Question
Why might a Visa Debit payment be rejected in Property Vista even though the tenant's bank account appears to show that funds have been withdrawn?
Answer
In this scenario, the payment was not completed, and Property Vista did not collect the funds.
What occurred was a pre-authorization followed by an authorization reversal request.
Visa Debit cards are directly linked to a bank account. As a result, the cardholder's bank may temporarily place a hold on the funds associated with the pre-authorization, even when the payment is ultimately rejected.
The tenant may therefore see a pending transaction or an apparent reduction in their available bank balance. This does not necessarily mean the funds were successfully withdrawn or received by Property Vista.
What should the tenant do?
If the funds still appear to be unavailable:
- Allow some time for the bank to process the authorization reversal.
- Contact the issuing bank directly if the funds remain unavailable or the transaction is unclear.
- Ask the bank to confirm the status of the authorization and reversal.
The original guidance recommends allowing up to a couple of weeks after the transaction date for the bank statement to reflect the reversal. However, the exact timing depends on the issuing bank.
Important: Property Vista cannot control how quickly a bank releases an authorization hold. The tenant should contact their bank for transaction-specific information.
Example
The following image illustrates an example of how this situation may appear: