Is there a time limit for processing credit card charges?

I tried to perform a search on the topic, but the hamsters kept telling me no. (I got the “Web Site Not Responding Screen”). So I appologize if there’s already a thread out there on this topic.

During the first week of each semester, a traveling poster sale company comes to my school. Since there isn’t a phone jack in the room where they hold the sale, the company is forced to manually record each credit card transaction. They use the little slider thingy (sorry, I don’t know the correct term for this) wherin one places the card on the machine and a slip of paper on top. Then the slider is slid over the card and paper, transferring the card’s info onto the paper.

I made two purchases from this company. Both time they used this system. Only one purchase went through. It was processed only a few days after I made my purchase.

Now, on to my question…

Is there a set amount of time in which the company must process my transaction? I’m hoping that they lost the receipt. How long do I have to wonder this? What happens if my receipt turns up a year from now? Can they still process it then?

DoperChic

Um, call the credit card company and ask them?

Seems to me they’d be a better source of information than us, plus a LOT faster than waiting around all day for an answer. Look on the back of the card, oughta be an 800 number.

“Credit card imprinter” – a popular brand is Port-A-Print.

An industry nickname for these is “knucklebuster.” :slight_smile:

Um… you’re hoping they lost the receipt, so that you end up getting one of your purchases for nothing?

If the situation were somehow reversed, I assume you’d be furious at the other party for intentionally keeping something you gave them that they knew they hadn’t paid for.

I guess I’m a little curious why, if it turns out they don’t charge you, you wouldn’t take at least some effort in righting the situation, rather than just happily keeping your ill-gotten gains.

  • Rick

There are four institutional entities involved in credit card transactions (which can be one, two, three or four separate companies):[ul][li]The issuer - gives you your credit card.[]The merchant[]The acquirer - gives the merchant a credit card accountThe processor - operates the computers and networks that actually authorize and accept the transactions[/ul]If a merchant is not calling for authorization, then the amount must be under their “floor limit” (usually in the neighbourhood of $50, but it depends on policiies of the processor the merchant uses).[/li]
Calling your credit card company wouldn’t help, because they are the issuer, and therefore at the wrong end of the transaction. Calling VISA or Mastercard directly might tell you what restrictions they impose on acquirers and processors.

For authorized transactions (which the ones you described were not), the processor sets a limit on how long the authorization is valid for, but it’s usually on the order of 24 hours. An acquirer’s risk management group might let the occasional “stale” transaction get processed, but if a merchant made a habit of it, they would probably insist that the merchant change their method of doing business.

Once you give someone (merchant/friend) the account information (the card or the account number/expiration date), you are giving them permission to bill the account.

Not all purchases are billed the same day the transaction is done. For example, you order a book through Amazon and give them the account. The book has to be special ordered so there’s a delay. Amazon will bill the account when they ship the book, not the day you order it.
Authorizations, when the merchant processes the charge, are held against the available credit until the merchant sends in the information. The reason is to give the merchant time to cancel the transaction if need be. If the merchant doesn’t supply the information, the authorization falls off the account.

For the record, on one occasion a small gas station in Durham, NC processed a “knucklebuster”-entered transaction a whole 9 weeks after I had visited their store and filled my Mercedes with diesel.

In all likelyhood the charge was lost.

Simple solution call the credit card company and report your card is lost. That way when the company goes to bill you the credit card number comes up declined. Credit Card Authorizations are usually only valid for a week to 10 days.

In other words if they authorized your card and ten days pass they need to bill it out on the 9th day and start over or reauthorize your card. Which of course they can’t do.

Hell, I once had a charge show up over a year after I made it. It was legit, and there was no interest charged. I suspect the restaurant involved dropped the slip behind the register or something.

I can’t remember the circumstance, but I recall my company saying that an authorization was good for a year. I do remember using a gas credit card at a place that was accepting competitors ’ charge cards, and it showed up on my bill about 6 months later.