The Visa Misuse of Authorization Fee
The Misuse of Authorization Fee is an assessment charge which Visa uses for transactions that don’t follow the appropriate authorization procedures. Often these type of rogue transactions are referred to as “ghost authorizations.” These misused authorizations are neither settled nor are they reversed properly. Consequently, the Misuse charge is a way of cutting down on these authorizations.
How does this fee get applied?
Basically, if you do not follow an authorization with a corresponding clearing transaction, you’ll be charged the Misuse of Authorization Fee. Furthermore, you can be subject to the fee in the instance of a canceled authorization that was reversed improperly.
Visa currently charges 9 cents per misused authorization. It should be noted these fees will be on your statement unless you get “flat rate” pricing which is the type offered by Stripe and Square.