Pending / authorization hold
A temporary reservation on your account for a card charge that has been approved but not yet collected by the merchant.
A card payment is two events, not one. When you tap a card, the merchant asks the bank to set the money aside — that is the authorization hold. Your available balance drops immediately, but nothing has left the account. The bank is reserving the funds, not moving them.
The second event is settlement, when the merchant actually collects. That usually happens within a day or three, and only then does the charge post as final.
Pending amounts can change between the two events. A gas pump may hold $1 or $100 before you pump $38 worth. A restaurant holds the bill amount before you add a tip, then settles the total. Hotels and rental companies often hold an estimated total plus a cushion. If a merchant never completes the collection, the hold expires on its own — typically within a few days, longer for hotels and rentals.
Plumb is financial education, not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice.