Pending transaction

What It Means

A pending transaction is a payment your bank has authorized but that hasn't settled, meaning the merchant hasn't yet sent the final amount to be paid. While it's pending, the bank subtracts it from your available balanceAvailable balanceThe money in a bank account you can use right now: the posted balance minus pending card purchases and any deposit the bank is still holding. See more, and your account balanceAccount balanceThe money in a bank account once posted deposits and payments are counted, also called the ledger balance; pending card purchases aren't subtracted yet. See more stays where it was. Once the merchant settles, the pending line disappears and the charge posts, sometimes at a different amount from the one first approved.

How It Sounds at Home

• "It's still pending, give it a couple of days."
• "Why is the gas station holding a hundred dollars?"
• "The tip hasn't gone through yet."

The Breakdown

A short example. The Reyes family starts a Friday with $900 in checkingChecking accountA bank or credit union account for everyday money going in and out, used by debit card, checks, transfers and direct deposit. See more. At the pump, the station puts a $100 hold on the debit card before the tank is filled, in this example, and the gas itself comes to $48. Dinner shows as pending at $60 before the $12 tip is added. By Saturday the available balance reads $740, while the account balance still says $900.

Where it goes wrong. Going by the $900, one parent pays a $780 bill online that night. The holds plus the bill come to $940, more than the $900 in the account, and depending on the bank's rules that can bring an overdraft feeOverdraft feeThe flat charge a bank adds each time it pays a transaction your checking account couldn't cover, on top of the negative balance you repay. See more even though the gas and dinner together cost only $120.

What to watch for

• A pending amount can change before it posts. A tip gets added, or a gas hold shrinks to the real total.
• A hold usually lasts until the merchant sends the final amount, often a few days.
• Hotels, car rental companies, restaurants and gas stations are among the merchants that may authorize more than you end up paying.
• Record a purchase in your own budgetBudgetA plan for a set period, usually a month, that lists the money you expect to receive and how you'll spend or save it. See more the day you make it, at what you actually paid.

Good to Know

In the CFPB's description, a pending debit is authorized but not settled, so it's subtracted from the available balance while the ledger balance waits for it to post. How long it stays pending depends on the merchant and on your bank's own rules. A card agreement in the CFPB's credit card agreement database warns that hotels, car rental companies, restaurants and gas stations may authorize more than the purchase amount, leaving less money available for several days until the actual amount arrives, and the CFPB's guide to one prepaid debit card says a pre-authorizationPrior authorizationA health plan's decision, made before you get certain care, that a service, drug or piece of medical equipment is medically necessary. See more hold can take up to 1010,000 stepsA popular daily step goal that began as the name of a 1960s Japanese pedometer; later studies find health benefits begin well below it. See more business days to be released. If a hold outlasts that, or the posted amount looks wrong, call your bank and ask.

Related Terms and Categories

• Available balance

  The money in a bank account you can use right now: the posted balance minus pending card purchases and any deposit the bank is still holding.

• Account balance

  The money in a bank account once posted deposits and payments are counted, also called the ledger balance; pending card purchases aren't subtracted yet.

• Overdraft fee

  The flat charge a bank adds each time it pays a transaction your checking account couldn't cover, on top of the negative balance you repay.

• Bank reconciliation

  Checking your own record of a bank account against the bank's statement, line by line, and explaining every difference until the two balances agree.

• Expense tracking

  Writing down every purchase and bill as it happens, by category, so you can see where your money actually goes and compare it with your budget.

Household money and budgeting