What You See in the App vs. What Is Happening
When you attempt a payment at a store, try to make an online purchase, or put down a security deposit (such as for a hotel room or rental car), you may notice funds missing from your Neema card balance even if the merchant reported that the transaction was canceled or declined.
What you see: A transaction line item appears in your Neema app, and your available balance is reduced. This makes it look as though your Neema account was charged twice for a single purchase or charged for a transaction that never went through.
What is actually happening: The money has not been permanently deducted by Neema or received by the merchant. Instead, the merchant placed a temporary authorization hold (also known as an authorization frame) on your card to reserve the funds. When the payment was canceled or declined, the merchant did not complete the charge, but the temporary authorization hold failed to drop automatically from your account balance.
What Is a Temporary Authorization Hold?
A temporary authorization hold is a pre-authorization mechanism used by merchants to verify that your Neema card has sufficient available balance before finalizing a transaction.
Automatic Release: Under normal circumstances, when a transaction is canceled or declined at checkout, the merchant sends an electronic update to clear the hold. The held funds then automatically return to your available Neema balance.
Delayed or Pending Holds: If the merchant does not automatically send a release signal, the funds remain reserved as a pending authorization frame on your Neema account until the standard hold duration expires or manual intervention is performed.
Required Documentation to Release Your Funds
If a temporary authorization hold does not drop automatically, Neema support agents can manually escalate your case directly to the card issuer to release the funds back to your Neema balance.
To initiate a manual escalation with Neema support, you must provide at least one of the following official documents that include Authorization code and Transaction amount:
Merchant Cancellation Confirmation: Official written proof or an email confirmation directly from the merchant stating that the purchase was canceled or that the authorization hold was released.
Signed Merchant Statement: A signed letter or official statement from the merchant explicitly confirming that your Neema card will not be charged for the specified transaction.