What is Credit Card Blocking?

If you have ever been told you were over the limit or your credit card has been declined but you knew that you still had credit available, your credit card has more than likely been blocked. This is something that can happen often when renting a hotel room or a car.

Credit card blocking is something a hotel or rental car service provider will do in order to ensure there are funds available for them to complete the transaction after you have completed the term of your rental. What happens is the clerk will contact your issuer to verify fund availability and give your issuer an estimated amount that you will be charged for your rental.

After the rental service provider has done this, your card issuer will then remove that amount from your available credit balance. An example would be if you rented a hotel room for three days at the rate of one hundred dollars per day, the hotel would block at least three hundred dollars to cover the stay. Additionally they may also block further funds for incidentals such as food or beverages.

Once your stay is complete the hotel the final and actual charge amount will usually replace the block amount within a day or two. However, if you use a different card at check out than you did at check in the block can sometimes stay in place for up to fifteen days or more in some cases. The reason for such a lengthy block is because the issuer was not notified of the final charges because a different card had been used.

The reason companies use blocking is so that you do not go over your credit limit or overdraw your checking account prior to checking out of a hotel or returning your rental car. Using the block, the merchant can ensure that funds will be available when it's time for them transact your card.