Asda has made a major change across a significant number of its petrol stations. At 82 of the major supermarket's forecourt sites, drivers can only pay at the pump, as the sites were converted with drive-thru kiosks.
The method of payment means that more drivers are faced with pre-authorisation fees when purchasing fuel. This is where the money is "temporarily" held on your account until the end of the transaction, when the correct amount should be debited. The pre-authorisation fees were introduced by Visa and Mastercard, and the idea is to block funds from your account so the store knows you can afford to pay for your fuel.
This change was introduced in early 2022, and at Asda, up to £99 can be blocked from your account, reports The Mirror.
Prior to the changes at the selected petrol stations, drivers still had to pay a pre-authorisation or holding fee when filling up at a pay-at-the-pump petrol station. However, it was only £1.
According to Visa and Mastercard, the charge should be fully refunded to the account within a few minutes. Therefore, card providers should inform the supermarket of the funds available in the account, and drivers should be allowed to fill up to that particular amount.
Asda told The Mirror, that this was the case at their forecourts, with the fee only applied to pay-at-pump transactions, and drivers can typically avoid paying it by using their card at the filling station kiosk.
