Holds & Authorizations
Why funds are held — car rental buffers, fuel pre-authorizations (AFD), and unsettled transactions.
These scenarios explain why a customer's available balance can differ from what they expect to be charged.
Car Rental Holds
For car and vehicle rentals, an additional hold is automatically applied at authorization. This is applied on the Wirex side, not by the merchant.
Why: rental transactions often incur secondary charges (fuel, traffic fines, damage, late returns). The hold is a buffer to cover adjustments and prevent a negative balance.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Affected MCCs | 7512 — Automobile Rental, 7519 — Truck / Utility Trailer Rentals |
| Hold amount | ~20% on top of the authorized amount |
Settlement: when the merchant sends clearing, the system compares it to the authorization. If clearing < authorization, the excess is released to the customer; if clearing > authorization, the difference is charged. The 20% hold is released as part of clearing — automatically, no manual action.
Fuel Pre-Authorizations (AFD)
For merchants in the "Automated Fuel Dispenser" category, if the initial authorization is for EUR 1 (or USD 1) on the merchant side, Wirex applies an additional pre-authorization of EUR 175 on the Wirex side.
The additional pre-authorization serves as a protection against potential financial losses in cases where the fuel station subsequently charges an amount exceeding the initial authorization of 1 EUR or USD.
This additional amount acts as a buffer, covering any subsequent adjustments and preventing negative balances or potential financial losses.
This additional authorization is applied on the Wirex side.
Once confirmation of the final transaction amount is received from the merchant, the additional blocked amount is released automatically and returned to the user's available balance.
Unsettled Transaction
When a user is on a flight and makes a purchase through a POS terminal, Wirex may receive an advice transaction from Visa that must be processed regardless, even if the user doesn't have a sufficient balance.
When this results in a negative balance, the account is blocked — both the IBAN and the card — until the user tops up their balance.
Every 2 hours, the system checks for such negative balances, and once the user tops up, it automatically deducts the owed amount and unblocks the account. This action is also available manually on the support portal.
On the portal, you can also see exactly which transaction caused the negative balance, so you can inform the user accordingly.
Updated 7 days ago