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Comment by ars | Hacker News Reader

If you want to avoid this, you can go inside and request a specific dollar amount, and they'll charge exactly that. (And the pump will shut off at the right moment.)

I guess it would be nice to have a way to request a gallon or dollar amount at the pump, but I've never seen a pump able to do that.

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...or use a credit card. That way the hold is applied to your credit (ie. not your cash) rather than your checking account (ie. your cash).

But people with credit card are probably living available limit to available limit. Their credit limit is their cash.

is this sarcasm? That’s a wild generalization of people who use credit cards

Studies of US consumers show basically nobody with $600 in the bank.

I hope by that you mean "basically nobody with less than $600 in the bank", because according to the fed's survey of consumer finances, the median household has $2000 in their checking account.

https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/research/average-checking-ac...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2016/01/06/63-of-...

It’s not a wild generalization; I’m not sure why readers understood it that way.

My logic is, if people are living paycheck to paycheck and don’t have an extra $300 for a gas limit; why would you think that their available credit is any different.

... or a card like the GasBuddy card, which is a fancy WEX fleet card. No holds, just dumps out of your checking account.

Although, it doesn't seem to work with neobanks like Chime, though, which is kind of annoying.

I also keep a card from TSD Logistics (their Open Roads program) for an EFS card that gets me access to commercial diesel at a discounted rate at truck pumps.

Being able to specify the limit, either selecting from a few defaults (€40, €60, €80, €100) or entering a custom amount is pretty standard when paying at the pump in Europe. I wonder why that's not the case in the US.

Interesting, that is also not the case in the Netherlands. I've never been able to specify the limit, which was recently increased nationwide from 125 euro to 200 euro.

I only get gas from an unmanned gas station, as it is close to my house and the cheapest option. For someone living paycheck to paycheck, price is especially important, and this approach does not work.

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