Credit Cards

[Funk-O-Meter]

I just bought $20 in gas at the pump at a gas station in my neighborhood and it pre-authed my Amex Cash Everyday for $500! **bleep** is that about?

I called up AMEX to let them know and find out if this is unusal and the lady didn't sound surprised and didn't offer much advice. It wasn't a problem for me as the CL is 2k and I had zero on the card but if I where on vacation and this happened a couple times it could kill my card for up to 8 days while these pre-auths came off!

Have you guys seen this? Is it a AMEX thing?

I'm never going there again.

[tmbr10]

No! I too would be royally pissed. Could definately be damaging while on vacation, etc. Good luck and please keep us posted on whether this is an Amex problem or that particular gas station.

[dowel911]

There's a certain Shell station I go to sometimes that will preauth $99.00 on my Zync card. But the Shell station 3 miles down the road (different owner) will preauth $1.00.

[pizzadude]

It varies by station and also by the type of card as to how much gets preauthorized.    I always go inside to pay to avoid the preauth situation.

Here's a good recent posting on this topic:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Amex-Fuel-Pre-Auth-Now-250/m-p/1129389#M315148

[danpass]

On my Amexs I have text alert set for $10 charges ......... only because it won't go lower.   I want an alert for EVERYTHING.

The highest alert I've seen is either 125 or 150.  The typical place I go to is always 100.   I don't remember seeing lower lol.

[Koop10010]

It varies by station and card.  If you only fill up a car at the station, you may never encounter it, but the pump will cut off at a certain amount.  I frequently have to fill up my truck and several extra gas buckets, so I often have to restart the pump with another swipe atleast once.  It varies by station, some I have to restart at $100, some $150, and some go all the way to $200.  It could be that the station you went to cuts off the pump at $500 and authorized your card for that amount.  Some stations probably only pre-authorize $1, no matter what they limit their pump to.  Also, I suspect some card companies will only pre-authorize $1 for gas no matter what the station requests as a pre-authorization.

[Lambo23]

My shell station pre-authorized my zync for 99$. I about ##$%^ my pants.

[pizzadude]

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Lambo23 wrote:

My shell station pre-authorized my zync for 99$. I about ##$%^ my pants.

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LL ~ you will be walking inside the store to buy gas from now on, like me....

[danpass]

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Lambo23 wrote:

My shell station pre-authorized my zync for 99$. I about ##$%^ my pants.

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rofl

I remember a similar reaction the first time I saw the $100 alert:

"OMGWTH!!!!!!"

[MrGoat]

Its not an AMEX thing....its a gas station thing.

Ive had the same thing happen, although not quite that high of an amount, at one station down the road here.

Make note of which station it is, tell them you wont be doing business with them again and tell them why, then get your gas elsewhere.