Why I Won’t Be Using My Debit Card To Purchase Gas Anymore
Last Saturday I went and filled the tank up in our van. In the past I’ve used our credit card to pay for the gas due to concerns of identify theft (concerns over someone swiping our PIN number at the outside pump). However, I was in a rush that day and so mistakenly used our debit card for the purchase. Later that evening we were reviewing our checking account balance online and noticed a debit card charge to our account for a gas purchase of $75, which was about $35 higher than the actual cost of the gas. The actual receipt I received from the gas pump was $40.38.
Mr. Not Made Of Money remembered recently hearing on the Clark Howard show (see Why Debit Cards Are Such A Rip- Off) about some of the pitfalls of using a debit card. Specifically, when you are purchasing gas, paying for a hotel room, or paying for a rental car with a debit card, the bank will put a hold on your account for an amount that exceeds the bill. Now we have an adequate balance in our account that the amount held did not cause our account to be “overdrawn”. However, other people might not be so fortunate, if their account was low and they did not know that a hold in a greater amount than their purchase would be put on the account. Overdraft charges would be applied in this situation.
Needless to say, I was very irate to see the $75 hold on our account. I can understand a hold for hotel and car rental charges, but for purchasing gas?!? We reviewed the checking account a day later and the charge showed correctly but we won’t be using our debit card to purchase gas anymore.

