Why does Amex show $99 as pending gas payment?

[black_citi]

Every other credit card company I know only shows $1 when its a pending transaction with gas stations but Amex shows $99.00 as a pending transaction. It will correct itself once it authorizes but that $99 pending takes away from my overall credit limit. Is that normal/a good thing? Does it matter? I have the BCE by the way.

[Anonymous]

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@black_citi wrote:
Every other credit card company I know only shows $1 when its a pending transaction with gas stations but Amex shows $99.00 as a pending transaction. It will correct itself once it authorizes but that $99 pending takes away from my overall credit limit. Is that normal/a good thing? Does it matter? I have the BCE by the way.

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Should depend on the gas station.

[takeshi74]

It's normal and not unique to AmEx.  The station determines the preauth amount.  $99 is typical for pay at the pump.  It's sometimes an issue when I have to fill the company truck and forget about the preauth limit as it's not enough to fill the tank if completely empty.

[Anonymous]

$99 is the max you could pay at the pump in one single transaction. Whether you paid for that gas amount or not, it is holding that much and it will adjust down to whatever you used. It is just making sure you have enough funds for whatever you spent. 

[MissMoni223]

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@takeshi74 wrote:

It's normal and not unique to AmEx.  The station determines the preauth amount.  $99 is typical for pay at the pump.  It's sometimes an issue when I have to fill the company truck and forget about the preauth limit as it's not enough to fill the tank if completely empty.

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I think it is unique to AmEx. When I use my Barclay or Discover card at the same Shell gas station, it does not show the $99 charge.  ONLY when I use my AmEx. I think it's an AmEx thing. . .

[Anonymous]

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@MissMoni223 wrote:

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@takeshi74 wrote:

It's normal and not unique to AmEx.  The station determines the preauth amount.  $99 is typical for pay at the pump.  It's sometimes an issue when I have to fill the company truck and forget about the preauth limit as it's not enough to fill the tank if completely empty.

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I think it is unique to AmEx. When I use my Barclay or Discover card at the same Shell gas station, it does not show the $99 charge.  ONLY when I use my AmEx. I think it's an AmEx thing. . .

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It may be unique to AmEx, but that bolded part is pretty much the answer. The gas station determines. Some authorize the actual ammount, some authorize the $99, and some authorize $1.

[black_citi]

That interesting. All I use is shell and when I used to use my BOA 123 card it always showed $1. Same thing with my DCU platinum. Well I guess it doesn't matter because if a charge is pending that shouldn't affect my UTL right?

[Berk]

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@black_citi wrote:
That interesting. All I use is shell and when I used to use my BOA 123 card it always showed $1. Same thing with my DCU platinum. Well I guess it doesn't matter because if a charge is pending that shouldn't affect my UTL right?

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It clears so quickly that it won't afffect anything at all. It also appears to be unique to Amex. I have never had it show up with Visa or Discover. I have seen it as either $100 or $150 depending on what the gas station allows as max amount. Never seen $99.

[Anonymous]

All of mine except Discover show $99 pending. 

[ChargeItPlease]

It depends on the card (issuing bank, I assume) and the gas station. Most of my cards auth for $1, but some for $25 or $50. The only time I ever had a $99 auth was in NYC. If it's a problem for you, paying inside rather than at the pump bypasses the auth hold. Then you should be charged only the exact amount.

I've been meaning to make a list of my cards to record gas station auth amounts for my own use. If I do, I'll share my data.