After attempting to make a purchase on Udemy, you may notice a temporary authorization hold in your banking information or a pending purchase listed in your account’s Purchase history.
This article explains what temporary authorization holds and pending purchases are, and when they should be removed from your banking information or purchase history.
What is a temporary authorization hold? And why do they happen?
If you had a payment attempt declined while trying to make a purchase on Udemy, you may see a temporary authorization hold in your banking information. This can happen, for example, if there was an interruption in the connection during payment.
The charge you see in your statement is actually a temporary authorization hold that the payment processor initiates on their end to verify that your card is active.
- Authorization holds are not actual charges and will be reversed after the payment processor gets a response from your bank.
- When a temporary authorization hold is applied, the course you attempted to purchase will not be added to your Udemy account, since the purchase was not finalized.
When will the temporary authorization hold be removed?
Generally speaking, it takes 2-4 business days before the temporary authorization hold is removed; however, depending on your financial institution, it may take up to 30 days.
If it’s been over 30 days and you believe you were in fact charged for the purchase, and the course has not been added to your Udemy account, please have your financial institution provide a letter confirming that you have been charged and submit it to Udemy Support. We’ll be happy to help.
What are pending purchases?
In some cases, a payment attempt will be listed as a “Pending” purchase in your Udemy account’s Purchase history, even though a charge for the purchase is listed in your banking information. This can occur when the payment processor wasn’t able to finalize the transaction yet.
Once the payment processor is able to verify the card and process the transaction, the “Pending” status will be removed and you will receive a confirmation email of enrollment from Udemy. The course(s) will also be added to your Udemy account.
When will the pending purchase be finalized?
Generally speaking, it takes approximately 7 business days before pending purchases are finalized; however, depending on your financial institution, it may take up to 30 days.
If it’s been over 30 days and the pending purchase still hasn’t been finalized, please contact your financial institution.