How come the gas pump only lets me pump $75 worth of gas?

Factual Questions
21

[QUOTE=MikeS]
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.
[/QUOTE]

It’s not a matter of being liable, but being paid back the monies that were stolen!
Banks will tend to make whole any money stolen but it might take a while, and rules state that the bank must be notified within 30 or 60 days, something like that.

“ATM Cards” are really just check cards. Banking regulations changed recently as well - theoretically, there is no float on a written check (remember those) presented for payment. The check contains the bank routing number and account number, exactly the same as a Debit card.

22

[QUOTE=alphaboi867]
So what do visiting Canadian tourists do? :wink:
[/QUOTE]
Have problems. I remember reading about this in the news; the pumps wouldn’t accept Canadian postal codes, so they couldn’t pay at the pump.

You’d think that they’d design the system to accept Canadian and Mexican postal codes as well as US ZIP codes, but nooo…

23

[QUOTE=Dorian Gray]
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?
[/QUOTE]
Assuming there’s not something in the merchant agreement the either explicity or implicity sets a limit, it’ll be set by the owner. I never really went and asked my boss who was setting the limit. Interestingly enough, the card that was given to postal carriers for filling their mail trucks was limited to, I believe, $25 or so.

24

Pretty sure it’s the individual gas stations that set the limit. You don’t necessarily need to have a signature for a credit card transaction to go through. Ultimately it’s the merchant that’s liable for any losses, not the credit card company.

25

Credit card companies set the limit, although not all gas stations have to abide by their caps. There’s an article on this phenomenon in today’s Atlanta paper: Credit Cards Cut Off Gas Purchases.

26

[QUOTE=Rigamarole]
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.
[/QUOTE]

I love it when I mention the fact that I’m English about once a day and people who’ve been around long enough to know better don’t notice. My location field used to read “UK” and then I changed it because the -a at the end of my name led people to believe I was female. Seems I can’t win.

27

[hi, jack]

[QUOTE=Malacandra]
My location field used to read “UK” and then I changed it because the -a at the end of my name led people to believe I was female. Seems I can’t win.
[/QUOTE]

I get your frustration with feeling unrecognized and everything, dude, because I am so there, but I do not grasp the causal connection between changing your location field and people thinking you were female.
[bye, jack]

28

[QUOTE=Sunspace]
Have problems. I remember reading about this in the news; the pumps wouldn’t accept Canadian postal codes, so they couldn’t pay at the pump.

You’d think that they’d design the system to accept Canadian and Mexican postal codes as well as US ZIP codes, but nooo…
[/QUOTE]

To be fair, there are lots of gas stations in Ontario (that’s in Canada) that wouldn’t take my US cards at the pump. No big deal, as there are very few of these that forced me to have to pre-pay before filling the tank. Little by little some of my favorite gas stations are making pre-pay the norm (no big deal now that I ordered a replacement credit card with a dependable strip).

29

[QUOTE=garygnu]
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.
[/QUOTE]

This is not correct. Regardless of which function is used, the account is queried for whether or not the balance exceeds the proposed transaction. Thus, if your checking account has, say, $45.56 in it, and you go to pay at the pump using the “credit” function of the card (assume for the purpose of this discussion it uses the VISA system), then you won’t be able to pump more than $45.56 in gasoline.

However, the funds are not immeditely debited from your account, as they would be if you used the “debit” function of the card. Instead, a hold is normally placed on the account for the amount you charge. If you are at a store, and you “charge” $25.56, your accunt will show a balance of $45.56, but a usable balance of only $20.00.

The pay at the pump feature, however, usually gets processed slightly differently. The pump queries the system for available balance, up to the limit imposed by VISA or MasterCard (locally, I’ve seen $50 for the one and $75 for the other). At that time, it puts in place-holder transaction of $1. You complete the purchase of the gasoline for $25.56, and the system then runs the transaction through the VISA/MasterCard system like it would any other credit transaction. When it does, the place-holder gets replaced with the actual transaction. So, after you have pumped, your account would be $45.56 with a usable balance of $44.56. Two or three days later, the balance would drop to $20.00, assuming you haven’t put in additional transactions.

Needless to say, this can cause you problems!!! If you subsequently attempt to use the “charge” feature to charge a $35.00 item, you will be successful, despite the fact that the two charges are a total of $60.56! When the gasoline purchase is cleared through the system by VISA/MasterCard, you will end up having over-drawn your account, unless you have managed a deposit in the interim. VERY annoying if you are running at the limit of your account, for whatever reason, and not keeping a close running tally of funds.

30

As I said earlier, I’m amazed at how low the numbers are that are being given here. I realize it’s easier to hit the limit these days than it was when I was working with gas at or below $2 a gallon, but I rarely saw anyone hit the limit. I’m pretty sure the Visa/Mastercard/etc cards were set at $100, because for someone to hit the limit he was generally filling a very large truck, often with dual tanks, or a RV.

31

When I use my bank’s card (or do a transaction at my bank, which is Chase né BankOne né National Bank of Detroit), it’s instant. When I check my available balance within the hour, it already accounts for any credit-processed transactions. It doesn’t take two or three days. I’ve never used it for PIN-based transactions other than ATM’s, so I can’t vouch for the speed there although I can’t imagine it’d not be as instant. I must have a good relationship with the bank, too, as they never hold my funds when I deposit the rare check (or even cash). It always shows up in my available balance instantly (even though the ledger balance won’t update).