Take the guesswork out of your credit card transactions

A pending transaction is a transaction that has been authorized but not yet posted to your account. This means the money you’ve spent is no longer available to you, but is not yet reflected in your current balance. Most transactions can take up to 5 days to post.

Sometimes, a merchant will charge a pre-authorized amount as a “hold”. For example, when renting a car, you may be required to provide a deposit against damages. This transaction is not posted to your account. However, it appears as pending in your Transactions list, and the amount is reflected in your Pending total and your Credit Available, until it is cancelled by the merchant.

The exchange rate on foreign currency can change between when a transaction is authorized (when it is pending) and when it is posted. This rate could be different than it was when you authorized the transaction, so you might notice a discrepancy.

No, pending transactions are not included in your Current Balance as it appears in your Account Details. Instead, they are included in your “pending” total. Once the pending transaction is posted, it is subtracted from your “pending” total and added to your Current Balance.

Some payment types, such as cheque or cash via branch, eDeposit, ATM or mail-in, are considered “unverified”. This means CIBC needs time to ensure the funds you used were available when you paid.

An unverified payment will be posted within 3 to 5 business days, and your available credit will update accordingly.

Sometimes, when a transaction is being processed, a delay may occur between when a transaction is removed from the pending state and posted to your account. Just give it a few days and the transaction will be posted to your account once it’s finished processing.

Once a pending transaction is posted to your account, there may be a delay before that transaction is removed from the pending transactions list. This might result in the transaction showing in both the pending and posted transaction list. Not to worry, this does not mean that you’ll be charged twice. It may take up to five business days for that pending transaction to be dropped from the pending list.