to the parks so I'd be fine with all purchases just being charged to my card at the time of purchase.

Yes, but there are those who want to pay the room balance down with a gift card, charging every $100 or nightly at 2 AM would give that chance. Of course better still would be to go back to allowing anyone to out gift cards on an account as a room credit and refunding any left over balance to the last gift card used and then doing immediate charges to credit cards.