The way people will pay for fuel is gearing up to change - with supermarkets such as Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda introducing a new way of filling up.
Previously all Pay at Pump transactions were authorised by requesting a £1 transaction from the payers card issuer before taking payment for the value of the fuel one to three days later.
However with the new rules now coming into force, it means that the pre-authorisation has changed to £99 which means your bank may create a temporary hold of up to £99 while you fill up.
The change was been imposed by Visa and Mastercard within the last year and as a result, after the transaction the actual amount is deducted immediately from your account and the pre-authorised amount is immediately cancelled.
Here's what you need to know...
Sainsbury's
Under the new requirements by Visa and MasterCard, the supermarket will request a pre-authorisation of £100 before starting the fuelling process in order to ensure customers have "sufficient funds" to pay for the fuel they use.
Sainsbury's took to their website and explained: "When the transaction has completed, the Pay at Pump terminal will send a message to your bank with the actual transaction amount which will be charged to the customer; the pre-authorisation amount will be almost immediately released back to the customer’s account.
"The introduction of this change means that the customer will almost immediately see the actual value of fuel dispensed in their bank account.
"Previously, customers had a £1 pre-authorisation was taken from their account to confirm that their card was valid before they began to fill up.
"The exact cost of the fuel would then appear on the customer's account typically one or two days after the transaction, which could make it difficult for customers to track available spend."
Tesco
At present Tesco are trialling a pre-authorisation payment of £99 across selected stations.
The supermarket warned customers that there may be a "small number of occasions where your card issuer doesn’t update your balance in real-time.
"We’ll only ever charge you for the value of the fuel you’ve purchased, but if you do have concerns, please talk to your bank for further details."
They added that if you have a problem with a payment you should contact your bank that issued the card, as this new payment rule is not under their control.
Asda
Asda is said to be in the process of upgrading their payment rules with a pre-payment authorisation amount of £99.
The supermarket explained: "On completing the transaction, the actual amount is deducted immediately from your account and the pre-authorised amount is immediately cancelled.
"The solution makes it easier for you to keep control of your finances when you pay for your petrol at the pump, however, if an issue does arise you should first contact the bank that issued your card."
Morrisons
Back in November of last year, Morrisons changed their pre-authorisation charge for a fee of up to £100.
They explained: "Under new rules, implemented by Mastercard and Visa, we must now request authorisation from your card issuer for up to £100.
"Don't worry - once you’ve finished filling up, the final transaction amount is sent to your card issuer.
"We will only charge you for the value of the fuel you’ve actually purchased, the remainder of your pre-authorisation amount will be released without charge."
