What is a pending transaction?
A pending transaction is an item that has not yet posted to your account but is pending and therefore held against your available credit. Normally, a pending item converts into a posted transaction, but if a merchant does not complete the transaction it will expire and the temporary funds hold will be removed. If you see a transaction listed below as pending that already shows as posted to your account, it is no longer holding from your available credit. It will display in both locations until your next statement cycle closing date.
Pending transactions include credits and debits that have not yet posted to your account history. This may include items such as Check Card purchases, cashed checks, and other holds applied to your available balance. A purchase made with your Check Card will debit your account at the time of the transaction and the funds are placed on temporary hold for one business day. If we do not receive the completed transaction from the merchant within that time frame the pending debit is released. Once we receive the completed transaction from the merchant the debit will post to your account history. In some cases the amount of the pending transaction may not match the actual amount of the transaction. This is because some merchants request us to authorize a general amount such as $1 or the amount that they estimate you will spend, which could be higher or lower than the actual amount of the transaction. When the transaction posts, your account is charged the amount of the transaction presented
A “Pending Transaction” is a purchase that is waiting for authorization. Simply stated, you made a purchase with your account, but the transaction is waiting for final settlement with the merchant. During this time period, you will not have access to those funds associated with pending transactions. Settlement typically occurs within 2-5 business days. At that time, the “pending” status is removed from the transaction.
Like debit and credit cards, a transaction is pending when a merchant or retailer requests confirmation that you have funds available for the transaction. We have confirmed that you had the funds available and we are holding them for the merchant or retailer to process the transaction. We hold them up to 12 days for the merchant to confirm the transaction.
A “pending transaction” is a transaction that a merchant has authorized but not yet confirmed with American Express. Transactions will remain “pending” until American Express receives confirmation from the merchant, along with the total transaction amount (in some cases, the actual transaction amount may be less than the amount that was authorized).
