OT Credit card charging

[DerbyDad03]

Maybe there is no hold at a gas station, but there is at other businesses.

I stayed at a hotel over the weekend. When I checked in the clerk said to me:

"Because you are using a debit card, we are going to put a hold on your account equal to the amount of the reservation. The debit won't go through until you check out."

When I checked my bank account later that day, the room charge was listed as "pending" and my available balance was that amount less than the actual balance.

Many car rental companies will also put a hold on funds when renting with a Debit Card. This site details the policies of some of the major rental agencies.

Just so that there is no misunderstanding as to what a "hold" is vs. a actual debit, take a look at the difference between Avis's policy and Enterprise's:

Avis:

"When using a debit card at Avis there is a minimum hold of the full amount including all taxes and surcharges of your rental. These funds will be frozen in your account; you will not have access to them during the period of your rental. The unused extra hold amount will be released at the end of the rental."

Enterprise:

At Enterprise "a minimum deposit plus the entire cost of the rental will be debited from the renter's account at the time of pickup."

Per that site, it could take up to 15 days for Enterprise to *credit* the funds back to the account as opposed to being *released* by Avis at the end of the rental.

There is a snack vending machine at my workplace where debit cards can be used. Up to 3 products can be purchased with one swipe. When I swipe my card, a hold is placed on my card in the amount of 3 x the price of the most expensive item. Overnight, the hold is released and the price of what I actually purchased is debited.

[gfretwell]

I already suggested that but just holding your card will not work for them. They will take a specific amount, load it on the pump when the charge clears and give you the card back tho. Just be sure your car will hold all of it because they may not be willing to refund the difference from the register and they also may not be willing to try to credit the money back on a debit, if that is even possible. It is not like a credit card.

[Ed Pawlowski]

They put a hold on for gas at some places. If you have $20 in your account and pump $30 in gas there would be a problem.

Sure, you do, sort of. When the restaurant runs your card for the bill, the have it approved for a lager amount as you will probably add a tip. They add about 25% and adjust after you sign.

[Ed Pawlowski]

We were going to send them to the out of state grandkids for Xmas, but they charge $5 for a $50 card. They were happy with Amazon cards.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

The system is a piece of shit. It should operate very simply:

You insert your card, the machine checks to see if you have say $100 or whatever a full huge tank would cost on a gas guzzler. If not, it finds out what you do have. That is your limit. The pump switches off after that. Then it charges you that amount hen you've finished fuelling.

[micky]

Another case where the actual bill is known soon after the estimated/maximum bill.

I wonder if they take 2 days to adjust it, or if they do it a little after the customer leaves the restaurant.

[Ed Pawlowski]

If you go in and prepay it should be that way. At the pump is a different story.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Rental car companies do it to steal money from you. I once rented a car and filled with gas five miles away from the place of return. They charged me 20 Euros for filling the tank. It can't have used much in five miles!

[Ralph Mowery]

Why do you just use debit cards ? I can not see any advantage except it only lets you spend the money you have. If you can pay off a credit card each month, there are many advantages.

Most of them will give you from one to 5 % back on anything you buy. Seems like the debit cards throw away that small amount, which can amount to several hundred bucks a year. Some even extend the warranties on what you buy.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I found the best way in Europe is to use cash whenever possible. Merchants will often discount considerably for cash. Some hotels will charge in US dollars doing the exchange for their own fee.

[micky]

That's ridiculous. I was going to give a gift certificate for a sports ticket service once, and they *charged* for the gift certificate. It was too late for me to get anything else, but I never did that again.

About 30 years ago. Ticketron?

[trader_4]

You have to look carefully at all the fees and charges with any of those gift cards, prepaid debit cards, etc. Like you say, typically they hit you with an upfront fee right off the bat. Then some charge a monthly sevice fee of a couple bucks, whether you use it or not. They also charge for some transactions, eg at ATMs, etc. STore gift cards like HD, etc typically are good for the full amount and don't charge extra fees, but I'd be careful looking at them too.

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

My debit card has the ability to authorize payment if you don't have enough cash in your checking account. This is tied to a savings account but you are charged a 'convenience fee' for this feature which I *think* is $12.50.

[micky]

Hey, these are about this very subject. Thanks for finding them. I didn't think to look on the web, maybe because I can't complain to the people on the web.

This one says pretty much what Wilkinson said. He sounded right to me.

Despite what others here have said, this pretty much says that this doesn't happen with credit cards (except for a one dollar hold), but that doesn't make much sense to me. Just as someone can run out of money in his debit account, one can run out of credit in his credit account. And plenty of people do.

" Oil companies have no idea how much juice you're going to buy before you've finished filling up, so will have your bank freeze funds to cover your purchase." Actually they have a good idea. They know how much you've spent in the past, probably many times in the past. They can even index to the cost of gasoline if they want a little more precision.

And they know exactly 10 minutes later. I don't object to the hold, only to it extending beyond the time the buyer puts the nozzle back on the pump and ends the purchase. (A little longer than the time it takes to fill a tank.)

{Final charge reporting } "can take as long as 72 hours.", but in the first url above, it said federal law limited it to 24 hours. For me it was a bit over 48 or 50.

This one is about skimming card numbers

Do you think the chip-cards will make that a) impossible? b) less likely?

[Ed Pawlowski]

That is a money making opportunity. Most CC will let you go a bit over your limit and they charge you a fee to do it. Epensice load for a few bucks over.

Supposed to help. It generates a one use code that even if copied won't work again.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I eliminated that. I'd rather be denied than spend an extra $12.50.

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

Yeah, mine has the ability to deny or accept. Thankfully it's not an included feature that I cannot control.

[gfretwell]

I have gone over my credit limit a few times and all that happened was I got a letter saying they raised my credit limit. I suppose they were thinking if it got high enough I would not pay it off the first month the bill came. They are on auto pay now so it really acts like a debit with the protections you get with a CC and I get cash back.

[clare]

Correct.. At least that's how "pay at the pump" works here. "pay in advance" or "pay before pumping" in the states may work differently, particularly if the payment machine isn't linked to the pump to shut it off at the amount paid for. Virtually all "pay at the pump" setups here are live connected to the credit card company over the internet at all times and work in "real time" - not "batch processing mode"

[clare]

Anyone with a debit card on a chequing account who doesn't have overdraft protection is setting themselves up for a pile of grief.