Free Credit Card Authorization Form

A credit card authorization form is a document that grants a business the right to charge a customer’s credit card for a period of time that’s specified within the form. This gives you the ongoing ability to charge a cardholder recurrently on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis. 

This is a common process when an individual subscribes to a service that renews on a periodic basis, such as rent or gym payments. The document has to be filled in by the business in written format and is then signed by the cardholder.

As mentioned above, this kind of form is used when a business needs to charge a customer without the credit card being present. As a business owner, you run some degree of risk when charging a customer in this scenario.

The main risk you’ll face is that of chargebacks. This is a return of money to a payer of a transaction. Chargebacks are intended to protect consumers from unauthorized transactions and fraudulent activity. In this scenario, the customer will dispute a charge from your business and ask the card issuer to cancel it. 

Chargebacks can bring significant challenges to your business because the funds are held until the card issuer finalizes the process. This can consume a lot of time and paperwork. A credit card authorization form solves this problem by ensuring that the card issuer will refute the chargeback as you had signed permission to charge the cardholder.

A credit card authorization form is not excessively complicated. In fact, it’s fairly simple to fill one in at home with the help of one of our online templates. Below are the terms that must be included to ensure the document is valid:

• Cardholder details

• Credit card details

• Business information of the merchant

• Authorization statement

• Cardholder signature

A payment card transaction involves two separate steps. The first of these is the authorization of the purchase. This doesn’t transfer funds to the merchant but it notifies the business that the funds for a purchase exist. The merchant then contacts the cardholder’s bank with an authorization request.

If the authorization request is approved, the account will then be settled and the payment transferred. However, merchants are also able to place an authorization hold on the account of the cardholder. This decreases the customer’s credit limit until the transaction is completed. This generally lasts from 1 to 30 days. 

To accept payment with a credit card authorization, the following information will be required by the processor:

For a credit/debit card authorization: 

• Cardholders Name

• 16 Digit Number

• Expiration Date

• Billing Address

For a bank account - ACH authorization: 

• Account Holder’s Name

• Address (of the Account Holder)

• Routing Number

• Account Number

There are many different types of credit card authorization templates depending on the specific business and context in question. Read on to learn which type makes the most sense for your situation. 

Standard Credit Card Authorization form

This is the most basic type of authorization form. It is a standard template that is accepted universally and can be used for many different types of purchases. It requires essential information for most credit card authorizations. 

One-Time Credit Card Authorization Payment Form

This template should be used for payments that will only happen once. This is usually a shorter and easier template to fill in. 

Recurring Payment Credit Card Authorization

This type of credit card authorization should be used when charging a recurring payment to a cardholder. The form includes details about the frequency and amount of each of the charges. 

Hotel Credit Card Authorization

A hotel credit card authorization form is used for guests using a third party’s credit card. This card will be used for all necessary payments to enable them to stay at the hotel. It requires the signature and authorization of the cardholder. 

Airline Credit Card Authorization

When buying an airline ticket through a paper form, an airline credit card authorization form must be completed. By signing this form the passenger can pay the airline for their ticket on their or someone else’s behalf. 

An automated clearing house (ACH) authorization is a payment giving permission to a business to charge a customer’s bank account for payment. This form gives a signed agreement to charge a checking or savings account. Contrastingly, a credit card authorization gives permission to charge the credit card account. 

Before writing your own credit card authorization form, it’s helpful to look over an example of this type of document. This will familiarize you with how the document should look when completed and what you need to include within it.