What is pre-authorisation?
When booking a ride through Careem, our system may check if the payment method is valid or not by attempting to hold an amount. A few things to note:
- This amount is temporarily held and released by the bank after a few days.
- You might get a notification from Careem or your bank about the temporary hold.
What happens if the booking cost is less than the hold amount?
- When the booking is completed, the final cost will be charged from the hold amount.
- The remaining amount will be released immediately from our end.
- Only your final booking cost will show up in your transaction history/trip receipt on Careem as well as your bank statement.
- It could take 1-3 weeks for this to reflect on your bank statement, depending on your bank's policy.
What happens if the booking cost is more than the hold amount?
- When the booking is completed, the hold amount will be converted into a charge on your payment method.
- The rest of the amount will be charged as another transaction.
- You might see 2 transactions on your account but rest assured that only the total booking cost will be charged.
What happens if the booking is cancelled?
- If the booking is cancelled, the hold amount will be released from our end immediately.
- It may take about 1-3 weeks for your bank to reflect this, depending on your bank’s policy.