I used the costco pay at pump last month, and instead of taking the full payment after making the transaction, it took a pound from my card, then a few days later took the full amount of the transaction. Sadly I didn’t get a recipe that time, so assumed I’d got my figures wrong, and the value which they took, was less the pound.
I used the same pumps this week, and this time got a recipe, once again I’ve been charged the pound, and a few days later charged the full amount for the fuel. Both times, I’ve been charged a pound extra, which has never been refunded.
This £1 is called an active card check and is done to essentially make sure the card is valid before they dispense fuel on it.
Usually we automatically reverse these after 7 days but sometimes they do hang - if you get in touch we can do this manually for you
So this seems to be a Costco Pay at pump issue. You get refunded the active card check, EVENTUALLY but it’s a little annoying.
For example I used Costco Pay at Pump on 13 Jan, where a £1 was taken. Then the full cost of Fuel was taken on the 15 Jan but I didn’t get the £1 back until 12 Feb. Any ideas why the active card check is taking so long to be refunded? Btw this has happened on more than one occasion.
Now this is fine on the one occasion but if I fill up multiple times it then means my “Transport” category is off from month to month.
If I remember correctly the £1 active check/authorisation (I think?) can be held for a month before it’s automatically released. Some merchants will do this themselves after a week or so but others may just leave it to “expire” after the month
Interesting, wonder if we’ll see any features to move transactions in the new spending update. That would help with my problem of having my transport category being slightly out from actual.