So i have a friend who drives an unnecessarily large SUV that she uses to transport at most two children and some soccer balls, and while most people are complaining about how much it costs to fill their tank she was complaining about how she couldn’t put more gas in her petrol guzzling phallic compensation vehicle.
The pump cut her off at $75. A credit card was used to pay at the pump and the gas station was a pay the cashier before you pump or pay with a credit card at the pump type of station (not a pump then pay).
I thought that when you pay at the pump with a CC before you actually pump that your card gets authorized (but not charged) for a pre-determined amount and if you pump less, then you are charged the amount that you pumped, in theory this might prevent you from pumping more gas then you have money available, having your card decline but still being able to drive away with the gas. So, i’m thinking that $75 was that pre-determined amount.
She thought it had something to do with credit card theft and making it so people who steal/find your CC can’t pump an unlimited amount of gas (a common occurrence here in California).
Here in Indiana, there are little stickers on most gas pumps that tell you that the CC companies have placed a limit on the value of gas pump transactions. So yes, it is the CC company’s work.
There was one gas station here in town that I no longer go to that stopped the pump at a mere $50 when paying at the pump. It’s no big deal to put the card in again, but if the receipt printer doesn’t work, you’re screwed out of your expenses if you need receipts and the asshole inside insists he can’t print one for the first fill.
Oh, yeah, why would an SUV be phallic compensation for a female? 
If you look on your friends’ credit card history register or whatever, you’ll likely see a charge for $1. Later, the full cost of the fuel will be debited to the account.
I swear to Jebus, I never thought I’d live to hear that phrase used in this context.
Because the gender reassignment surgery wasn’t a complete success? Well that and it’s her husbands, the SUV that is.
Come over here and fill up at our (heavily taxed) prices and you’ll soon lament the days when you could fill up for a mere $50, I promise you. When our Vectra Estate is nearly down to fumes, it’s around $100 at the present exchange rates.
The reason is because the CC companies have an upper limit on what they will allow charged to t he card without a signiature. 75 dollars is the usual limit. If you paid inside and were signing for the gas, you could pump more.
This number, of course, can change from issuer to issuer. It’s been a while since I last worked in a gas station, but the limits could vary in all sorts of ways–the in-house credit card had a very high limit, things like Visa and Mastercard were about $100 or maybe $200, fleet cards were much higher limits, and debit cards were pretty low by comparision (I think about $50.) This is all set from the inside system that controls the software (or would firmware be a better description?) for the pumps.
Debit cards were the lowest? That’s rather mixed up if you’re paying before you pump. Surely the limit should be whatever amount is selected, once the transaction is approved and the money is withdrawn from the customer’s account?
Or do US debit cards not use a realtime transaction system?
Remember, this is in reference to transations allowed without a signature or a pin number. Just run the card through and start pumping. If you go inside to pay, they will let you put any amount you want in it.
Do you really want someone that steals your debit card to be able to run up unlimited bills, with no way of proving if it was you or not?
Well, the problem is you don’t pre-select an amount. You “fill-up” which could be anywhere from $40 to $56 dollars for my particular car.
The cards in question are combo debit/credit cards, and terms for usage are ambiguous. When used as a credit card, they have a low daily limit that is NOT checked against the balance of the account that it’s connected with.The transaction goes through Visa (or whoever) as a middle-man.
These same cards can also be used as ATM/debit cards, but require a PIN to be entered. When used in this way, it IS directly checked against the checking account and directly debited.
No PIN on debit card transactions? Seriously?
But it’s not a debit transaction per se; it’s a credit transaction for which there is no PIN required. Consider your INTERAC card, for which you need a PIN. Now consider that that very card could also be swiped and used just like a credit card. That’s what most US “debit” cards are like; they work with both transaction systems. Things get confused here because although it’s a “credit” transaction, you’re not really granted true credit; it eventually just becomes a debit from your account. I think some people call these cards “bank cards” now, although to me a “bank card” is a credit card issued by a bank.
Oh! Two different ways of using the debit function? I thought that the cards were a debit card (using the Mastercard/Visa transaction system) and an actual credit card combined. If you used it like a credit card, you were actually borrowing credit.
Come to where, Mars? I love when people make location-specific comments yet don’t mention their location or have it filled out in their location field.
Assuming it does not vary state to state (which it probably does), who sets the limit? The CC company or the gas station owner who controls the settings for the pump software?
I’ll check that out the next time i go over my account history, whats the reason for the 1$ then full amount?
Here in California you have to type in your PIN if you use your card as a debit and your zip code if you use your card as a credit card. The zip code seemed kinda silly seeing as how if they (people who stole your card) have your credit card then theres a good chance they also have your purse/wallet and can just get your address from your license etc.
Ok that helps explain why the limit is in place, do you have a cite showing that companies put a max on charges without a sig, can i find it somewhere in the terms or should i just call and ask? What about online purchases though? I can charge way more than $75 online and not put my signature on anything.
Nope. Roughly speaking, the concept of a “debit Visa” or “debit Mastercard” is that it acts exactly like a debit card, but a merchant who only has the ability to accept credit cards (not “true” debit cards) could still accept a “debit Mastercard”. But in either case, the money is deducted from your account immediately.
Why the system ended up this way, as opposed to north of the border, probably has something to do with the fact that there are only five major banks in Canada, but dozens in the U.S. With little chance of the large U.S. banks cooperating enough to set up a universal nation-wide system akin to Interac, the CC companies have been trying to fill the void.
I was born & raised in Winnipeg, and I have to say that having a “debit Mastercard” while I’m living here in the States seems a little odd to me… I don’t like the idea that someone can actually clean out my savings by forging my signature, even if I wouldn’t be liable for it in the end.
So what do visiting Canadian tourists do? 