How to Cancel a Pending Transaction on a Credit Card?

Every online transaction you perform goes through the pending stage when the payment system processes it. In some cases, various issues can come up that make your transaction drag on in this status for longer than usual. The reasons for this temporary hold can range from billing errors, duplicate charges, purchase cancellations, and user errors to fraud suspicion.

Can I cancel a pending credit card transaction? Here, you will discover the main ways to solve the issue. Keep reading to find out how to cancel credit card payment in the two most straightforward ways.

Transaction Status Check

So, how to cancel a pending transaction on a credit card? Before we discuss how to stop a pending payment, we must figure out how to determine its status—whether it is still pending or has already gone through.

A pending payment is an approved financial transaction that has not been processed yet, which means that the money is on its way of being transferred. To check the status of a transaction, you should look over your account balance—pending payments typically pop up at the top of your latest statements. These transactions show up in your bank account’s available balance but don’t turn up on your monthly bank statement.

Depending on each individual transaction, the duration of its pending status can vary greatly—some payments may go through in one or two days, while others may take several days or even a week to be fully processed. The factors that come into play are seller processing speed, transaction type, holidays, bank special rules, and more.

Important! Pending transactions eat into your available balance and may cut down your available credit limit. For example, if you have $500 on your card, and you have made two $200 payments that are in pending status, then your available current balance is $300.

Get in Touch with the Seller

The first and foremost thing you should do if you are wondering how to stop a pending transaction for any reason is to get in touch with the merchant immediately—this is often the easiest, fastest, and most effective way to clear up any problem with the transaction.

So, the seller who issued the charge can call off the pending transaction by submitting a stop payment request to your card issuer. Another reason to contact the merchant is that you can only take back a pending transaction once it has been posted. It’s best to do this as soon as possible—within one or two days. Remember that the sooner you reach out, the greater your chances of turning around a transaction are.

Be patient and polite when dealing with the seller, store, or supplier where you have made the purchase. In order for communication to be effective, you need to first lay out all the information about the transaction you want to dispute—details of the purchased item, order number, payment data, as well as the reason you wish to call off the payment. In addition, we recommend that you keep track of the conversation and save all messages, chats, and recordings. However, do not forget to clear this up with your interlocutor.

While the merchant has the option of asking the card issuer to lift the hold so you can get your funds back, in some scenarios, they may refuse to issue a refund. In this case, you may need to take it up with your bank, providing valid reasons why you want to do so.

Reach out to the Card Issuer

So, if you’re looking to learn how to cancel a pending transaction if you can’t sort out the issue with the merchant, you may need to reach out to your card provider. Has the seller not gotten back to you in time? Contact the card issuer directly. Additionally, if you want to call off a transaction because you suspect fraud, you should ring up your card issuer or bank immediately without contacting the merchant.

So, can banks call off pending transactions? The answer is yes, but while merchants can give back a refund within a few days, banks may take several weeks to work through this operation. In practice, card issuers are more likely and more willing to help call off a transaction that has already been successfully posted, rather than a pending one.

Scenarios where a card issuer may around a transaction:

• Unauthorized transactions;
• Duplicate charges;
• Product or services not received;​
• Clerical errors.

Scenarios where a card issuer may not reverse a transaction:

• Buyer’s remorse;
• Disputes over quality;
• Non-fraudulent authorized use by family/friends;
• Transactions within the return policy period;
• Subscription services.

Important! If you are wondering how to cancel a credit card transaction from your bank account, remember that you can sort it out online or through the issuer’s app.

Conclusion

Understanding the difference between pending payments and posted transactions is a vital point in effectively managing your finances and sorting out banking problems. So, if you ever find yourself asking, “How can I cancel a pending transaction on my debit card?” then you have two options—the first step is to get in touch with the merchant, and if for some reason this does not clear things up, then you should reach out to the card issuer.

Remember that you can avoid or cut down on the need to turn around a pending transaction in the future. Although not all factors are within your control, you should make payments carefully and thoughtfully, make purchases only on secure and reliable websites, look after your card information, and regularly go over your bank account and card statements.