Pay At Pump Pre-Auth

freckle28

I have noticed that when using my local Asda Pay Pump using my debit card that the pre-auth being taken is £30 even thought the machine on the pump shows £1 as the authorisation being taken.

I have been unable to determine who is deciding to take the £30 pre-auth but the fact the machine show £1 is a problem as it is wrong.

Anyone able to share any insight on this?

Brewer20

I actually filled up at Asda 2 hours ago using my Tesco debit card. It pre authorised £1 at the pump and I have now showing on my account the -£1. So all correct.


How do you know it pre authorised £30, on your account balance?

born_again

So when you check your account you are showing a £30 drop in available balance? Rather than the £1 the pump shows.

As aside how much fuel did you put in?

Asda seem to be one of the co's that are using the regulations to pre auth for a higher amount. In reality they are allowed to pre auth for £99.

Ergates

freckle28 wrote: »

I have noticed that when using my local Asda Pay Pump using my debit card that the pre-auth being taken is £30 even thought the machine on the pump shows £1 as the authorisation being taken.

It's a pre-auth - nothing is being "taken", it's essentially just a query against your account asking "Does this card work and can we take at least £30 from the account".

glider3560

Is this Starling? They take £30 regardless of the actual pre-auth amount.

DCFC79

Im sure this topic has been brought up before.

freckle28

Hi, yes this is Starling. This came into sharp focus for me just before Christmas 2019. I went to an Asda station put the card in and did the auth showing £1 on the screen. Starling account showed a pending debit of £30 taken from my balance. I tried to take the nozzle from the holder and found it was locked with a padlock. So I couldn't take any fuel from that pump. Contacted Starling and they said I needed to wait 31 days till the auth expired. So the money was only refunded to my account this week.

But Starling say it is Asda that requested the auth for £30. So how can they get away with showing £1 on the screen but take £30 auth?

freckle28

Ergates wrote: »

It's a pre-auth - nothing is being "taken", it's essentially just a query against your account asking "Does this card work and can we take at least £30 from the account".

With Starling the pending debit gets taken from your balance immediately. In the case of pay at pump the amount is corrected up or down depending on the total and your balance updated when the transaction is settled.

glider3560

It's Starling who apply the £30 threshold: https://help.starlingbank.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007304819-Why-did-the-petrol-station-take-30-when-I-spent-less-

I think they've created this to try to be clever (i.e. adjust your balance to roughly the right amount) but in the process have made a massive assumption that everyone fills up with £30 each time.

You could make a complaint about this. They aren't telling you this will happen in their terms and are blocking more than the merchant's authorisation.

p00hsticks

freckle28 wrote: »

So the money was only refunded to my account this week.

As Ergates said earlier, with an authorisation no money is actually being taken from your account. It remains in your account but has been 'tagged' for possibly further use so the amount is removed from your 'available balance' figure.

glider3560

p00hsticks wrote: »

As Ergates said earlier, with an authorisation no money is actually being taken from your account. It remains in your account but has been 'tagged' for possibly further use so the amount is removed from your 'available balance' figure.

But it remains unavailable for spend for a number of days. Starling are unique in "making up" a value of £30, regardless of what the retailer actually pre-authorises.

The fuel industry all lowered this amount to £1 recently, so there's no reason why Starling have to be different.