Self Serve Fuel Warning

Jay Honeck wrote:

I'd be willing to be money it is not the airport 'morons' fault.

The hold placed by Sunoco, Citgo, and Mobil auto gas stations is a
buck, as in $1. I'm sure the hold will clear in a few days and revert
to the actual charge, they always do.

This makes no sense to me.

The only reason for any merchant to put a "hold" on ANY amount (or, as
we call it, a "pre-authorization") is to make sure that the users
credit/debit card is actually valid for the amount of the purchase.

If one must use debit, another option would be to use Online debit
(PIN-Based). When a PIN is used only the exact amount is withdrawn, and it
is done almost instantly. There are no preauthorizations, no holds, no
settlements several days down the road. You get what you get in real time.




Therefore, "pre-authorizing" $1 proves nothing -- especially with gas
purchases topping $75 - $100 a shot. Shoot, unless the card has been
revoked, ANYONE is going to be "okayed" for a buck -- and therefore
preauthorizing that amount simply is not worth the effort.

There must be more going on here.

Gas stations realize that the biggest risk is that the card is not valid at
all. If it is valid for a dollar it is almost certainly valid for $50 or
whatever the average transaction is. (Heck even if someone was near their
limit, most credit card companies (and debit) would allow the transaction to
go over by a lot more than that anyway so that they can collect either the
Over-the-credit-limit fee or the Overdraft fee.)

They accept the tiny risk that a $1 card may not work for a larger
transaction because it far better than to have to deal with customers
complaining about large sums held. And if it didn't work, well they have
cameras over the pumps. A friend of mine tried to buy gas one day, slid
his debit card thru and it just said Authorizing..... He waited and waited
and finally went inside to tell them. Frustrated he left and refilled at
another station. Guess what? He got charged for gas by the first station
too. After giving him the runaround (and the credit union claiming they
were investigating for weeks) he was very persistent with the oil co. and
finally got a tidy settlement.

If one must use debit, another option would be to use Online debit
(PIN-Based). When a PIN is used only the exact amount is withdrawn, and
it
is done almost instantly. There are no preauthorizations, no holds, no
settlements several days down the road. You get what you get in real
time.

Quite true.

Hotels. The BEST way to do things is to make your hotel reservation
(either on-line or on the phone) using your *credit* card. Then pay for
the room/suite with your *debit* card, using the PIN.

By doing so, you still get to pay with "cash" (no debt), and your available
balance on your debit card hasn't been tied up with a $140 (or whatever)
pre-authorization.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

By doing so, you still get to pay with "cash" (no debt), and your available
balance on your debit card hasn't been tied up with a $140 (or whatever)
pre-authorization.

FWIW, you can still use a standard credit card without debt or interest.

I maintain a written monthly budget using Quicken. Our paychecks are
direct deposited to a credit union savings account. Each credit card
transaction is deducted from the budget immediately via automatic
download each time I start Quicken. We use the credit card for
EVERYTHING, including my monthly utility, insurance, and other bills
that are automatically billed to the card. I have a standing automatic
payment for the minimum payment due, so I can't "forget" to pay and
incur ridiculous late fees. I manually pay the entire balance each
month, as the money is always available, because the charges have
already been accounted for against available cash.

Last year, we cashed in almost $800 in free gift cards, including some
that are Visa logo, so they're good anywhere Visa is accepted. In
addition to the mileage earned, I'd much rather have automatic payments
go against the card, instead of my checking account, in case of errors.
I once received a $3500 cell phone bill when my phone was cloned.

For those that will point out that people spend more because I'm not
using green cash, that's exactly what the written budget is for. We
can't spend what we don't have. We do the same with retirement savings,
depositing it before we ever touch it. G

B A R R Y wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:

By doing so, you still get to pay with "cash" (no debt), and your available
balance on your debit card hasn't been tied up with a $140 (or whatever)
pre-authorization.

FWIW, you can still use a standard credit card without debt or interest.

Of course. But so what?



I maintain a written monthly budget using Quicken. Our paychecks are
direct deposited to a credit union savings account. Each credit card
transaction is deducted from the budget immediately via automatic
download each time I start Quicken. We use the credit card for
EVERYTHING, including my monthly utility, insurance, and other bills
that are automatically billed to the card. I have a standing automatic
payment for the minimum payment due, so I can't "forget" to pay and
incur ridiculous late fees. I manually pay the entire balance each
month, as the money is always available, because the charges have
already been accounted for against available cash.

Last year, we cashed in almost $800 in free gift cards, including some
that are Visa logo, so they're good anywhere Visa is accepted. In
addition to the mileage earned, I'd much rather have automatic payments
go against the card, instead of my checking account, in case of errors.
I once received a $3500 cell phone bill when my phone was cloned.

For those that will point out that people spend more because I'm not
using green cash, that's exactly what the written budget is for. We
can't spend what we don't have. We do the same with retirement savings,
depositing it before we ever touch it. G

That's great, I guess-- you sound like a Visa commercial. But except for paying
Intuit's extortion every year or two to constantly upgrade their bloated product
so that it will still operate, doesn't just about everyone normal do something
similar?

Jessica wrote:

That's great, I guess-- you sound like a Visa commercial. But except for paying
Intuit's extortion every year or two to constantly upgrade their bloated product
so that it will still operate, doesn't just about everyone normal do something
similar?



Not if you look at the number of folks who don't pay balances off.

FWIW, I buy TurboTax every year, and end up with the latest version of
Quicken and TT for $20-$25, using Staples sale prices and Intuit's silly
rebates.

Jay Honeck wrote:

If one must use debit, another option would be to use Online debit
(PIN-Based). When a PIN is used only the exact amount is withdrawn, and
it
is done almost instantly. There are no preauthorizations, no holds, no
settlements several days down the road. You get what you get in real
time.

Quite true.

Hotels. The BEST way to do things is to make your hotel reservation
(either on-line or on the phone) using your *credit* card. Then pay for
the room/suite with your *debit* card, using the PIN.

By doing so, you still get to pay with "cash" (no debt), and your available
balance on your debit card hasn't been tied up with a $140 (or whatever)
pre-authorization.

Plus it makes the friendly local inn-keeper happier and more able to keep
prices down because the transaction fees for online debit is almost nothing
compared to offline debit/credit cards, especially if the transaction is
sizable.