What a temp authorization or preauth hold means
A temp authorization, a temp hold, or a preauth is the bank's way of saying a merchant has asked to reserve money. It is not the same as a posted purchase. The approval can be larger than the bill you finally pay, and it can sit on the account until the merchant finishes the sale or lets the hold go.
Last updated: October 17, 2026
Last checked: Oct 2026
What the words are for
People see TEMP AUTHORIZATION, TEMP HOLD, PREAUTH, or a pending line because that is how their bank prints an approval. A Visa Select Plus Hybrid card agreement in the CFPB's public agreement collection, opened 17 October 2026, calls this an authorization hold. It says that if you authorize a transaction and then do not complete it, the approval may result in a hold for those funds. Merchants such as restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and car rental companies may start that hold. Funds in the hold are not available for other purchases or ATM withdrawals.
The same agreement says the issuer cannot tell in advance whether the hold will be larger than the final transaction. It also says the issuer has no control over when a merchant settles a previously authorized transaction or releases a hold you authorized. So the letters on your screen are your bank's label. The clock is mostly the merchant's, not a number printed on that agreement.
A Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. consumer credit card agreement in the same CFPB collection says transactions at some merchants, including hotels, car rental companies, restaurants, and gas stations, may be authorized for more than the actual purchase. That makes less credit available for several days, usually until the merchant sends the actual purchase amount. Several days is the phrase that agreement uses. It does not print one number of days for every store.
The full list of these short names is on statement codes. A pending line and a later posted line are explained on pending vs posted charges.
How a hold differs from a posted charge
A posted charge is a finished purchase on the statement. A hold is a reservation. The statement PDF is usually the posted record. A hold that never becomes a purchase can disappear from available balance without ever becoming a line you pay. If the merchant later sends a smaller amount, the posted line can be lower than the hold. If you added a meal, fuel, or extra days, the posted line can be higher.
Do not add the hold and the posted line together and call it two purchases. Wait until the pending line drops. If two posted amounts remain for one receipt, that is charged twice. A short merchant name in front of the hold is still the store. Unknown charge on a statement is the page for a name you do not recognize.
The CFPB's March 2023 Supervisory Highlights on junk fees describes a different problem that starts with the same delay. Some banks charged an overdraft fee when a debit or ATM transaction was authorized against a positive balance and later settled against a negative balance, because other transactions landed in between. The Bureau treated that practice as an unfair unanticipated overdraft fee. A hold is not itself that fee. If a fee appears after a hold, write down the hold, the posted purchase, and the fee as three separate lines.
What you can do while it is pending
Check the merchant receipt for the amount you agreed to, and check the bank app for the amount on hold. Gas pumps, hotels, and rentals are the cases the agreements name, because those merchants often approve an estimate. A restaurant may approve the meal and then add a tip later. The posted amount is the one that includes the tip if the merchant sends it.
You generally cannot stop a card purchase the way you stop a check. The Visa Select Plus agreement says that, except as the agreement provides, you do not have the right to stop payment on a purchase made with the prepaid card. If the hold is a mistake, call the merchant first and ask them to release it. If the merchant has already settled, the bank is looking at a posted charge, not a hold. Dispute steps for a posted charge you did not allow are on dispute a charge in the US and dispute a charge in Canada.
There is no single national day count on the pages opened for this guide. Do not treat a story about one company's appraisal hold as the rule for a gas station. Use the date on your own pending line, and ask your bank what their screen means by temp, preauth, or hold.
Upload the statement on Expenvo. The PDF stays on your device. Expenvo lists the lines so you can match a short name to a date and an amount. It does not call the bank, and it does not dispute a charge.
Questions
- Is a temp authorization a charge?
- No. It is an approval that reserves money. The posted purchase, if the merchant sends one, is the charge. The hold can be larger than that purchase.
- When does the hold drop?
- The Visa Select Plus agreement says the issuer does not control when the merchant settles or releases the hold. A Wells Fargo agreement says several days, usually until the merchant sends the actual amount. Neither page prints one number of days for every merchant.
- Why is the gas or hotel line bigger than my receipt?
- Those merchants are named in both agreements as places that may authorize more than the final purchase. The posted amount should be the bill. The extra approval should fall off when that posts.
- Does Expenvo release a hold?
- No. It reads the statement you upload. A hold that never posts may not be on the PDF at all.
Sources
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