Uber India has announced that is has started rolling out payment authorization hold feature that allows Uber to authorize hold your upfront fare amount before your trip begins for non-cash credit and debit card payment method for every trip requested. Uber says that this is to confirm that a user’s account is active and available to fund their trips.
How does this work?
- When you request for a ride, a temporary authorization hold is placed on your chosen payment method, for the upfront price of the trip.
- This will show up as a “pending” charge on your account.
- If the account balance of your credit or debit card linked to the rider’s account is lower than the fare estimate, the authorization hold will fail. You will need to choose a different payment method or add a new payment method to your Uber account in order to request a ride.
- When the trip completes, this hold is converted to a charge for the final trip fare. Your bank may send you one or more SMS’ to notify you of both the hold and the actual charge.
- If the trip has been cancelled or the total fare is different than the upfront price, the original authorization hold will disappear from your account. Depending on your bank’s policy on authorization holds, this could take from a few minutes to a few days for the void authorizations to disappear from your statement.
| Scenario | Upfront Fare | Auth Hold | Final Fares | Final Charge | Description |
| Home to work-completed trip | ₹200 | ₹200 | ₹200 | ₹200 | The authorization hold will be converted into charges |
| Home to work-Trip Cancelled | ₹200 | ₹200 | 0 | 0 | The authorization hold will be cancelled. Depending on your bank, this may take up to a few days |
| Change destination to the theatre | ₹200 | ₹200 |
₹125
|
₹125 | The actual final fare will be debited from your account. The remaining authorization hold will be cancelled. |
Uber is gradually rolling out the authorization hold feature in India.