The Truth About Credit Card Blocking

Has it ever happened with you that you offer a credit card to make a payment and the clerk tells that your credit card is blocked and you contemplate the reason behind it? If this has happened with you, then do not worry as this sort of embarrassment is common, but it can certainly be avoided. There are many myths about credit card blocking, but we will tell you the truths about it.

We will start with an example. Suppose you go to a hotel on a vacation. You go to the clerk and wish to make payments with your credit card. Now, the hotel charges $2000 per night and you wish to stay for three nights. The total comes up to be $6000 for three nights. Now, the clerk will electronically ask your credit card issuer to ‘block’ the amount to cover the cost, before you go out and spend money using that credit card on other things. The amount blocked could be for your car rental, cost of meals and other costs such as phone calls. The blocking amount varies from merchant to merchant. Credit card blocking is legal, so the only way to avoid is to know about it thoroughly.

How to avoid credit card blocking
Most of the people are not aware of how blocking happens and often end up being embarrassed. Now, let us look at how to avoid credit card blocking.

• Pay your bill with the same credit card that you used in the hotel. This will cause the block to be replaced by actual charge in a day’s time. On the other hand, if you use the same card, your credit card could be blocked for up to 15 days
• If you have to use other services in the hotel like car rental, then check up with the clerk the amount that is blocked. This will let you spend accordingly.
• If you want to pay the clerk with a different card, then ask the clerk or the issuer to remove the block
• When you set out for a travel, ask the issuer how much of your credit line is available to you. This will let you know the amount that can be used by you.

All in all, once you know the truths about credit card blocking, you can easily avoid situations where you have to get embarrassed or fall short of money even with a big credit line.