A pending transaction can be one of the following:
Successful transactions that will be settled in Spendesk a few days later (for VISA transactions, this can take up to 8 days)
Failed transactions (these are automatically deleted with no action required)
Pre-authorizations (these are automatically deleted with no action required)
Deposits (these are automatically deleted, unless the supplier needs to charge it in the end)
Pending Transactions Explained
When you make a payment, merchants typically process it in two steps:
Authorization
This step ensures that the payment is not yet charged. Merchants use this to verify that your card is valid and has enough funds.A new payment line should appear under the All Payments tab in Spendesk as a "pending transaction."
Amount Charged or Cancelled
If the payment is charged correctly, the payment line will appear in the Payments of the Month section.
If the merchant cancels the payment, the payment line will remain in the Pending Transactions section temporarily. The authorization expires, and the line will disappear from Spendesk.
Note: It can take up to 18 days (or up to 32 days in rare cases) for a transaction to expire, which is why it remains in the Pending Transactions section.
About Payment Authorizations
Deposits
When merchants require a deposit, they make a card authorization. You will see a new pending transaction line in your Spendesk account.
Once the service has been paid for, the funds will be released, and the related pending transaction will expire.
If a merchant has authorized or charged your card, Spendesk cannot cancel the transaction, as it is processed by the supplier. Contact the merchant directly if needed. You can also reach out to our support team for additional details on any specific transaction.
Paying at an Automatic Gas Station or Fuel Pump
When you pay at an automatic gas station, you may see a higher amount under the Payments tab. This is due to the way gas stations process payments:
The merchant checks if your card has enough funds by making an authorization request, but since the exact amount isn’t known, the authorization is often much higher than what you will ultimately be charged. For example, it could be 140 GBP instead of the actual 36 GBP.
In Spendesk, the authorization appears under Pending Transactions in the All Payments tab in real time.
Once the merchant charges your card for the actual amount, the payment will appear in the Payments of the Month section.
The authorization will expire once the merchant releases the funds, which may take up to 32 days. You'll be notified via email when this happens.
This process is the same for taxi payments.
Information Display
Spendesk works like a bank account. We display the following types of transactions:
Transactions being processed or rejected by the merchant show up under the Pending Transactions section of your Payments tab.
Transactions successfully charged by the merchant appear under the Payments of the Month section of your Payments tab.
Pending Transactions and Receipts
There are 3 possible scenarios for pending transactions and receipts:
The transaction has been successfully processed, and you have added a receipt, so no receipt reminder will be sent.
The transaction did not go through, and you haven't added a receipt, so you'll receive a receipt reminder. Use this feature
A transaction was pre-authorized, and another charge occurred, leading to two receipts requested. Add the receipt to both lines, as one of the lines might disappear within 1 to 32 days.