Authorization Request

A credit card authorization request allows a merchant to verify that a customer has enough funds or credit to cover a transaction amount, before the sale is finalized. The term can be used for the request itself, or for the entire procedure.

Authorization requests happen quickly and automatically. At the time of the purchase, the merchant’s point-of-sale (POS) software sends a request to their card processor, which immediately forwards the request to the card issuer.

If the account involved has sufficient funds (for debit cards) or available credit (for credit cards) to cover the cost of the sale, an authorization hold is made, decreasing the usable funds or credit by the amount of the transaction. An authorization code is sent back through the acquirer to the merchant approving or declining the sale.

No actual funds are transferred in the approval request process. Approval codes only enable the transaction to go forward, or in the case of an error code, stops the transaction altogether.