Why was my car rental deposit not reimbursed?

With N26, you get real-time access to your bank account. This means you’re able to see what’s going on in your account as it happens. There are two main transaction types that take place during an in-store or online purchase:

• Authorizations: A blocked or reserved amount made by a retailer or merchant. This includes everything from your morning cup of coffee to hotel or car rental bookings.
• Presentments: The actual amount that is deducted from your account. Again, that cup of coffee is finally cleared from your account or you can get your security deposit back once you’ve checked out of that hotel room or returned your rental car.

Once an authorization has been confirmed, we can’t cancel or reverse it. At that point, only three things can happen to your authorization: it turns into a presentment, it's rejected, or it expires. In the last two scenarios, your money will automatically return to your account within 12 days.

Please note: 

• Car rental deposits take 30 days to return to your account.
• Same delay (30 days) is applied to your hotel rental deposits.
• The blocked amount will not be reflected in your account statement. Only presentments, the transactions which were really deducted, will be visible.
• Some merchants perform verification authorizations (usually very small amounts) in order to check whether your card is active and has funds on it. This money will always return to your account.

Sometimes you’ll see both payments at the same time – the authorization and the presentment. This happens if they become disconnected, or due to technical issues at the payment terminal. Eventually the authorization will expire, and if it doesn’t expire within 30 days and money isn’t refunded, we can help you - please contact our N26 Customer Support (new tab).