positive authorization

A system of authorization used in non-cash retail transaction, which verifies a payment against the customer's account file before approval is made if the customer has sufficient fund in the account to support the payment. This is a stricter form of credit approval, which will even deny a transaction if the customer is only temporarily overdrawn on their credit limit but not delinquent as opposed to a negative authorization that will not refuse a customer, only if they have a delinquent account.