Amex Fuel Pre-Auth Now $250?!

[n777ua]

I always get fuel with my BCE, and the pre-auth has always, always been $100.  Yesterday I filled up before heading out of town for the holidays, and today I checked my account and the pre-auth was $250.  Isn't that a bit excessive for a fuel pre-auth?  It doesn't affect my card usage at all, we only use the BCE for fuel .  .  . but it just seems a bit high.

[Jake0215]

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@n777ua wrote:

I always get fuel with my BCE, and the pre-auth has always, always been $100.  Yesterday I filled up before heading out of town for the holidays, and today I checked my account and the pre-auth was $250.  Isn't that a bit excessive for a fuel pre-auth?  It doesn't affect my card usage at all, we only use the BCE for fuel .  .  . but it just seems a bit high.

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I suppose this could be a problem for the people with the 500 hard limit. Otherwise it wouldnt really bother me.

[LS2982]

What is a fuel Pre-Auth??

[PetRaccoon]

Heating Oil? 

[RyVision]

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@LS2982 wrote:

What is a fuel Pre-Auth??

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When you use your card to pay at the pump, you swipe it before you pump the gas. It has to be ok'd by your lender for an amount you might hit with the car while fueling, so it's a temp authorization until you're done and the meter has hit.. say 54.74 and that replaces the pre-auth amount as the actual charge.

I think most pre-auths used to be 75, but with the prices going up and a lot of vehicles taking more fuel (trucks etc etc) they probably had to raise it.

[n777ua]

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@LS2982 wrote:

What is a fuel Pre-Auth??

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When you pay at the pump Amex doesn't know how much fuel you are going to buy, so they authorize your account for a high amount, which has usually been $100.  When the charge posts, it posts for the actual amount.

[PetRaccoon]

Wha? Chase only does an Auth of $1. O_o;

[n777ua]

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@PetRaccoon wrote:

Wha? Chase only does an Auth of $1. O_o;

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This is Amex - they do things differently - generally any way they want to.

[drkaje]

$250 is insane!!

[PetRaccoon]

But $250? Holy cow.