A new form of charge has been noticed by customers at some petrol stations across the country when they try to fill up by paying directly at the pump instead of inside the store. Customers reported having a £99 authorisation charge taken from their accounts by Asda on top of the filling up cost itself.
A large sum
Jade from Yorkshire bought £5 worth of petrol from Asda, only to discover that £99 had also been removed from her account. This charge is a new authorisation charge that is being trialled at a few stations in the North of England. While the money was later refunded to her, she was £99 short for 2-3 days.
Asda are placing this problem on the shoulders of Mastercard/Visa as they say that it is now industry standard. However, Asda didn’t inform anyone that this would happen and have covertly released the charge at three stations first and are looking to roll it out nationwide.
The rules behind it
Mastercard/Visa recently introduced a new pre-authorisation charge on all pay at pump transactions to ensure that a person has enough in their account to be able to afford the fill-up. The pre-authorisation charge is ring-fenced by the bank, rather than Asda, and is held until you have finished filling up. After you have finished filling it should be released although in this situation it took a few days for the funds to return.
Visa released a statement about the pre-authorisation charge here:
“The way that pay-at-pump fuel payments are treated has been standardised across the industry to ensure security for individual cardholders, retailers and card issuers.
“When an individual chooses to pay at a pay-at-pump fuel dispenser, an initial amount is held against their account while they dispense their fuel to ensure that they have sufficient funds to pay for the cost of their fuel. This initial amount should be adjusted immediately after fuel is dispensed to reflect the actual cost of the fuel.
“Visa has been working closely with card issuing banks to ensure that consumers do not experience delays in the adjustment of the initially-held amount, however if consumers notice that initial amounts held against their accounts are not adjusted immediately, they should raise this with their card issuing bank in the first instance.”
What other companies are doing
While Asda is the only one currently running this scheme, other retailers are aware of the changes, but have not implemented it yet.
A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said “We are aware Visa and Mastercard are rolling out an industry wide update for pay at pump machines. We are currently reviewing the update before any introduction at our petrol filling stations.”
BPme, the filling up app from BP, has a £100 pre-authorisation charge if you select full tank, otherwise it will pre-authorise the amount you select from within the app. This has been in place since they launched the app.
A Morrisons spokeswoman said: “At Morrisons Petrol Stations, the amount taken out of customers bank accounts should be the same as the amount they pay at the pump.”
Shell said that this wouldn’t affect customers when we asked, although their app terms and conditions state that “pre-authorisation happens with PayPal or your nominated financial institution (whichever is applicable) of the amount of money equal to the value of the offer…If the offer is rejected; cancelled by you or the site cashier; or automatically cancelled in the case of inactivity, the amount pre-authorised may be unavailable for use until the pre-authorisation has expired. Expiry times for pre-authorisation amounts can vary between financial institutions… You can dispense a maximum amount of fuel with a value equal to the pre-authorised amount of money and you will only be charged after the fuel has been dispensed.”
In a bid to stop people from buying petrol who don’t have the money, some banks have gone a step further to protect them. Basic bank account holders who don’t have overdrafts are struggling so Santander has blocked anyone with a basic debit card from using pay at the pump. Other banks such as Halifax and Lloyds have elected to block basic cardholders from using pumps that have not been updated to meet the new requirements. As not many forecourts have introduced the new £99 authorisation checks, this will no doubt affect a lot of people.
Can you get around this?
The simplest way is to avoid using pay at pump, while in some situations this may be impossible, there is often an alternative manned station in any part of the country.
However for some people pay at pump is the only option since Asda is usually the cheapest in an area and many of their sites are unmanned. There is nothing you can do to avoid the situation, but make sure that when you do fill up at a station that you have enough money in your account to cover the maximum amount it would cost you to fill up, which is £99.
While the amount ring fenced should be released straight after filling up and then the correct payment for fuel is taken, it can take between 2-5 working days for some banks to release the authorisation fee back to your account. Although we can understand why Visa/Mastercard are imposing this rule to ensure people can pay for what they fill up with, it is simply not acceptable that banks are holding onto authorisation funds and are not releasing it back the very same day.
PetrolPrices will keep monitoring the situation and report on further developments on this story as they emerge.
UPDATE Asda are withdrawing the trial until all banks can comply. An Asda spokesperson told MoneySavingExpert: “We always want to do the right thing for our customers, which is why we have made the decision to suspend Visa and Mastercard’s pre-authorisation transaction trial.
“The intention of Visa and MasterCard in this trial was to ensure customers had sufficient funds in their account to pay for their fuel, and the £99 would be immediately released back to customers by their bank.
“Whilst we have received very few complaints about this process until we can be given assurance that all banks are able to comply with the Visa and Mastercard rule change, we cannot continue to implement this change and risk harming our customers’ trust in us.”
Has this ever affected you? Would having a £99 charge affect you? Let us know in the comments below.
No doubt this is the result of the wipe and pay. Bound to be losses due to stolen cards and 29.99 worth of Fuel.
Amex do the same thing. The charge cleared overnight. This is more nannyism as obviously all of us are incapable of managing our finances. I have used pay at pumps overseas and not noticed any such charge. Clearly customers should be informed before a charge is made whether transient or not.
I have never liked pay at the pump and now I will avoid it as much as possible. What if the transaction runs over from one month to another. Personally I question the legality of the this type of transaction without specific authorisation by the cardholder.
When you put your pin number in that is the only authorization needed.
You are authorising what you know about not this £99 which people are only finding out about later. This amounts to theft.
I agree it’s wrong, but strictly speaking it is not theft. According to the 1968 Theft Act “A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.” In this case they intend to refund the £99 rather than permanently deprive the customer.
Not *currently* illegal – but certainly immoral. If they can “take” the money instantly, they can “give it back” instantly – they just don’t want to, because they can earn money off it whilst they hold it!
It’s not theft as there is no intention to permanently deprive you of that amount
So if I borrow your car without asking first, then return it a few days later, that’s not theft is it?
no it is taking without consent (TWOK)
What does the K stand for?
No, that’s why the offence of Taking Without Owner’s Consent was introduced.
There’s something being overlooked here. For as long as Asda have that £99, they will be earning interest on it. Talk about money for nothing!
Wrong! Asda do not have it your bank does !
Wrong again, no-one has it. The money is never actually removed from your account in these cases, just ring fenced as not available to spend until further notice. It does not go into anyone else’s account until the transaction is completed.
DOH if person only had £100 in bank and £99 ring fenced as not available they would only have £1 available credit until money credited back to account so what do they buy food, electric etc with???
Agree completely
A Credit Card
So let me just get this right – I have £100 cleared funds in my account and the bank decides to allegedly ring fence £99 of it so I can’t spend it. So where the hell is my £99? If its withheld from my account then it must be in someone else’s account? The “cloud” does not have a bank account that I am aware of so my £99 must be held by the bank?? If this is (probably) the case and 500,000 people have £99 withheld from their accounts even for one hour then that’s £49’500’000 available for interest free short term investment! I think i know a scam when I see one!!
Simple,take the cash out of the bank and only put that amount in,that way the supermarket/company would have to employ more people at the garage costing them more.
Mastercard or visa keep the refund even if the merchant returns it immediately and it can take up to five days to return it according to my bank. Although the amount is technically in your account you are unable to use it as it is classed as a pending transaction and therefore unavailable to spend. Perhaps the debit card clearing houses should be whacked with a punitive 3000% interest charge for keeping the money that they have taken without advising you first. That might expedite the return of your dosh.There has never been any sign to say that this pre authorisation charge will be taken or what it will be; which is bordering on illegal.
On a credit card, a pre-authorisation reduces your available credit limit, but it won’t actually appear on the bill, so the answer is, the correct charge would appear on the bill next month. But if you are running close to your limit, then for a few days, there will be £99 you won’t be able to spend.
This has been the case for some time in France -we were caught out last year in France – while we always try to find a manned pump tbis can be awkward in France – it took over a week for the 120 Euro to be refunded
What happens when you pay with credit card?
It gets taken from your credit limit but most people have a bigger credit limit than they have bank balance, which is why we use credit cards, and the charge goes back in quicker than with a debit card because the clearing houses are taking the hit not you. Bonus is that most merchants have to wait 30 days for their money from a credit transaction so ya boo sucks! to them and perhaps everyone using a credit card to buy fuel instead will force them to reconsider this highway robbery of debit card pre authorisation!
I doubt the legality. I also think interest should be paid as in effect the bank is borrowing my funds
i understand why the card companies are taking thgis action but consider it essential money is refunded to account at the end of the transaction. I consider it totally unacceptable to have to wait several days for the money to be returned to the account.If you do a lot of miles eg towing a caravan, there is a need to fill up several times a day at £99a time that is a lot outstanding over several days COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.
The amount of money the banks are holding on to for few days, is a nice little earner.
I don’t suppose, of course, that this had occurred to the banks, could it?
Surely the forecourt operators (Asda, and those that follow) have a duty to warn customers using the “pay at pump” of the “temporary” charge.
Never used a pay at pump as if there were a dispute, no written proofr is available for a transaction.
The one’s I’ve used (Asda) ask if you want a receipt at the end
This is usually the case but on occasions if the printer has run out of paper and you don’t get a receipt!
At Tesco you can print the receipt on another pump by inserting the card you used to pay.
You can at Asda too
Tesco offers a printed receipt at their pay at pumps
Yes it affected me in France bought 20€ at a peage service station and 200€ held for 7 working days
This would most certainly affect a lot of people. Imagine living on exactly what you have … You want to put £20 of fuel in your car to get to work, payday is tomorrow and you only have £30 in the bank with not enough fuel to get to work … You can’t fill up and can’t get to work because you didn’t have £99 that you didn’t intend to spend in the first place… it would be more useful if they asked you for a preset amount you wished to put in then cut off the pump when that is reached.
I agree wholeheartedly. Why wont this website put that to a vote…’Wud customers prefer to have fuel pumps where you can preset the amount you wish to pay ?’ It would be easier to select and pre pay for £30 for example before dispensing the fuel (knowing you had funds for that) rather than have the bank TAKE £99 and hold on to the remaining £69 without the customers prior consent/agreement/authorisation for ANY period of time.
This is already in place. I used a Tesco pay at pump last week and was given the option to preset the maximum spend
Tesco’s are probably the only place that has this facility! Very few others, if any, do. Also has the advantage that you can fill quicker as you don’t need to slow down whilst filling, to check the amount dispensed.
How does it work out if you select £50 and are only able to get £45 worth into your tank before it is full?
I presume they precharge £50 and debit £45. To pay £5 back into your account once the transaction has completed.
At our gulf garage you can pre select £50.00 but only fill up to £45.00 press for reciept and £45.00 is printed on total amount
Perhaps the supermarket petrol stations should present the amount you can get at £XX.95 or £XX.99 like they price in the shop and it might not feel so expensive
This option only sets the delivery amount and will cut out at that amount (unless it is full first) . Tesco pumps do not currently pre authorise.
Tesco petrol station do have this facility it stops u going over when taking fuel from the pump like that dreaded 1p over lol
I solved the 1p problem by simply finishing the dispensing on £xx:x1p (or even 2p/3p) This in turn made the transactions a doddle to identify on card statements as rarely does a Supermarket spend end on those last two figures – No stress No F**k under your breath at the pump – just aim for it… lol
You have this option at many PAY AT THE PUMPS TO set the amount
“fuel pumps where you can preset the amount you wish to pay”
These were commonplace years ago!
So don’t let any of the companies claim that it is “too complex a problem”, or “too costly a solution”.
Tesco already do you can select either litres or £’s at some station
Yes this is already in place the BP me at all selection for your fries any amount that you want and take any amount of feel that you want
Also, why can’t they take to actual payment first, then there’d be no need to worry about over fuelling.
It seems to work for petrol stations in the middle of the night when then ask to to pay first before fuelling.
Its the normal think in the USA where you pay upfront for your fuel and the pump will stop when you get to your pre paid limit. If however you don’t use the full pre paid amount you can go back into the garage and get a refund of the unspent amount/
A problem if using a debit card but not a credit card. If the money is repaid within two days then there should not be any financial embarrassment. Sharp practice by the banks, though. Who would have thought it?!!!!!!
It’s all about the banks using _our_ money and earning off it before giving it back! Just like Cheque Clearance delays – they’re playing with _our_ money at every opportunity!!!
In spain they have had this system for at least 15 years .you just select an amount on the pump and the pump stops automatically
But you might just want to literally *fill* the tank – but have no idea what that will cost. There is no magic solution which pre-guesses what’s required. The solution is to make it illegal for banks to hold on to our money once the transaction completes. It’s the banks whom are in the wrong.
Completely agree. Live on the breadline working full time and rarely have £99 in my account at any one time
I used my usual Asda a last week, noticing they finally had new card slots on the pumps. Back home, my account showed a £1 deduction, with no sign of the rest of what was on my receipt being deducted. Nothing in my Pending payments either. This was totally different from my experience there for decades. Normally, the total amount ONLY deducts promptly, with no messing. I called the store who spoke as though it was normal procedure, completely downplaying my insistence that it has NEVER happened before. He explained it would iron out and be properly deducted in 2 or 3 days time. I was on edge. It was done, but now I see this about £99 I am nervous about how my balance will be CONTINUALLY affected, each time I buy fuel. You need to threaten them, on our behalf, with a claim for interest on funds withheld WITHOUT OUR AUTHORIZATION, please.
Scared, vulnerable motorist, former loyal customer, getting ready to run!
I’ve always seen the £1 pre authorisation charge on my account for the last 10+ years I’ve been doing online banking, not just from Asda but also the likes of Amazon and Tesco, i also see the same when doing online shopping with Asda, they pre authorise when I place the order but actual charge doesn’t show on account till my groceries are picked, packed and delivered.
If you read through your terms and conditions with your bank I can bet it’s hidden in there somewhere that on occasion funds can be withheld to fund pending transactions.
In theory they are not taking your money as that stays in your account, they are just reducing your cleared balance due to pending payments from it, although you can’t use those funds, also not many banks pay interest on current accounts these days so interest on your money doesn’t come into it.
Sometimes online retailers make a small authorisation request (say £1 or $1, depending on country), but don’t actually take the money, just to check whether your card details are correct before processing the proper amount. My bank once rang to check that it wasn’t someone trying to scam me because it was an unusual amount.
I put petrol in at Asda and I always get £1.00 on my pending on bank account then after a few days it will say the full amount
When ever you use chip and pin at the fuel pump, no matter what station, Tesco, Asda etc, it will always show £1 in the “pending” of your bank account, I always get a receipt so I can keep an eye on finances, if you use the cashier it will always show the full amount. As regards the £99 thing I have never experienced anything like this, all I see on the pump display is I can fill up to the value of £99. That would fill my car twice.
It cost me over £100 to fill my tank, so pump always stops when it hits that anyway. I find that just as annoying because it’s never brimmed and I reset the trip clock every fill to try and keep an eye on usage making it impossible to know exactly when I’ll run out. That’s why I pay at the counter.
Not immediately releasing the change does seem awfully like theft to me. One doesn’t go into the butchers, hand over a card from which £20 is at once removed, buy sausages costing £3 and be invited to return in a couple of days for the outstanding £17. Utter nonsense, and yet another way for the banks to hang on to our money. Remember when cheques took a working week to clear? A similar Act may be needed if the offenders don’t resolve this at once.
I will have to have no other choice before I use pay at the pump now, they can all lose my business!!
Surely it would be simpler if you keyed the amount you want to draw in fuel say £50 before filling up and once reached fuel delivery stops, if not all used say £46 the other £4 reimbursed back to the card.
I agree totally with this, and its easier to impliment than this stupid ‘auto loan to the bank’ scam theyre doing their best to force on everyone. Prepay for any fuel you need…got no money in your account, then you cant have any…simple.
This certainly seems like the most logical approach.
The bank says “This initial amount should be adjusted immediately after fuel is dispensed ” which is simply not what happens. Ever. It always takes DAYS for the money to be refunded.
There is no reason for it to take this long, but the banks get the use of the money which helps their liquidity…
It’s just another scam. (It’s been in place in Europe for some time, and the EU has permitted it.)
Well, the EU is all too aware of scams, look at the amount we pay.
I think that this is absolutely disgusting. I am a pensioner and for this to be taken off my debit card (I don’t use credit cards) would be catastrophic! I would have very little left until that money went bankrupt into my account. I never use these pay at pump provisions if I can help it. The only time I have used them is when I have been too late for the cashier’s at Asda and thankfully I have not been charged yet. I will be only using cashiered providers in future!!!
Well depending on how much they holding back it could make them a lot of money in intrest
This charge was always made by my credit card on petrol purchases a year ago. It was removed within 24 hours when the actual transaction reached my statement. However, now it is removed immediately the actual price is confirmed. Obviously the process should be quicker.
There’s always been a pre authorisation charge at Asda pay at pump and others too including the likes of Amazon but it’s normally only £1 and takes a few days to be returned.
If you hire a car sometimes you find a pre authorisation charge for fuel on your online statement and hotels often do it when they ask to swipe your card on check in to cover the cost of your stay and any extras you charge to your room account.
I’m sure the legalities have been agreed with the financial institutions and governing bodies and will be mentioned somewhere in the small print in the terms and conditions we all agree to but probably don’t bother to read.
I can understand the pay at pump doing the pre authorisation (it also shows on the pump that you can fill up with upto £99 once your card has been authorised) but it should be cancelled as soon as you have completed your transaction as I can see on my online banking app within minutes the actual transaction amount.
I can see this causing problems for lots of people who budget and for the likes of me and the wife as we have a joint account used for all our monthly household expenses and we only fund it with what is required and only put in £140 a month for fuel, so towards the end of the month this could cause issues as not a large balance in there once the bills and rent gone out so could possibly not be enough for a £99 pre authorisation charge.
I can see this turning alot of people off the pay at pump machines, I hate the ones at my local Asda as at least 8 out of 10 times you can’t get a receipt out of the machine.
This is total c**p by MasterCard / Visa. The way I always understood it is that with Debit cards, when you present your card to the readable machine, your account is checked automatically to ascertain what funds you have available for release. If the system can do that, then the pump machine should be able to do the same, therefore if you have the funds up to £99 in your account, then there should be no problem you putting up to £99 worth of fuel in your car without paying a pre-authorisation charge. If you haven’t the funds in your account, the pump should void the request. Simple as that.
If someone only wants to put £10 of fuel in their car because they only have £20 in their account, can they not get petrol then? Why check to see if I have £99 in my account when I have no intention of using £99 on petrol?? I would clearly have the funds to pay £10 of petrol so shouldn’t be stopped from buying fuel surely!
The people it is most likely to affect is those on minimum wage working part time trying to support a young family, ironically the like of shop workers, care workers. The just managing sector of the population.
I’ve always tried to avoid using my debit card for buying anything, in case it gets cloned by crooks – much prefer to use old-fashioned cash.
Open another account, transfer small amounts into it (which would have to be at least £100 float now!) and only use that card, so if it is cloned its not too much hassle to deal with.
Use a credit card. If anything happens, call them and they put a stop on the card, and if any transactions are not yours, they stop them and refund you the amount.
Plus the merchants have to wait longer for their money which might just encourage them to stop ripping of debit card holders.
So who makes the interest on the £99 held from the account?
Yes, you guessed it – the bank.
Yet another banking scam.
Actually, you do. By the time they calculate the interest, they will have deleted the £99 transaction from your statement.
I have had this happen with a hotel, not releasing an authorisation charge after i had paid the bill. called the hotel and they sorted it straight away and apologized, It went back on my card instantly. there is no reason why this should take 2-5 days to be released. Like many I avoid pay at the pump and use the cashier where possible.
Absolutely rediculous ok I get that they want to safeguard themselves from non payers but what if you have the last tenner in ur account u need fuel to get to work??!! Of course you have the tenner in ur account to pay for the fuel that ur going to take but don’t have the rediculous £99 check fee, come on please let’s be realistic not everyone lives like these fat cat corporate big man do gooders and has £100-£10000’s in accounts to be able to afford such fees some of us live in the real world earn a honest living and take each day, week, month as it comes.
This authorisation charge has a massive affect on me and probably many other drivers who make sure that there is enough money in their account to cover the cost of fuel being purchased but never have a spare £99 lying in the account! Why is it always the less well off that are targeted?
Because as the less fortunate we have little sway or power over these types of people and corporations. Just a soft easy target.
Yet another example of people who have less being penalised. This is attack against people who may not have huge sums in their accounts (say at the end of the month) who have enough to pay for a small amount of petrol but not enough to cover £99. This could lead to them going into the “red” and incurring bank charges. Whilst it would not ordinarily be a problem for me personally I know of many people who it would cause problems for. It is tantamount to financial “kidnap” and should be punished accordingly. Any person who incurs bank charges from having their money impounded for up to five working days should have not only their bank charges paid but should receive compensation for financial distress, embarrassment and loss of interest. Banks holding on to money is to their advantage only. They get interest on it. This is a disgusting and despicable attack on the less fortunate. Any bank or petrol forecourt that did that to me it would be the last thing they could do as I would definitely avoid them in the future. And if I lived in a village with only one station I would carry a spare petrol container! It should be challenged as an illegal practice!
Tesco have had a preauthorisation of £2 for P@P and for Online Shopping for years.
I see no reason for Visa or MasterCard to impose such a large amount.
To ask for pre-payment of the sum one wants to spend, to avoid people taking petrol they can’t afford, is one thing. To make an authorisation charge of such magnitude is quite another. It amounts to discrimination against all the ordinary decent folk who live within their means but do not have £99 above their needs always sitting in their accounts. I, for one, will be boycotting all pay at the pump stations whilst this practice continues, in solidarity with the many who will be unfairly penalised by its results.
Very few cars can actually hold £99 of fuel.
the way prices are going, its getting close
Mine takes about £40 if I go in with the fuel warning light showing. I just paid £23 at Asda on the way home tonight.
Mine holds about £60 at current prices at Tesco locally
Mine too, but I can’t usually get that amount in even when the fuel meter’s showing empty.
When the fuel pump is pushed in fully when the fuel reaches the bottom of the nozzle the pump will automatically cut out, the only way round that is when pump cuts out pull the nozzle up & slowly continual filling, press too hard & fuel will gust out.
Mine would take almost £150 from empty at motorway prices, but I admit that’s exceptional.
This has been the norm in all p@p service stations in France and Spain. They too hold the money for upto 5 days!
all the big stores do this when you have a grocery delivery or click and collect, so at the petrol station,don’t be lazey pay by cash, just fill up at petrol stations where you can do this, they say cash will dissapear, they have been saying that for the last 30 years. don’t let the bank’s take the wee wee out of us, they do enough of that now.
It is best always to pay in cash. The banks are trying to stop us using cash, but go to the cash machine first and then DO NOT PAY AT THE PUMP. Asda are a very greedy organisation (Walmart “family”!!). Heaven help us when they join with Sainsburys. We need to boycott them.
NOT ASDA !!!! ASDA is trying this for the Credit card companies at 3 locations get your facts right It has been shown as a failure so has been stopped quickly
It is ASDA, as they agreed to do this, The Banks could not force them.
The banks are going to force it on all companies with these type of pumps
select amount & pre-pay is the only logical solution or the queues will stretch round the block
If this is to be the future, why not have compensation back from the bank if they hold on to your money for more than the transaction period Its just a way for them to make money from holding your hard earned cash!! Compensation should make them sit up and get your unused money back asap!!
What if you do not have more than £10 in your account .? This will hit many poor people badly.
Inexcusable if ever this happens to me I will never use any of the organisation’s again .to me it is theft.
This is commonplace in Europe. In Italy we found one station that had two prices – one for pay at pump ( much cheaper) and one for pay at store counter. (Much dearer). There is also the problem of selecting an amount greater than you actually require at pay at pump – how do you get your change?
If you use less than you pre selected, then the payment should be the actual amount. It should allow you to go to the target amount, but no further. If you use less than target, then your charge is for the amount used.
I am on a very tight budget, and allow only £30 per week for fuel, which I pay from a specific account . The money is transferred from another account once a week, and the petrol account never has more than £40 in it, so it would never pass the £99 pre-authorisation test!!
Why £99 ? My tank is full at £40.
Shock Horror!! I used to moan at the charges that were between 1.5 and 2.5% of the cost of the transaction. I would be straight at my bank if I found anything like this happening. It was only recently that the transaction charges were dropped for using credit cards so if this happens I for one will go back to paying by cheque!
Makes sense but there should be a payback penalty to mastercard /visa if sum not reimbursed within 24 hours ! Why should funds be hidden in clouds making money for banking authorities and allowing customers to bare the consequences !
Some people have everyday bill accounts where they only keep necessary funds for expences and this would yes see them overdrawn!
Well done Mastercard /Visa thought you were supposed to look out for your customers !!
It’s not an auto loan it is THEFT!
It is a scandal on two counts
1)It has been happening without prior warning and 2)That the money can be taken instantaneously and yet not returned instantaneously.
This amounts to organised theft.
What happens to someone who has only a small amount of credit in their account who tries to purchase something before the money has been refunded? Presumably, they end up with an unwanted overdraft or are blocked from making the subsequent purchase.
The answer is simple. Dont use pay at pump sites. When companies realise that people are boycotting their sites they will stop this practice! Supermarket fuel may be cheaper to buy, but my car doesnt return the same mph so it works out more expensive than branded sites!
What I don’t understand is who authorised VISA/MASTERCARD to make a decision as to whether or not an individual can go overdrawn on their bank account!! Surely it’s not their responsibility to ensure someone has enough money in their account to cover the cost of their petrol.
And is it really a big deal Nationally if someone mistakenly puts in more petrol than they can afford? I’m sure out of the millions using petrol pumps, only a very small percentage have got to the till and honestly not been able to pay? As all number plates are recorded, I would have assumed the cashier could retain my driving licence / mobile (or something similar) so I could drive off to obtain some funds, or face the police being called if I didn’t return?
A £99 charge x millions of customers will be making the card companies a shed load of money in interest, even if they only keep it for an hour!
The lack of funds by the few doesn’t warrant the extortionate charge to many!
Asda won’t be the cheapest place to fill up though will it? If there is a £99 authorisation charge & you put £60 worth of fuel in your car knowing you only have £80, (for arguments sake), in your account until pay day next week. Won’t you get into trouble with the banks if, like me, you don’t have an overdraft? Well I don’t care whether Asda are the cheapest at the pumps, they can shove that pump where the sun don’t shine………….. so long as they have £99 in the bank
I remember using pay at pump years ago, in Germany I think. You told it how much you wanted and paid and the pump then shut off when that amount was reached. If that were built into these systems, as the article suggests in some cases it is, then there need be no fixed pre-authorisation amount.
If I were charged £99 it would put me overdrawn at the bank. I would then not be able to pay any bills, would have no money to get food with and would be charged by the bank. I don’t put more than £ 20.00 of Petrol in anyway
The only reason Asda is backing down is because people are either using the pay in shop option causing backlogs or going else where. There is nothing to stop people filling up and then telling the shop they don’t have the money. Or worst still making off without paying.