Large Fuel Purchases with Credit Card - Denied

[vettenuts]

We have been having difficulties with our Bank of America Visa card when buying fuel. We have set travel notices and allow them to track my phone so they know I am making the fuel purchase but it seems every trip we get denied at the fuel pump and then we end up on the phone for 30 minutes trying to get the card turned back on. They are very apologetic each time, but we are just tired of having this issue. It is their automated fraud monitoring that is the issue and while I appreciate them watching out for me the card has become useless for travel.

Does anyone else run into these types of issues?

Right now we have a gas coach and a fill-up is around $150. I can’t imagine having a DP where the fuel costs more and the coach has a larger tank!

[Old-Biscuit]

Have you gone in to your local branch and sat down with branch manager and discussed this and let them know it is not acceptable?


Phone conversation is with a 'customer service' rep that reads from the manual.....and has NO authority to change anything

[SlowJoe]

I have had this problem as well. They say it is a "suspicious purchase" but I can not seem to get an answer from them as to what exactly makes it suspicious. I tell them that people commonly buy diesel fuel every hour of the day in this country. I got a flying J/ pilot fuel card mainly for this reason. It may be more in places, but I don't mind. I also carry several cards and when one gets shut down for fraud, I will pull the other one out. It is ridiculous....

[jacwjames]

I've got a 128 gallon tank and can pump 100 gallons costing over $300 when the price of fuel is high>>>> so yes it is more the $150. I know other coaches have more capacity then me.


When I was traveling internationally I would notify the 2 credit card companies that I used and tell them when and where I'd be. Never had a problem, I did have 2 cards just in case.


I also provide the card providers with my cell phone number. In Florida back ~4 years ago I go notification of fraudulent activity on my card. There was 3 attempts to purchase items from 3 different locations across the USA, it was obvious that someone got my info. My card was suspended until I got home and got it straightened out. So I don't complain about them doing this as it's saved my bacon a couple times.

[alank]

I have Bank of America also and only time I've had those problems is when I answer the potential fraud notice questions wrong, on the phone or at the pump. I also give them the notice of where I'm going, dates and that there will be large fuel purchases.

[gvjackson]

I use the BOA card exclusively as a trip card. During this past winter trip, I had one transaction declined at the rv lane of a FlyingJ, but, they sent a text that I only needed to reply to in order to ok. I was a bit surprised at the $500 pre-auth amount!

[momdoc]

We occasionally have that problem. The card cuts off at $100 (sometime controlled by the card and sometimes by gas station). Their fraud dept calls immediately and my wife talks to them and then the card is turned back on so I can finish my fill, which is usually around $250.

[av8tor2]

Started having DW get on the phone to customer service, when we pull into the facility, before I start the pump. Tell them where we are, and how much we might be spending there for gas, etc. She keeps them talking until I start pumping. Hasn't failed us yet.

[theroc]

I think we all have more than one credit card available when traveling. I know I learned that long ago when the bank (I won't name them but they were a smaller bank) was really finicky about security. I guess you can't blame the bank as they are the ones who will have to cover fraudulent charges. But they froze our card one night because they thought it was fraudulent and wouldn't release the account until the next morning when their security department opened.

We have a variety of cards we can us but liked to use that one because of the rebate. So it wasn't a big deal but just an aggravation.

As mentioned, we always made sure there's a notation on our accounts that we are in perpetual travel and could be in any state at any time ...or at least narrow down several states and the time period so it can be pre-noted. That helps a bit. But many of the flags that trigger a security hold are computer generated so I'm not sure how much that helps but could be beneficial afterward when attempting to unlock the account ...it may make the process faster. Whatever information you can have the credit card issuer notate on the account beforehand, the better it makes it when trying to clear things up afterward.

Whenever we purchased a large amount of fuel late at night (we often traveled at night) or very early in the morning, similar to what av8tor2 does, we'd call the credit card's toll-free number just to pre-report that we were about to make a large purchase --whether fuel or anything else-- so in a sense, were pre-authorizing the transaction we were about to make.

[grindstone01]

Just yesterday I went inside to prepay for $300 of fuel and the BOA card was denied. While the cashier was running the card again, I got a text from BOA asking if I would approve the charge. I answered yes and the charge was approved immediately. I had complained to BOA before and this seems to be their solution. Call them and complain to BOA.

[Cliffy]

Might be OK if you have good data but where I live we have no data even in town and the phone sometimes doesn't even ring when we are called. I changed cards in the past as I had one that even when I called before travel outside of the country they still killed the card the first time I used it.
One thing I have found is if you use the chip on the card they always know its you (or think its you). They don;t like charges from phone calls especially if the security code is not used. Gas pumps may not be reading the chip on the card.
All the blather about "protecting me from fraud" is hog wash. they're protecting themselves.
I always worry when out of the country (and out of phone range in lots of places in the South Pacific). They couldn't get me a text if they wanted to. I asked one of the "reps" that once on the phone and she couldn't comprehend not being in text range, even in the South Pacific on a cruise ship. "Why can't you get our text on the boat?" Clueless, totally clueless!

[Beyond]

We generally have multiple cards handy if we don't go inside to make the purchase. At the pump it is usually the store/station policy that limits the dollar amount to prevent drive-offs. When going inside authorization is not usually a problem.

Had a Citi-bank card refused at the pump with no purchase at all. Didn't want to bother calling and didn't receive a text, which I've gotten from both Citi & BofA. Called Citi later & they claimed it must have been a computer glitch at the station, they had no record of the charge being attempted.

Had a station in New Mexico tell me they had a hard limit on the amount on the card for fuel. I was blocking a large part of their selling space at the pumps & had called the bank to insure no problem there. Finally the clerk explained the problem, which I suggested he fix. He did by charging the remainder of our fill-up with a non-fuel code.

[guardrail53]

Try living out of the country, and vacationing in the U.S. two months out of the year! Luckily, my long term banks in the U.S. know of my situation, and one I use my address in Thailand, and one I use my address in the U.S.! That way, I can use both cards in both places! My CC's are all notified before a trip, and they don't seem to have a problem with the international travel! They still text, when a transaction is different that normal! My bank cards will send a email if they think something is off! Has saved my butt once! I fell for a E-Bike scam, "too good to be true" price, and they denied a charge from China, that did not match the purchase price!
I try to use my bank cards for fuel, and make sure the banks make a note on my account, that I am in the states and will be buying fuel for the MH, and they will up the daily limit, while I am traveling! To avoid the pumps cutting off before I finish filling, I walk in, and tell them to turn on the pump I am using, hand them my info, license # of the MH, my drivers license #, and show them my card! But I put it in my shirt pocket till done fueling! Never had a problem! Old trucker way of doing things! A lot of times if they have a phone on the fuel island, I will call them, and tell them I have a MH, the license #, and will be paying inside with a card, and they will turn on the pump, and say come in when you are done! Rail!

[petrel]

Agree with much of what has already been posted: Always have more than one card. Be sure your contact info. is up to date. Many times fraud dept can re-authorize card while you are standing at the pump.