Pay at the Pump pending money

Abbafan1972

Brewer21 said:

Well that doesn't happen at Asda pay at pump. There was a big outcry about them doing the £100 pending on accounts a while ago. Mine now checks the card and authorises £1, that's the amount that shows pending on my account. Later, maybe up to 3 days the £1 drops off and the full amount shows up. 
Never been refused a fill up and I've used accounts that had sometimes less than £50 to do a fuel top up of say £30. It'll show a pending £1 on my account.

The same thing as above happens at Tesco pay at pump, so we don't have a problem.

What petrol station did you use @NewOutlook

username

born_again said:

username said:

I don't think I have ever filled up (in all my time driving) using a debit card, thus avoiding this problem. Always used a credit card, and it makes it the bank's issue.

Go over your limit & it's your problem... 

Just because it's a credit Card, does not make it the banks problem. You have agreed to pay back what you borrow 👍

I'm certainly not implying that a credit card is free money without repayment.

But in context for this thread, if the above happens for your credit card (where the stuck £100 preauth doesn't come off) the card company just withholds that from your available balance and even if your statement is generated, you don't pay for it, since the £100 is a preauth and not a processed transaction.

Years ago I had fraud on my credit card, and the dozy bank (Lloyds) didn't detect the card was used in a strange manner buying fuel on the other side of the world. The fraudster managed to max out my credit card. I didn't have to pay a penny.

The bank's credit line, their problem and issue for allowing the fraud, and to sort out, whilst putting the client back to where they were beforehand.

If you use your debit card, it is held from your own cash in the account, hence the reason why some are annoyed about it.

It's probably the reason why in the Amazon thread some people say they'll only ever use their credit card online and never their debit card. As in if there's unauthorised activity they don't want their account emptied.

Ultimately it's up to everyone to have some responsibility and redundancy to a degree in their own finances.

Certainly the petrol stations could be a lot more explicit about it (the £100 preauth). I have only seen signs at Sainsbury's pay at the pump, and people who do not have the means to have £100 held off their account balance can fill up with whatever they are able to and pay inside.

I have never understood the token £1 preauth though, I can imagine quite a few petrol stations getting stiffed when the client didn't have the real amount in when it came to submitting the filled amount. Those in the know, did they 'force' these types of transactions through?

born_again

Our local Morrisons have had a sign up for months about the £100 pre auth. But when checking it has only ever taken £1.

It is so funny how people in the UK kick off about this but it has been standard practise for years in Europe... Guess it's the Brit I like to complain attitude 🤷‍♂️

cx6

i would guess a lot of the complaints are about the length of time it takes the pre-auth to drop off rather than the pre-auth itself

chris.mitchell

I can't see why the garages can't come up with some sort of solution where you state how much fuel you want to put in when authorising your card, authorise that amount and then the pump shuts off once it reaches that amount. 

Some pumps do this to stop you going over fuel anyway, so surely it can't be too difficult to implement. 

Or would that be too easy lol. 

born_again

cx6 said:

i would guess a lot of the complaints are about the length of time it takes the pre-auth to drop off rather than the pre-auth itself

If it works as it should, pre auth drops off at the same time as correct amount debits.

born_again

chris.mitchell said:

I can't see why the garages can't come up with some sort of solution where you state how much fuel you want to put in when authorising your card, authorise that amount and then the pump shuts off once it reaches that amount. 

Some pumps do this to stop you going over fuel anyway, so surely it can't be too difficult to implement. 

Or would that be too easy lol. 

I only ever fill my car to the brim. So I have no idea how much that will cost. 🤷‍♂️

MalMonroe

I really don't understand this thread. Doesn't it just mean that your card, and you, are authorised to use up to the amount of £100? I filled up at Morrisons yesterday and the notice popped up to say card accepted, authorised up to £100. My car's too small to take that much petrol so I filled up and it cost £32. It's only the second time I've had to fill up since coronavirus took over. A couple of hours later I checked my banking app and the £32 was in the 'pending transactions' list. I always assumed that the authorised amount simply meant you can't spend any more than that. I've never had £1 taken or dropped off any account. I'm not sure what size ordinary motor would need more than £100 worth of petrol but that amount of fuel would at least take the driver a good way before it ran out. 

If I've missed something, it's probably just as well because I just turn up at the petrol pump, get my card cleared and authorised, fill up and go on my way. Check later with my app that all is okay and don't worry. Since I had a DRO - well out of the way now - I check my banking apps daily. Takes two minutes and that way I know all's well. So far!

MalMonroe

born_again said:

chris.mitchell said:

I can't see why the garages can't come up with some sort of solution where you state how much fuel you want to put in when authorising your card, authorise that amount and then the pump shuts off once it reaches that amount. 

Some pumps do this to stop you going over fuel anyway, so surely it can't be too difficult to implement. 

Or would that be too easy lol. 

I only ever fill my car to the brim. So I have no idea how much that will cost. 🤷‍♂️

You should have an approximation, though, surely?  My driving instructor advised me never to fill my car to the brim because - expansion. Mind you, that was 35 years ago. Maybe petrol/diesel don't expand any more. Or maybe it's only in summer. 

chris.mitchell

MalMonroe said:

I really don't understand this thread. Doesn't it just mean that your card, and you, are authorised to use up to the amount of £100? I filled up at Morrisons yesterday and the notice popped up to say card accepted, authorised up to £100. My car's too small to take that much petrol so I filled up and it cost £32. It's only the second time I've had to fill up since coronavirus took over. A couple of hours later I checked my banking app and the £32 was in the 'pending transactions' list. I always assumed that the authorised amount simply meant you can't spend any more than that. I've never had £1 taken or dropped off any account. I'm not sure what size ordinary motor would need more than £100 worth of petrol but that amount of fuel would at least take the driver a good way before it ran out. 

If I've missed something, it's probably just as well because I just turn up at the petrol pump, get my card cleared and authorised, fill up and go on my way. Check later with my app that all is okay and don't worry. Since I had a DRO - well out of the way now - I check my banking apps daily. Takes two minutes and that way I know all's well. So far!

It’s relatively new. I used it at Sainsburys yesterday and as soon as I took my card out of the pump I had a notification from Monzo to say that £100 had been spent. 

After fuelling and leaving the garage though the amount adjusted to the actual amount of fuel I bought - I think depending on the banks it can either be instant or a day or two for the transaction to change to the actual amount taken now. Not all garages have rolled it out as yet though