Credit-Card Co limit gas-pump purchases

Associated Press (azcentral.com)

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. - So you're at the station filling up your vehicle, and without warning the gasoline pump shuts off. What? The tank isn't full, and you know your credit card isn't over its limit.

"Using my Visa card, I commonly hit a limit, and I would be standing there scratching my head," said Shawn Bloomfield of Allentown, Pa., owner of a Nissan Pathfinder.

"I would always assume it is the station setting a limit on how much gas I could purchase. It felt like a ration scenario."


Rules to prevent credit-card fraud at the nation's pumps are confusing consumers.

Caps on transaction amounts - or the total dollar amount of gasoline customers can pump into their tanks - are limiting American drivers of those gas-guzzling vehicles.

"When I go to the gas station, I now have to use two credit cards just for one tank of gasoline," said Paul Brisgone of Oxford, Pa. "Kind of defeats the convenience of pay-at-the-pump."

Brisgone, a field operations manager for a telecommunications company, said that he alternates among three credit cards when filling up the 32-gallon tank in his Ford F-150 pickup.

"When I can go 400 miles a day, it inconveniences me if I need a full tank of gas and can't get one," Brisgone said.

Credit-card companies say the policies, which aren't new, are designed to ensure that merchants and consumers are protected from fraudulent transactions that could occur at a gasoline pump.

When a customer uses a credit card at a cardholder-activated terminal, such as a gasoline pump, the transaction is authorized without knowing the final bill of sale.

Typically, consumers who use credit cards are not liable for any fraudulent purchases, and gasoline merchants are not liable, either.

Still, credit-card companies have established a protective layer by setting caps on how much gasoline a consumer can pump at any given time.

For MasterCard customers, it's $75. Users of Visa and Discover have a $50 pay-at-the-pump limit. Transaction limits vary for holders of corporate cards and users of American Express.

The caps went unnoticed when gasoline prices were low.

DIRANONI said:

For MasterCard customers, it's $75. Users of Visa and Discover have a $50 pay-at-the-pump limit. Transaction limits vary for holders of corporate cards and users of American Express.


I don't believe this is widespread, yet. I just filled my truck with $78 worth of gas on my Visa card a few days ago with no problems.

they only auth $1 at the station i go to on my schwab card. so how will they know?

aidswater said: Maybe yet another sign that driving the ol' gas guzzler just isn't a good idea?

Way to take this off topic.... the PRICE of fuel, as well as the SIZE of the tank determines the $$$ you spend! this article has NOTHING to do with MPG.

I get 22+ MPG in my Diesel... which has a 35 GALLON tank. At 3 bucks a gallon, thats 105 bucks.

BACK ON TOPIC...
Most pumps shut off for me at either 50 or 75. However, I just re-insert the same card, and finish fueling... so apparently, the cutoff is determined at the station, not by VISA or MC.

Back off Topic:
What kind of mileage do you get? As noted above, I get 22+ in the Dodge, and 50+ on the Harley (which I use to commute during the spring, summer and fall (not good on ICE!). On average, between the 2 vehicles, I get 37 mpg... CAN YOU BEAT THAT?

i just got some ARCO gift cards at CVS. I can finally get ARCO prices using a credit card!

50$ per day is still pretty good for 99% of cars .

i remember once (discover?) that i couldn't use the card inside if i paid at the pump.

i'd put the card in, let it start filling (yea yeah i know dont leave) then go inside and buy some cola and it would deny the card. dude said you had to finish the transacation outside then you could come inside and use the same card.

was some b'f'ck gas station along the way to florida from atl

rigor said: i remember once (discover?) that i couldn't use the card inside if i paid at the pump.

i'd put the card in, let it start filling (yea yeah i know dont leave) then go inside and buy some cola and it would deny the card. dude said you had to finish the transacation outside then you could come inside and use the same card.

was some b'f'ck gas station along the way to florida from atl
I have had this happen to me on a Visa in MD- I don't think it is that uncommon.

daregan said: Except that ARCO gas is crap-tacular.

glad to see the advertising from the gas companies have worked for you. far from scientific

people driving guzzlers are making a personal choice. they are paying for the fuel they burn, so they have the right to make that choice.

we have no right to be judgmental about them. driving a gas guzzler is not a crime as long as the person doing so pays for the fuel burnt, and fulfills any additional requirements society may impose on them (such as doing/paying something to offset the carbon burnt).

I just bought an airticket on expedia.com and was pleasantly surprised to observe that among the additional options (such as buying hotel reservation, car rental, cruise reservations, etc) they are offering an option to pay for the carbon burnt per capita for the flight.

At the same time, the person (aidswater) who said something along the lines of "maybe it is another sign that driving a guzzler is not a good idea" was perfectly within his rights to make that statement, and there was no need for the 37MPG-getting-dodge-and-motorbike-driver (Technologist) to get defensive and react in that confrontational manner.

Anakin

Edit: didn't realize before that the 37MPG-getting biker was none other than our very own Technologist.

scrock said: anakinskywalker said: people driving guzzlers are making a personal choice. they are paying for the fuel they burn, so they have the right to make that choice.
we have no right to be judgmental about them. driving a gas guzzler is not a crime as long as the pe..

I am sorry for hijacking this topic.
However, I view people who drive a gas guzzler unnecessarily same as who smoke cigarettes in a enclosed space. People who do so not only burn their own money in cigarettes, but also pollute the air I am breathing.

Would you prefer that people w/large families drive 2 vehicles? I can understand that not everyone falls into this category, but many in my area have "gas guzzling" SUVs because they want to take the whole family in a single trip (2-3 adults, 4+ kids).

tbuccelli said: Would you prefer that people w/large families drive 2 vehicles? I can understand that not everyone falls into this category, but many in my area have "gas guzzling" SUVs because they want to take the whole family in a single trip (2-3 adults, 4+ kids).How many family these days got more than 2 kids? How many these family all go out? 4-5 times a year? Ya, I say take 2 cars.

tbuccelli said: scrock said: anakinskywalker said: people driving guzzlers are making a personal choice. they are paying for the fuel they burn, so they have the right to make that choice.
we have no right to be judgmental about them. driving a gas guzzler is not a crime as long as the pe..

I am sorry for hijacking this topic.
However, I view people who drive a gas guzzler unnecessarily same as who smoke cigarettes in a enclosed space. People who do so not only burn their own money in cigarettes, but also pollute the air I am breathing.

Would you prefer that people w/large families drive 2 vehicles? I can understand that not everyone falls into this category, but many in my area have "gas guzzling" SUVs because they want to take the whole family in a single trip (2-3 adults, 4+ kids).

The keyword there was "unnecessarily."

caliness said: tbuccelli said: scrock said: anakinskywalker said: people driving guzzlers are making a personal choice. they are paying for the fuel they burn, so they have the right to make that choice.
we have no right to be judgmental about them. driving a gas guzzler is not a crime as long as the pe..

I am sorry for hijacking this topic.
However, I view people who drive a gas guzzler unnecessarily same as who smoke cigarettes in a enclosed space. People who do so not only burn their own money in cigarettes, but also pollute the air I am breathing.

Would you prefer that people w/large families drive 2 vehicles? I can understand that not everyone falls into this category, but many in my area have "gas guzzling" SUVs because they want to take the whole family in a single trip (2-3 adults, 4+ kids).

The keyword there was "unnecessarily."

I have a friend with two kids who drives an SUV as it feels (and probably is) safer. However he lives within a few miles of work. He is paying extra for a smaller house to live close to work relative to many others who drive (say, a prius) an hour to work, to live in much larger houses at same price range.

Who burns more gas? How do you think my friend feels when someone who burns 4 gallons a day on a prius accuses him of "driving a guzzler" (as if it were a crime) when he doesn't even burn 4 gallons in a month?

You shouldn't heap criticism on somebody just for driving a type of car; you should look at how much gas they actually burn.

Secondly, the comparison of guzzlers to cigarettes is without merit. Guzzlers don't emit lungfuls of carcinogens.

Anakin

To get back to the gas pump limits...I remember when I used a gas station near work (very bad neighborhood) that the limit was very low. I noticed other gas pumps only had between $1 and $5 of gas pumped so that I think the pump stopped at something ridiculously low like $35 in the 1990's with my 35 gal tank Ram Dodge. I guess I was expecting all the pumps to show $35. I noticed that today, the sunoco with my sunocoMC card stops at $75 in a very good neighborhood but high truck traffic area (near state line). I also have the ShellMC which causes me to stop at Shell's and did not notice the same thing. I can rerun the card through at sunoco to get the rest of the tank filled, however I feel they have just cut their sale short, and if I wind up at shell the next time, Shell will be getting sunoco's lost business.

scrock said: anakinskywalker said: people driving guzzlers are making a personal choice. they are paying for the fuel they burn, so they have the right to make that choice.
we have no right to be judgmental about them. driving a gas guzzler is not a crime as long as the pe..

I am sorry for hijacking this topic.
..People who do so not only burn their own money in cigarettes, but also pollute the air I am breathing.
..and also responsible for american lives in Iraq.

daregan said: miserly typed: i just got some ARCO gift cards at CVS. I can finally get ARCO prices using a credit card!Except that ARCO gas is crap-tacular.You have no idea what you are talking about.