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Pay inside instead of the pump. Yeah it is ridiculous but the banks always take their time when it is to our benefit.
Back in 2011 or 2012 before I got my first credit card I had a WalMart prepaid Visa. I went to a local store to pump $20 in gas and they put a $50 hold on my card for several days. That's when I learned to always go inside to pay for gas. Kinda makes it hard to completely fill your tank up but it is what it is.
At our local WalMart Market Place gas station they make us use a gift card for prepaid gas purchases. They load your credit card purchases on a gift card. So it looks like I am buying a gift card every time I buy gas. I think the reason they do this is to save us 3 cents per gallon when using the card. My Sam's Club MC gives the same 3 cents off per gallon but you can't use both and I don't want that $50 hold on my card either.
@Anonymous wrote:Back in 2011 or 2012 before I got my first credit card I had a WalMart prepaid Visa. I went to a local store to pump $20 in gas and they put a $50 hold on my card for several days. That's when I learned to always go inside to pay for gas. Kinda makes it hard to completely fill your tank up but it is what it is.
At our local WalMart Market Place gas station they make us use a gift card for prepaid gas purchases. They load your credit card purchases on a gift card. So it looks like I am buying a gift card every time I buy gas. I think the reason they do this is to save us 3 cents per gallon when using the card. My Sam's Club MC gives the same 3 cents off per gallon but you can't use both and I don't want that $50 hold on my card either.
That may be part of the reason, but I suspect the major reason is that if you overpay they don't have to worry about refunds or voids... you can simply use the remaining GC value at Walmart or save it for your next refuel.
Is this a state thing, or a particular gas station? I've never had this happen.
I'm in the midwest and a lot of the stations here do the exact same thing. I purchase fuel at the local QuikTrip or Mobil. QT will pre-authorize a dollar and then in a day or so the actual charge will post. Mobil on the other hand does it opposite of QT; they pre-authorize $100 and release the excess (if any) in the same time frame.
If you have a lot of available credit then the temp holds aren't a big issue...and as other posters have said, you can avoid this by paying inside. My issue with paying inside is that (and I've tested it at both Mobil and QT) PenFed's 5% Cash Rewards card specially says that they'll only pay the 5% is you purchase at the pump. I've tried paying for fuel inside and it doesn't code the same at QT or Mobil and I lose out so in order to get the 5% I have to pay at the pump.
I don't know why its like that with PenFed as I know my Discover will code anything (inside or out) as fuel and I reap the rewards. American Express is the same, codes at the pump and any purchase inside as fuel...PenFed for some reason just doesn't code the same...some how they know when I've made a purchase inside versus at the pump. Strange...
@Loquat wrote:I'm in the midwest and a lot of the stations here do the exact same thing. I purchase fuel at the local QuikTrip or Mobil. QT will pre-authorize a dollar and then in a day or so the actual charge will post. Mobil on the other hand does it opposite of QT; they pre-authorize $100 and release the excess (if any) in the same time frame.
If you have a lot of available credit then the temp holds aren't a big issue...and as other posters have said, you can avoid this by paying inside. My issue with paying inside is that (and I've tested it at both Mobil and QT) PenFed's 5% Cash Rewards card specially says that they'll only pay the 5% is you purchase at the pump. I've tried paying for fuel inside and it doesn't code the same at QT or Mobil and I lose out so in order to get the 5% I have to pay at the pump.
I don't know why its like that with PenFed as I know my Discover will code anything (inside or out) as fuel and I reap the rewards. American Express is the same, codes at the pump and any purchase inside as fuel...PenFed for some reason just doesn't code the same...some how they know when I've made a purchase inside versus at the pump. Strange...
+1