Authorizations

An authorization is the issuer's promise to pay: it approves the amount and holds it on the payer's account until you capture it. The promise runs out, and three parties decide when.

Last reviewed 2 November 2026. The card schemes change these rules about once a year, and an acquirer's contract can be stricter.

What an authorization does

When the issuer approves a payment, it reserves the amount on the payer's account, which the payer sees as a pending payment or a lower balance. No money moves until you capture. If you never capture, the reservation ends, and the payer has paid nothing.

An authorization is for the whole amount of the payment, and you can capture any part of it, once or several times, up to that amount.

How long it lasts

Three clocks run from the moment of authorization, and the first to stop decides what you can still do:

1. The issuer's hold. The payer's bank releases the reserved amount after a number of days that it decides, most often 7, and from about 3 to 30 depending on the bank and the card. After that, the payer sees the money as theirs again, though you may still be able to capture it.
2. The scheme's time limit. Each card scheme sets how soon a capture must follow the authorization. A later capture can still go through, but the issuer is free to decline it, the scheme can charge a fee, and the payer's bank can dispute it as presented late.
3. The acquirer's limit. Your acquirer may refuse to capture an authorization after some time, however the scheme treats it.

The schemes' time limits

The days are calendar days from the authorization. Visa set its limits on 13 April 2024. Whether a Mastercard payment is a final authorization or a pre-authorization depends on how the acquirer marks it, so ask yours before you count on 30 days. Some kinds of business, such as hotels and car rental, have longer limits under rules of their own.

The acquirers' limits

When it runs out

Capture within the scheme's limit, and you need not think about the rest. If you can't, because an order takes longer to ship than the limit allows, there are two ways:

• Capture what you can ship now, and the rest later, while the authorization still holds. A capture of part of the amount is final for that part only.
• Have the payer pay again: create a new payment link for what is left, and void the old authorization, if nothing of it was captured.

If a capture is declined because the authorization has run out, the payer has to pay again, in the same way.

Partial authorizations

An issuer can approve less than the amount asked for, typically on a debit or prepaid card without enough money on it. gjold declines such a payment, so a transaction is always for the whole amount, and the payer sees the payment declined.

The issuer may keep holding the part it approved until its hold runs out, as not every issuer handles the cancellation at once. The payer then sees two reservations if they pay again with another card. Their bank can release the first one sooner, if they ask it to.

Voiding

A void releases an authorization before it runs out, so that the payer gets the held amount back sooner: most banks release it at once, and some in a day or two. Void an order that is cancelled before you have captured anything: the payer gets their money back sooner than with a capture and a refund. Once you have captured part of an authorization, the rest can't be voided, and is released when it runs out.

In API v2, voiding is Void transaction; in v1, a void is made in the dashboard.

Sources

• Visa, Authorization framework will be updated to simplify authorization processing time frames, effective 13 April 2024.
• Frisbii, Authorization lifetime, on Clearhaus, Nets, and the issuers' holds.
• Nets, How long does an online transaction remain authorized.