Issuing authorizations

Learn how to use Issuing to handle authorization requests.

When a card is used to make a purchase, it generates an authorization request, which is approved or declined based on the following steps:

Stripe checks that the balance used for Issuing has sufficient funds, that the card is active, and that your spending controls allow the authorization.
Stripe sends an issuing_authorization.request event.

Listen for Stripe events

Set up a webhook to listen for this event so you can synchronously approve/decline Authorizations.

Before closing the issuing_authorization.request event, you can approve or decline the authorization by responding directly to the webhook event (preferred) or by calling our approve or decline endpoints.
If you don’t approve or decline the authorization within 2 seconds, Stripe uses your default settings to approve or decline the authorization.
Stripe sends an issuing_authorization.created event, notifying you of the Authorization’s creation.

Authorization updates

When Stripe receives an authorization request, we send an issuing_authorization.created webhook event. If you approve the authorization, we deduct the amount from your Issuing balance and hold it in reserve until the authorization is either captured, voided, or expired without capture. If you decline the authorization, the status is set to closed and we don’t place any holds.

When the authorization is captured, a transaction is created and the status of the authorization is set to closed.

If the authorization request is voided, we send an issuing_authorization.updated webhook event with its status set to reversed and the amount as 0. We add the voided amount back to your Issuing balance, essentially undoing the balance impact of the original authorization.

If the authorization request is expired without capture, we send an issuing_authorization.updated webhook event with its status set to reversed and the amount representing any remaining amount authorized for possible late captures. We add the expired amount back to your Issuing balance, essentially undoing the balance impact of the original authorization.

Purchases in different currencies

Cards can be used for purchases in any currency that the card network supports. Stripe automatically converts the currency of the purchase into the card’s currency when holding funds, using the card network’s daily rate.

The merchant_amount represents the cost of the purchase in the local currency. The amount field represents the expected amount of the Transaction in the card’s currency and is not final until the Authorization has been captured.

Handling other authorizations

In addition to regular authorizations, there are a few other cases that you should be ready to handle.

Some authorizations can be partially authorized to limit spending. This allows you to authorize a specific lower amount and is useful when there are not sufficient funds to cover the full purchase.

Fueling stations in the US are a special example of this. When a card is used at a fuel dispenser, an issuing_authorization.request for 1 USD is sent. The default amount held is 100 USD to cover the unknown purchase amount. When the cardholder finishes pumping fuel, the authorization is updated and an issuing_authorization.updated event is sent to reflect the amount of the purchase.

When an authorization can be partially authorized, the is_amount_controllable field on the authorization request is set to true. You can specify the amount you would like to approve by setting the amount in the approve response.

Using with Stripe Treasury

Authorizations on cards that use funds stored in Treasury FinancialAccounts have a treasury field with references to Treasury resources: Treasury Transaction, ReceivedCredit, and ReceivedDebit.