The difference is that when this happens you have someone to call and tell you what's going on. If you ask nicely, maybe you can even get a ballpark estimate for when something should happen next. You know, people acting professionally and such.
They almost certainly will not unfreeze the funds if your bank account can't cover the amount. All credit cards allow the customer to chargeback. If you're no longer solvent, the merchant bank eats that loss. So, they do whatever they can to prevent that.
