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What is too high for a pending authorization charge for a gasoline purchase? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by Harvey656@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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My wife and I are currently driving cross country (US), and earlier in the day we stopped at a Pilot gas station in Tennessee.

I exited the vehicle, tapped my card on the thing to authorize my card and pay, got about 30 bucks of gas, then went inside and paid for a drink and snacks with a different card.

300 miles later, we stop at another gas station and while we do we check our cards and notice a 150 dollar charge on the same card used for gas at that exact Pilot. Strangely the 30 dollar charge for the gas was there too. We immediately call our credit card company and they say its a pending charge and cannot do anything about it until its went through, so we pause the card.

I call the gas station itself and spoke to a manager, and was told its an authorization charge and will go away. 150 dollars is a crazy amount for an authorization charge and makes little sense to me, has anyone ever experienced this before? Is it normal?

(Meta: I didn't know where else to put this, but wanted to ask my fellow Lemmites, is that okay?)

Update: The charge has been removed from our account, so alls good. This is the first time I have ever seen an authorization charge so big, so it scared me, thanks to everyone for informing me on these charges, I'll know to keep my eye out in the future and not worry so much!

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[-] bluGill@fedia.io 1 points 9 months ago

I would guess that you have the same thing happen there - you just never noticed/looked at the right time to see those charges. Fuel stations don't want you to fill your tank and then discover you can't afford the fuel, so they have some sort of arrangement with the credit cards to verify that you can afford the fuel before you put it in.

[-] InvisibleShoe@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Credit card doesn't leave the wallet till I go in to pay. There's no way for them to magic the charges onto the card.

[-] bluGill@fedia.io 1 points 9 months ago

Oh, so you don't have pay at the pump and so have to wait in line? I remember those days. The station takes more risk of someone driving off without paying but it mostly works for them. Not pleasant for the customer who is waiting in line behind someone who is trying to decide which lottery ticket to buy or whatever they are being slow on.

[-] cdzero@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago

In Australia we fill up first and then go in to pay.

I think you can prepay in some apps or at truck stops or whatever but its far from the norm and usually a choice.

this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2025

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