Why does Google Ads show a duplicate charge on my credit card?

There are several possible reasons why Google Ads might show a duplicate charge on your credit card. Here are some common causes:

Pre-Authorization or Pending Charges: Sometimes, Google Ads may place a temporary hold or pre-authorization on your card, which could show up as a duplicate charge. This is not a real charge, but just a pending amount that will eventually be released.

Billing Cycle Overlap: If your account is billed on a specific schedule (like monthly or daily), and there's a delay or overlap in processing the charges, it might appear as though you're being charged twice in a short period.

Multiple Accounts or Payment Methods: If you have multiple Google Ads accounts or payment methods linked to the same credit card, you could see duplicate charges if there's a mistake in how the payments are processed.

Error in Billing System: Sometimes technical issues on Google's end could result in a duplicate charge. This could be due to a bug or error in the system that processes payments.

Transaction Retry: In some cases, if Google Ads tries to process a payment and the transaction fails (e.g., due to a temporary issue with your bank), it may retry the payment, leading to a duplicate charge.

Increased Billing Threshold: If your ads spend increased, Google Ads might bill you more frequently to keep up with your account's spending limits, which could result in multiple charges close to each other.

What You Can Do:
Check Payment History: Go to the Google Ads billing section to review your payment history and see if any charges look like duplicates or were made on different dates or with different payment methods.

Contact Google Support: If the duplicate charge seems incorrect, contact Google Ads support to investigate and request a refund or adjustment if necessary.

Check with Your Bank: Sometimes, credit card companies may also hold or flag transactions as duplicates due to security concerns. It's a good idea to verify with your bank if they're seeing any issues.