Arco Gasoline Unauthorized hold on bank funds Mesa, Arizona

It's kind of unfortunate that the banks to not take our side, and handle these matters expeditiously. It seems these days that most banks customer service could just be a recording of "there is nothing we can do".

As legally, there is something they HAVE to do. And in a sense they are sometimes part of the problem.

What one bank had done for me, perhaps because I had been with them for a long time, or perhaps because they had to, was put the money back in my account on a "provisional" basis.

This happened to me when an ATM did not dispense $300.00 cash or a receipt for a withdrawal (another reason I tend not to use machines anymore), but the bank took the funds out of my account regardless.

When I lodge a dispute, they told me it could take 30 days, or longer, and that I may not ever get the money back. But what they did after several dozen phone calls from me, is put the funds back in my account with a "provision". If the investigation goes in my favor, the provision will be lifted. If the investigation went against me, they would take the money out again.

It was a little shaky not knowing day to day if the bank would steal the money from me, but in a little over 30 days, the provision was lifted and it went in my favor.

So this was good news in the end for me, but I did think the bank could have settled this within 24 hours. How hard is it to tell if the machine was $300.00 over? Simple addition.


We trust the bank with our money and to be there for us if there is an unauthorized use of OUR money that THEY hand out, and then when there is a problem on their end they tell us "there is nothing we can do" Nice. When there is a problem on our end, they seem to know what to do right away. Fees, fees and more fees, and then tell us there is nothing they can do again.

I once had a similar situation. The station put a $75.00 charge on the card. I noticed it as soon as I got home and checked my account online.

I called the gas station right away and told them I think there was a theft attempted by the cashier because I have my receipt and did not spend $75.00 on gas.

The attendant on the phone told me to call back at 5am when the manager will be there. I told the attendant I will do better then that. I will be there in PERSON at 5am, and perhaps a call to the police will be needed.

Magically, the charge was gone and the funds were back in my account before 5am.

As far as recourse for you if the funds are not back by now, is that you can fill out a Federal Form E  available from your bank used to lodge a dispute. But chances are the money will be back in your account very soon. If the bank investigates it could take 30 days or longer before they reverse the charges in some cases.

Typically, when you run the card through the machine at the pump, it checks the card by charging $1.00 and immediately refunds it, and if that goes through okay the pump will allow you to fill up. If there is a problem, the screen will say "please see attendant inside"

However, there is a chance that the amount the machines use to check the card has gone up, since overdraft laws are changing soon. But either way, a $100.00 hold is excessive. A restaurant once did this to me for $50.00, which could have caused problems because not only was I unaware they did this at the time, but the hold was there for several days. That restaurant got an earful from me. I initially thought a server added a zero to the tip (which was $5.00), and was pretty livid. I had never had this happen before and I have been using cards for years.

Normally when filling up I prefer to pay inside anyhow as it is always better to deal with an actual human in case there is a problem down the road. The attendant is a potential witness, the machine is just a machine, good luck asking the machine what happened since I bet the receipt did not mention the hold.

There should be some kind of law requiring any merchant or machine to notify you of a hold for ANY amount, and ask permission if they can place it. Otherwise as you stated and I agree, technically the hold/charge was unauthorized.