$20 of regular on your card? That'll be $75 .
HELEN HUNTLEY, St. Petersburg Times, 09-08-05
Some customers are finding a $75 hold on their cards after they buy fuel, even if the purchase was far less.
If you don't ask questions first, the price of the gas might not be the biggest financial shock you'll encounter when you pay at the pump.
Some gas companies and banks are putting financial holds on credit and debit cards for far more than the purchase price of the gas. The hold, which can be as much as $75 and last as long as three business days, is an attempt to ensure the money will be there when the transaction is processed. The result is customers are denied access to their money in the meantime.
Joanne Heath found out how holds work when she used a prepaid MasterCard to buy $14.85 worth of gas at a St. Petersburg Hess station. When she tried to use the card to buy groceries at her next stop, she discovered a $70 hold had wiped out the balance on her account. She had to leave the groceries behind.
"They have no right to my money," Heath said. "This is more than just an inconvenience. It was a total embarrassment at the store."
When she backtracked to the gas station, she says she was told the hold was company policy. She couldn't get through on the 800 phone number the station gave her to call for information. "I wouldn't have bought gas there if I had known," she said.
Kathy Seymour says she got hit with a $75 hold for a $10 Hess purchase at a St. Petersburg station, which she discovered when she checked her account balance.
"At first I thought somebody stole my debit card number," she said. Next time she plans to pay cash.
Hess said it has since posted signs on its gas pumps warning that a hold may occur.
"I've been getting hundreds of calls," Hess spokesman Jay Wilson said. He said it appears the holds became an issue because MasterCard recently changed its rules to permit holds of up to $75 on pay-at-the-pump purchases. Previously both MasterCard and Visa used a $50 limit.
If an account containing $200 has a $75 hold, the full $200 is still in the account, but the customer only has access to $125. Holds occur when a card is swiped before a transaction is completed, as frequently happens at hotels, restaurants and pay-at-the-pump gas stations.
The initial swipe is considered a request for authorization, with the merchant indicating the anticipated amount of the transaction. The bank authorizes the purchase and has the option of putting a hold for that amount on the customer's account until the transaction actually clears. As gas prices have risen, so have the size of the holds.
"The bank decides whether to place the hold, but the amount is determined by the merchant," said Kevin Bezner, spokesman for Wachovia Bank.
Bank of America officials said holds are needed because the bank doesn't know the amount of the purchase until the transaction clears, usually the same day or the next business day. Because of the Labor Day holiday, transactions that occurred Friday night did not clear until Tuesday night.
Banks use holds "to protect themselves against the risk that card holders will spend more money than they have in their accounts," Visa USA said in a statement. It said banks are required to lift the hold when the transaction clears or after three business days, whichever comes first.
Customers are not happy about the situation.
"This stuff is ridiculous," said Paul Hatfield of New Port Richey. After using his debit card to buy $19.01 worth of gas at a Hess station in Hudson, he found a $75 hold on his account at Bank of America. "What if I'm traveling and I fill up my tank more than just one time per day?" he asked.
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