# Strange charge on credit card **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2007, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-charge-on-credit-card/399079 "2007-04-07T06:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-charge-on-credit-card/399079/21 "2007-04-10T12:20:06Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] Now the pending charge of one cent from XIAO CHUM CAI is gone, and there are no charges on my transaction list from such company, and no other company has charged me a penny for anything. So WTF? [/QUOTE] Report your card stolen. Again! Somebody else might try to steal a penny from you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-charge-on-credit-card/399079/22 "2007-04-10T22:23:22Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] Now the pending charge of one cent from XIAO CHUM CAI is gone, and there are no charges on my transaction list from such company, and no other company has charged me a penny for anything. So WTF? [/QUOTE] Hey there. The same thing happened in my husband’s account. I guessed that this had something to do with the Gunbroker site. The charge has also now disappeared but I’ll tell him to keep a close eye on his account. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-charge-on-credit-card/399079/23 "2007-04-11T00:12:07Z")
I’d be pretty concerned about how they got my card number, too. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-charge-on-credit-card/399079/24 "2007-04-11T07:06:45Z")
Since the pending charge has disappeared it was probably a means of verifying that the card is valid. When I buy gas at the local Shell station a charge of $1 (pending) appears on my online bank statement for about a day before the bill for the exact amount of the purchase goes through, and then disappears. Perhaps you’ve recently used the card someplace you’ve never used it before? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-charge-on-credit-card/399079/25 "2007-04-11T15:24:08Z")
There a lot of good info in the thread so I won’t rehash. But this [QUOTE=pkbites] . . .when I call Mastercards customer service they insist that they don’t have any information on the merchant until the transaction actually posts. [/QUOTE] sounds like bullshit to me. I used to manage the credit card systems for a large online merchant and when you put in an authorization, all the same information is sent as when you clear the transaction. There’s just a code that says it’s an auth instead of a purchase. Did you actually call MasterCard, or the issuing bank? I’d talk to the bank. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-charge-on-credit-card/399079.md?page=1)