ReferenceMicrosoft Advertising delivery status
Hold
Hold means Microsoft Advertising has stopped every campaign in the account, almost always over money: a declined card, an overdue invoice, too many chargebacks, or suspicious changes. Select Remove the hold in the red banner, then Fix declined payments to pay the balance with a working card. An invoiced account or one held for suspicious changes goes through Support.
At a glance
- Where it shows
- In a red banner at the top of Microsoft Advertising, in the Errors column of the Accounts summary, and as Hold in the Delivery column.
- What stops
- Every campaign in the account. Ads are not eligible to show anywhere until the hold is lifted.
- How serious
- A payment problem, not a policy finding. Left alone, Microsoft says it may hold every account the customer owns.
- How long
- Microsoft says the hold is lifted as soon as the payment is processed. A hold for suspicious changes can last up to 30 days.
What it means
A hold is Microsoft Advertising refusing to serve an account it cannot be sure it will be paid for. No campaign in the account runs while it stands, whatever their own statuses say, so a hold is the first thing to rule out when every ad stops at once.
Microsoft names four causes. A postpay account whose card was declined. A monthly invoice account with one or more invoices overdue. An account with excessive chargebacks, where several payments were disputed. And suspicious changes, which bring a temporary hold of up to 30 days. A hold on a card applies to every Microsoft Advertising account that uses that card, not just the one where the charge failed.
What actually triggers it
The card on file was declined
The most common cause. Microsoft lists an expired card, a billing address that changed, a card at its credit or single transaction limit, a card blocked for suspected fraud, a card that needs Microsoft approved as a merchant, and a bank that asks for strong customer authentication.
The hold came after the second failed charge, not the fifth
Not on Google's help page
Microsoft's status list says it tries the card five times before a hold. Its declined payment article says the hold goes on after two failed attempts and that it keeps trying three more times. Expect the hold early, and read the email about the first declined charge as the warning.
An invoice is overdue
On monthly invoicing, one late invoice holds the account. This kind cannot be cleared from the interface: Microsoft sends it to Support to pay the amount due.
Payments were disputed
Not on Google's help page
Excessive chargebacks put an account on hold. A chargeback filed by mistake, or by a finance team that did not recognise the charge, counts the same as a real dispute.
Someone else pays the bill
When a bill-to customer pays the charges for an account, the hold is on their payment, and the How do I remove the hold? column tells the account owner to contact them rather than fix it.
Suspicious changes to the account
Microsoft places a temporary hold of up to 30 days when it detects suspicious changes. Unlike a payment hold, there is no balance to pay; the route is Support.
Fix it in this order
- Sign in as a Super Admin, or as a Standard User when the account has another payment method to choose. Other roles cannot remove a hold.
- Select Remove the hold in the red banner at the top of the page, and read the How do I remove the hold? column for each account it lists.
- Where it says Fix declined payments, select it and either update the declined card, which is marked in red with the date it failed, or add a new payment method.
- Let Microsoft charge the balance due. A card that is added or chosen here also becomes the primary payment method.
- Where the column says to contact Support, call Support and pay any overdue balance. Where it names the bill-to customer, tell them the account is on hold.
- Add a backup payment method so the next declined charge on the primary card does not stop the account.
Microsoft says the hold is lifted as soon as the payment is processed successfully. Check the Errors column of the Accounts summary (Tools, All accounts, Accounts summary) and the campaigns' Delivery column afterwards.
When to appeal
There is no appeal for a payment hold: paying the balance is the fix. Calling the bank first is worth it when the card itself is fine, because a merchant approval or a fraud block will decline the next charge too.
For a hold over suspicious changes, contact Support. Microsoft does not offer a form for it in the interface.
Running Microsoft Advertising beside Google is one of the things we sell. A status like “Hold” is the kind of problem we sort out as part of that work, in an account that stays in your name.
Often confused with
Paused: Zero Balance
A prepay account has run out of funds. Adding funds starts the ads again; nothing was declined.
Pending: No payment method
The account never had a card or other payment method added. Adding one is the fix.
Inactive
An account error Microsoft says only Support can reverse. It is not a payment hold and has no Remove the hold button.
Unpaid balance suspension in Google Ads
Google's nearest case. Google suspends the account; Microsoft places a hold, which lifts as soon as the balance is paid.
Why are accounts that were paid on time also on hold?
A hold follows the card. Every account that uses the declined card is held, and Microsoft says that if a hold is not removed it may hold all of the customer's accounts, whether or not they have declined or overdue payments of their own.
The bank says the card is fine. Why was it declined?
Microsoft names two causes a bank may not mention: theft protection that needs Microsoft Advertising approved as a merchant, and strong customer authentication. For the second, Microsoft says to make a manual payment and authenticate the card.