£120 'charge' under pending transactions

peter021072

If you spend money on petrol at Tesco with a new credit card you might find yourself with an additional separate £120 charge under 'pending transactions' titled 'purchase domestic'. The Santander helpline tell me this is rebated before anything appears on the main bill. I can't remember if it's to cover Tesco or the card company, but it created unnecessary worry and a wasted call on their helpline.  Why can't they add 'temporary charge to be refunded'?

eskbanker

If you use 'pay at the pump' at any petrol station with any card, you're likely to have a provisional pre-authorisation amount held on your card like this, it's nothing remarkable and certainly not worth worrying about!

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/07/changes-to-pay-at-pump-up-to-p100-withheld-from-customers-accoun/

400ixl

Not sure what new card has to do with this?

Card transactions whether on a new or old card are subject to a pre-authorisation when using pay at pump services. This is a hold for a certain amount (£120 in this case) which is then adjusted down to the actual spend, usually within hours. 

Starts off as £120 pending, then changes to the correct amount pending and is then committed. At no point does the original amount get committed.

molerat

My Tesco has a big sticker on the front of the pump stating the £120 hold, been the "thing" for some time now, thought it was common knowledge.  Last time I filled up the £120 hold had gone with the actual charge showing by the time I moved from the petrol station to the supermarket car park.

35har1old

peter021072 said:

If you spend money on petrol at Tesco with a new credit card you might find yourself with an additional separate £120 charge under 'pending transactions' titled 'purchase domestic'. The Santander helpline tell me this is rebated before anything appears on the main bill. I can't remember if it's to cover Tesco or the card company, but it created unnecessary worry and a wasted call on their helpline.  Why can't they add 'temporary charge to be refunded'?

It's to prevent drive offs

peter021072

So it's not just me. 

https://www.gbnews.com/news/tesco-pay-at-pump-fee-charge-fury-drivers#:~:text=Motorists are being warned about,to stamp out fuel theft.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/tesco-driver-furious-after-being-29455929

That said, unlike the motorists in these reports I have no objection to this procedure, it's the way the holding fee is listed on the CC bill which is confusing. Just put 'temporary £120 charge to be rebated' on the credit card bill. Job done simple solution.

I was really just trying to be helpful, to anyone else with the same issue.  Reality means everyone isn't observant, and signs aren't always prominently placed, assuming they are clear.  

nyermen

35har1old said:

It's to prevent drive offs

Maybe it's just different where I am, but here, I have an option of pay at pump or pay at kiosk (choice before fueling).  I choose (I tend to go kiosk), fuel, pay and leave.  I'm unclear where the pre-auth prevents drive-offs though, as a thief could just pick kiosk, fuel, and then drive off anyway?

That said, maybe this is focused at night time / unattended pumps, my local stations just close at 10pm or so...

Nasqueron

peter021072 said:

So it's not just me. 

https://www.gbnews.com/news/tesco-pay-at-pump-fee-charge-fury-drivers#:~:text=Motorists are being warned about,to stamp out fuel theft.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/tesco-driver-furious-after-being-29455929

That said, unlike the motorists in these reports I have no objection to this procedure, it's the way the holding fee is listed on the CC bill which is confusing. Just put 'temporary £120 charge to be rebated' on the credit card bill. Job done simple solution.

I was really just trying to be helpful, to anyone else with the same issue.  Reality means everyone isn't observant, and signs aren't always prominently placed, assuming they are clear.  

Usual clickbait headlines from the outrage merchants from people not understanding how things work. A holding amount on the card that is corrected to the actual charge is part and parcel of daily life - I get charged 10p on the bus until the end of the day when it's corrected to £2 or £4, as you'd expect

born_again

Got to love how in the UK people kick off about the holding charge.
Yet this has been standard practise in Europe for Pay At Pump for well over 10 years.

Remember people ringing up & claiming fraud as they never spent 120 euro filling up with fuel. Only to be told that is the normal way in Europe. 
Downer for people using debit cards & filling up several times before they actually debited with correct amounts. 

Phoenix72

35har1old said:

peter021072 said:

If you spend money on petrol at Tesco with a new credit card you might find yourself with an additional separate £120 charge under 'pending transactions' titled 'purchase domestic'. The Santander helpline tell me this is rebated before anything appears on the main bill. I can't remember if it's to cover Tesco or the card company, but it created unnecessary worry and a wasted call on their helpline.  Why can't they add 'temporary charge to be refunded'?

It's to prevent drive offs

No it's not.

It's a Visa/Mastercard thing.

eskbanker

peter021072 said:

I have no objection to this procedure, it's the way the holding fee is listed on the CC bill which is confusing. Just put 'temporary £120 charge to be rebated' on the credit card bill. Job done simple solution.

It shouldn't make it onto your credit card bill, i.e. the formal statement of what you actually owe, but you can usually see such pre-authorisation holds via apps or online banking, within the pending section.

However, as you now know, the use of this generic bucket doesn't signify that a transaction is definitely proceeding, it simply means that an amount has been ring-fenced, and the card company doesn't know what will subsequently happen to that.