I want to know why I Linden Lab took a dollar from my bank account.

[Xii Fang]

Like I stated in the title, does anyone know why Linden Lab would take a dollar out of my actual bank account?

[Unklebob Hotaling]

It's standard practice, merchants (LL, hotels taking reservations using credit cards, etc) make a minimal charge to see if the transaction is successful to verify the card info as given is correct and the account is in good standing... LL Billing can better explain it than I can and this is exact the thing they deal with.  It's a "pending transaction" that never happens and if it does Billing can reverse it.

If you have a non-technical issue with your account you can also call our Billing team at:

Toll-Free (US/Canada)
800.294.1067

Long Distance
703.286.6277

Our Billing team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Local Toll-Free numbers

France: 0805.101.490

Germany: 0800.664.5510

Japan: 0066.33.132.830

Portugal: 800.814.450

Spain: 800.300.560

UK: 0800.048.4646

Support is in English Only

[Xii Fang]

Thanks, though its not so "minimal" when I only had 3 dollars in the account.

[Unklebob Hotaling]

Give Billing a shout, they're reasonable and would reverse it if it was as described... did with me; that's how i knew the answer to this lol.  The cardholder might too.

[Grim Thursday]

One third of your entire savings, gone.

[Alicia Mureaux]

The one dollar charge is not technically removing the money from your account.  It is a hold, saying that LL has the rights to that one dollar.  Usually in 5-7 business days that hold would automatically release.  When you go to a hotel, typically the hotel will take and put a hold for the amount of the room and tax plus an additional $30-$50 a day to cover 'incidentals' such as phone calls, movies or other room charges.  When you check out and settle your bill the true amount of your charges get sent to the credit card company, usually less than what is held in reserve.  It will take the few days for the remaining holds to be released.  This is why using debit cards is a bad idea for some purchases.  You will get your access back to that money, it just takes time.  Unless you are settling the charge immediately, always use a credit card for those types of transactions.  You can always settle your account with your debit card when you leave, that way the only the exact amount gets billed to the debit card.

[Ansariel Hiller]

See also in the Knowledge Base: Why was I charged $1.00 on my credit card?