I’ve had the same problem, used this for the first time when it was released. £100 taken from my account for holding £42 for fuel £100 refunded two days later.
Same again a week ago but with a £50 hold still waiting for that refund. I don’t understand why they can’t do an active card check like most and allow you you pay that way. I hope they change that soon.
That’s not how it works. You can specify that you only want £20 it takes that £20 as holding charges you £20 for the fuel 
️. The app stops the pump at 20 so you don’t go over then you get that £20 refunded later.
MasterCard (and Visa) rules now require AFDs (automated fuel dispensers) to initially charge a large amount such as £100 or €100 and then revise that afterwards, but guess if you select a preset amount then they will only authorise that. The problem is how they do that. They should do it quickly and return the funds (technically they are not actually taking it but just ring fencing it from use) within 20 mins and therefore not inconvenience the cardholder, but often the merchant takes days.
I’ve not tried BPme but I use similar App from Shell which has been good in my experience. It has option to choose the amount and that’s the only payment they take and then readjust that payment to actual charges.
Shell always updated amount charged to actual in two days.
I use BPme and the Shell one. I’ve never really noticed the Shell one doing anything odd (although it was absolutely atrocious and full of major bugs that made it unusable for a while!).
I did notice that the BP one held £100, then it took about a week for them to take the actual amount - but them taking the actual amount didn’t release the £100. It took another week or so after I’d been charged the correct amount for the initial £100 to be released.
This was on my Nationwide credit card, which has a high limit and no debt to speak of on it so it didn’t really affect me. I wouldn’t use a debit card with the BP one after that.
The Shell app though, that seems to sort itself out quickly. If memory serves me correctly, it reserves £80 then charges the correct amount and releases the £80 within the next day or so.
Hi everyone,
So the “holding” of the money was the pre-authorisation that happens when you use the app (you select £20, £30 etc or Tank Fill = £100), and then it has been the wait for the actual transaction to work through the system and clear the pre-auth.
I have to confess that I have contacted the Monzo help team to clear the pre-auth manually a few times (they do it on the spot), but also asked them to help sort it out. It looks like there was some error in the system on transaction ID matching, however its now fixed (I tried it on Saturday). What happens now is this:
So I think its now fixed…
What annoys me is if the pre-authentication can be instant why can’t the actual amount be updated instantly? Why is there this long wait in between? Just sounds like sloppy work on behalf of the merchant all the time. Mastercard and Visa need to crack down on this. There isn’t really an excuse for it
I tried to use this app today and just said the bank declined the transaction but didn’t get any notifications regarding it and there was sufficient funds in the account