Potentially curious idea, no idea whether it’s easy or even possible to implement.
With the posts about more pay at pump locations implementing the £99 pre-auth, could an app setting be created so you can set your own limit for pay at pump transactions. So instead of just checking the available balance, pump will only be allowed to authorise up to the limit you choose.
I can fill my tank for around £43, so setting a personal limit at £50 would cover it without too much excess until the transaction settles.
I know there’s plenty of alternative solutions like using credit card, just floating another idea out there.
The idea is that once you have filled up the amount is updated with what’s been dispensed and the hold is released and if you have less than £99 will only allow you to dispense near what you have in your account
If everyone stops using pay at pump it may force the banks to make this all work better. It appears it is only a few banks that are causing issues
That would be some task
If you don’t always have £99 spare (like me) another way around it is to improve your credit rating to qualify for a small overdraft. The overdraft money won’t be taken, it just needs to be available.
It’s not impossible but it’d have to be done by the pump provider, not Monzo / another bank or card provider.
I understand the problem comes from the way the card schemes (Visa and MC) now treat pay at pump but some banks haven’t caught up.
I think it’s that and the petrol stations not wanting to adjust their liability.
Equally, petrol stations could allow you to enter a value into their systems to pre-auth on and then dispense that exact amount of fuel.
Yeah I had those in mind when I typed my reply even though I’ve never used them I’m not sure on the answer either but they’re present at my local Tescos.
I guess there must be more sophisticated options available but most don’t offer it. The issue comes down to people driving off and the petrol station not getting their money because the final amount is declined.
For those that can, I’d just use a credit card, one put aside for fuel only. Then when you’ve made a purchase transfer that amount from the bank to the credit card company.
A slight inconvenience but means you’re not messing around waiting for the back to release the pre auth back.
I don’t use PAP as it messes with my coin jar and IFTTT from pots
I only use Shell for this reason. The app allows pay at pump with Apple Pay and it works very well.
I’m not really sure why it hasn’t caught on here in the UK.
In Canada every pay at pump (which is basically every pump) asks you for the maximum fill up amount, so you know how much will be authorised. Pumps also generally reverse the unused amount within a minute or two, so even then you’re not usually having your limit/available balance taken up for long. I think most pumps have had it for well over a decade (maybe even two), so it’s not like it’s new technology or software.
That may be a long term requirement of Canada’s local processing network. If I remember rightly, Canada cards are all Visa/MC but transactions within Canada’s borders generally use Interac.
This is exactly what I do
Once something has been pre-authors, the presentation can’t be declined. It would just put you into unauthorised overdraft if you didn’t have the money.
The old method of doing it was to request preauthorisation for £1 then collect the real amount. If you only had £2 in your account the full payment would be declined.
Did you actually try it though? It wouldn’t usually be declined it’d go through whatever money was in your account
UK has had the intention of doing it for the last decade but has always been trial run and then put back again and again.
If you see in the Monzo forums we talk about it in 2018
Probably get pushed back again to 2025.